Bill R

Quite possibly. However, if “Smethurst” is able to get himself back on marketplace after the dozens of times I’ve reported him, I doubt he’ll have much trouble getting the post back up.

Ah, my bad. Missed the word “scam” in the FB Marketplace post. Feel bad that I reported the listings as scams now!

Now he’s Mason Smith. The Clown pic makes me feel like he’s laughing at us all.

Don’t know. I tried to use that option when I got scammed but he simply cancelled the payment and suggested PayPal instead.

https://www.facebook.com/matt.smethurst.334

Just a heads up that he now appears to be using the name James Smith to scam people. Same stuff as before.

Just watched a show on daytime BBC called Scam Interceptors that looks at a online fraud - maybe the world of Facebook marketplace scams would be on interest to them?

To be fair they did say they would investigate it fully and do what they can but they were pessimistic about getting a result due to the factors I mentioned. You would think there would be some sort of National fraud squad that could collate all this information and pursue it. I can’t be the only person who reported it to the Police. Facebook are also culpable. I must’ve reported his profile and his listings over a dozen times but he’s back posting stuff within a day or so. You would think after reaching a certain level of complaints someone might take a closer look.

Quick update. The police finally came round to see me this week (I reported the scam in January). I gave them all the details - screenshots of my Facebook chat with Mr Smethurst, PayPal payment notification. He had just posted more scam items on marketplace so I showed them that too before reporting him again. I also gave them the address of this thread and the details I’ve gleaned from here. They thanked me for all this but basically said there is very little chance of stopping him. 1. Facebook are apparently very arsey about handing over user data to the police so very hard to get much even with an account name and address. 2. I live in Scotland and apparently cross-border cooperation between Scottish and English police is abysmal- English police aren’t interested unless basically the Scottish force has got rock solid evidence to convict. Before they left one of them told me that if you want to commit a crime and get away with it then this type of fraud is perfect.

Even after reporting a search for “Mike Smethurst” returns the following.

I just looked and all that stuff was still listed (or relisted) I’ve report him as a scammer for the umpteenth time.

He’s back on Facebook again. I’ve reported his account three times as a scam but he keeps getting back on. He appears to have added some new gear to his latest batch of listings which I have also reported.

He’s back on Facebook again. I’ve reported his account three times as a scam but he keeps getting back on. He appears to have added some new gear to his latest batch of listings which I have also reported.

He’s back at it on FB again. Just reported him again.

Same here. Report him to the Police. He’s still on Facebook selling stuff right now.