seller on depop had a iphone listed on page, i then asked to buy and she said yes and to transfer via bank account online transfer. i said no and to do via paypal as its secure and she said she doesn't have one and she uses her mums but it takes 14 Days for the money to come in and she wanted it sooner. this went on for a while me saying that i was unsure. She then said she can ship in the morning using yodel mail. i then last minute agreed as i thought worst comes to worst the bank will be able to get it back thinking it would be just the same as if you lost your card with paypass on it.
2 hours later she said the money still hasn't come through and to check my account. Wasn't in there.
i asked for her email to send her a picture of my account with the sent money (so she now has my account details too, silly me)
i then also tried to find a facebook profile registered with the email address she gave me and one didn't exist so i became slightly suspicious as she looked like a social media sort of girl by her depop picture.
i then asked her to double check the account number and she said "OMG! i'm so sorry i've sent you a wrong number by mistake" Then proceeded to tell me the money would bounce back into my account and it would be safe to transfer it to her correct number, i disagreed but asked her to send me her correct number if that was the case.
she then after a bit of persuasion sent me her correct details, only it was a completely different account (not just one number wrong)
i decided to call the bank as i didn't trust it and asked where my money had gone and explained the story. They then told me it sounds like fraud and sent me on to their fraud team who investigated and called barclays,(the account it was sent too).
During this period i messaged the girl saying i've had to report it to the bank and fraud line to help me claim my money back and asked if they know who's account number i sent the money too and if it was a scam.
I then got blocked from the depop website and a email saying- your pathetic
i then called Barclays bank and they told me they had frozen the account as it sounded like a scam but the money could not be returned as it had inefficient funds in the account (meaning it must have been withdrawn within that 24 hour period)
ive contacted action fraud, the police, barclays and lloyds who are all invesgating but has anyone else come accross this and managed to get their money back via banking transfers or even entered the wrong account number or sort code to someone?
lesson learnt here is to always send money via paypal or through safe sites!!!!
