A mum who lost £200 in a scam when trying to buy a car for her daughter shares how she got her money back.
Lynne, from Scotland, wanted to help her daughter out by purchasing a second-hand car after she passed her test. In October, Lynne saw an advert for a Volkswagen Polo on Facebook Marketplace from a garage. When she enquired, she was told that she needed to put down a deposit to reserve the vehicle.
Lynne did some more research on the original garage and believed the business looked like the “real deal”, noting that it “looked like any other garage would”. So after enquiring again, she sent the business £100 to reserve the car. However, the garage told Lynne that it took sales through a third-party and told her to send the money through PayPal – but through “friends and family”.
Again, Lynne questioned this but said the answer they gave sounded legitimate, so she sent the money through a PayPal bank transfer, which meant it was sent as an “e-check”. These can sometimes take four to seven days to complete.
As the garage didn’t receive the money immediately, they began to push for Lynne to send it through again. She said: “The payment was still pending, and they said they needed to receive the money to reserve the car, but I didn’t want to send it through PayPal again, so they told me to send it directly to the bank through my TSB account, so I did, and they sent me an invoice, it looked so genuine.”
The garage told Lynne they would deliver the car to her in a few days. However, on the morning of the delivery, they asked her to send another payment to “ensure smooth delivery” of an extra £200 and a payment of 25% of the overall cost. She added: “I told them I didn’t feel comfortable doing that as I’d already sent £200, but they kept pushing saying ‘the first payment hasn’t come through’ and I know it was going to because the money had left my account, so I said I would go pick the car up myself.”
At this point, Lynne said she noticed a change in how they were acting and talking to her and felt they were being more pushy and aggressive. She said: “I kept saying that I didn’t feel comfortable transferring more money, and if I did owe anything I would pay it there, I said I couldn’t see how that was any different.”
At this point, Lynne was becoming worried about the purchase as she had already had insurance put on the vehicle for her daughter, which set her back £500. Overall, she was already out £800, and she had “nothing to show for it”. After arguing, Lynne was finally given the address and went with her daughter to pick up the car.
When the pair arrived at the street, Lynne knew something had gone wrong. She said: “There were lots of garages around, but we couldn’t seem to find it. I contacted them, and they told me I must be at the wrong place, but we weren’t. They then asked me about delivering the car, and I just asked them to come out and meet me, and that’s the last I heard.”
Lynne and her daughter approached one of the other garages on the street. A worker told them they were the third people to ask about this company that day and the second to ask about that car. This is when Lynne realised she had been scammed. Lynn said: “I was gutted, honestly devastated, I couldn’t believe I fell for it. I was embarrassed, I was just so upset, I promise to get my daughter a car and I was down £800 and I didn’t have one to give her.”
In the aftermath, Lynne reported the scam to TSB and PayPal, as the payment was still pending, so she was hoping to stop it before it went. She also reported the company to Facebook and put a negative review on the page hoping to warn others of the scam. She said: “They just had an answer for everything when I questioned anything, I was skeptical yes, but everything was telling me it was fine. I’m quite trusting, but my husband is not but even he said it looked fine when I showed him everything.”
TSB agreed to cover the £100 Lynne lost through the scam as part of the new banking rules which have been put in place. Under the new rules – which have been implemented by the Payment Systems Regulator – banks, building societies, and e-money firms need to reimburse people who fall victim to fraud up to £85,000 of an APP scam.
APP scams happen when someone is tricked into sending money to a fraudster posing as a genuine payee. This type of scam has quickly become one of the most “significant” types of fraud in the UK, accounting for nearly £42million in the first half of 2024. This sat at around 70,000 cases, which means around 375 cases every day.
However, there is a huge catch to the new rules. Banks can now choose to include an “excess” fee of up to £100 to your claim, although it cannot be applied to vulnerable consumers under the PSR’s rules. The fee, in essence, means that you can be “charged” £100 to get your money back. However, TSB has decided to waive this fee meaning customers will receive 100% of the payment they lost.
Lynne added: “I am thankful TSB gave me the full amount back, if they had put on the charge, I supposed I would’ve felt cheated. It’s a lot of money to everyone, but to a bank I supposed it’s nothing. But this experience has really shaken me, and it’s really impacted my trust in companies. I refused to pay another reputable company a reserve fee until I came and saw the car. It was a family-owned business, but I said I couldn’t after everything I’d been through.”
Even though Lynne’s £100 was recovered, the £100 PayPal payment was not, as she sent the money through “friends and family”. As part of its fraud advice, TSB urges customers using the payment platform to not change any payment to friends and family, unless it truly is one. This is because you will be less likely to receive a refund.
She added: “I said to my husband that we just had to take the hit with this one, but with the £100 fee, that’s such a lot of money for anyone. I feel if the bank is taking that, it could really put someone in hardship.” TSB also noted that banks couldn’t cover losses that happen through PayPal as these transactions were “away from the sight of banking systems.”
Thankfully, Lynne was also able to move the insurance she had purchased for the scam car onto the new one she bought for her daughter. Although, she did have to pay an admin fee. Stephanie Harrison, Senior Fraud Manager, TSB, said: “We are pleased that we could support our customer through what is yet another terrible scam carried out on a social media platform. With the vast majority of fraud stemming from social media, it’s vital these companies remove and block scam content, to protect the millions of people who use their services every day.”
On the friends and family options for PayPal, a spokesperson said: “PayPal Buyer Protection does not cover money transfers between friends or family. If someone selling you goods or a service asks you to send a friends and family payment, you should refuse. Identifying a payment as being for goods or a service ultimately ensures we can reimburse you if something goes wrong.”
