Scamwatch: 'I lost over £7k in an elaborate Facebook Marketplace scam'

Dear Which?

We needed a digger for the groundwork for an extension. We looked on various sites and found one on Facebook Marketplace, but located 92 miles away.

My partner spoke to the seller numerous times about viewing, payment and delivery. We asked for The Equipment Register number of the digger and paid for an independent report, which showed it was real. We also found the alleged company name on Companies House and had video-called the seller to see the digger. 

Following all these checks, we agreed to buy. The seller asked for half the asking price of £7,180. So, we transferred £3,590. 

When the payee’s name was different to the seller’s, we rang the seller. He said the payee was the company accountant. This sounded plausible, so we paid. 

The following morning the seller rang my partner and said he’d booked delivery, but we needed to pay the balance as the delivery driver couldn’t accept payment on his behalf.

I insisted we’d only transfer the money when the digger was delivered. However, the seller said the delivery company wouldn’t load the digger until the seller had received full payment.

We paid the balance and waited, but the digger was never delivered. Our bank, Monzo, has declined to reimburse us. What do we do now? 

Sarah Harding, Somerset

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Faye Lipson, Which? senior researcher, says: 

I spoke to Monzo, emphasising the due diligence measures you took to prevent yourselves from being scammed. 

Monzo said it would have expected you to view the digger in person, to buy from a platform with buyer protection policies (such as eBay and Vinted) and to pay via a more secure method, such as a card benefiting from Section 75 or chargeback protection.

It also highlighted your decision to make the second payment after becoming suspicious about the name discrepancy on the account.

Monzo has one of the lowest reimbursement rates of any UK bank for this type of fraud, returning 17p to victims for every pound stolen in 2023. 

We encouraged you to complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service., who will consider the sophistication of the scam as well as the steps you took to protect yourself. 

We're pleased to hear that the FOS ruled in your favour and Monzo will be required to reimburse you the full amount.

This story first appeared online on 23 October. It was updated on 5 November to include new imformation that the Financial Ombudsman ruled in Sarah's favour and Monzo will be reimbursing the full amount.