Scammer - Facebook Marketplace

[Kaye]

I got scammed by this guy yesterday. It was a big deal for me to send £82.50 for something.which was £75. He asked for the extra for postage. I should have known better but really was trying to do something nice for someone. 
he had me send the money via PayPal to his girlfriend - the email address was [email protected]

 

the Facebook profile is https://www.facebook.com/matt.smethurst.334

 

 

[Kaye]

This guy is now using the name James Smith on FB. He just got me for £82.50

matt.smethurst.334

[Downunderwonder]

Each time someone new gets done someone needs to get down to the pub where Mason goes and record him mouthing off about his latest sucker. Sooner or later we'll have him on video with the exact amount.

[martthebass]

Sadly this individual strikes me as the type of person that will not stop this predatory behavior until he is forced to do so.

He's not a musician, he's a parasite.  

I'm amazed any other 'musicians' will play with him...I certainly wouldn't.

[AJF]

On 03/08/2022 at 22:20, Kaye said:

I’ve been scammed by this guy. £45 for a boss pedal. Exactly the same circumstances.  Not sure there is anyway to report it to FB or Facebook.  

 

[dorodo]

On 03/08/2022 at 22:34, Kaye said:

This guy is now using the name James Smith on FB. He just got me for £82.50

matt.smethurst.334

 

 

This is the same guy who got my family member. Contact your bank, they may be able to help you. I hope someone can bring this guy to justice.

[Wessix]

I found this too late, I also been scammed by him for the sun of £80, he’s using the same PayPal and boing by Micky drips. Looking at this someone referring to him as mason and a pub he attendeds. Would you be happy to share the pub? I wouldn’t mind having a chat with this man. 

[Downunderwonder]

3 hours ago, Wessix said:

I found this too late, I also been scammed by him for the sun of £80, he’s using the same PayPal and boing by Micky drips. Looking at this someone referring to him as mason and a pub he attendeds. Would you be happy to share the pub? I wouldn’t mind having a chat with this man. 

I still haven't seen any direct evidence but there is a suspicion that the current operator has only changed names. Some time back one Mick Mason, a semi known bassist of some semi known 80's tribute band, was convicted of fraud using the same M.O. and the same 'product line' to hook the same fish.

 

Either it's a copycat or Mason himself.

 

I shouldn't have have accused Mason without actual evidence.

[martthebass]

Just seen this posted by the Circle group on FB

[AidanHampson]

I'm the bass player in Chic to Chic. I'm afraid everything in the above statement is true - he took deposits from us with a view to booking gigs in theatres and using the cash as down payments. The venues had no idea about the gigs and he's refusing to pay the money back.

If you are in a tribute band, and are approached by Mick Mason to work with/for him in any capacity. STAY WELL CLEAR. We have to stick together as musicians to overcome people like this, so spread the word as wide as possible about this man and his fraudulent activities. Even if we only stop a few people getting ripped off, that's a chunk of money that he hasn't been able to steal.

If you are in a tribute band, and had problems with Mick Mason, please send me a message. Either through here or via www.chictochic.co.uk

 

Aidan Hampson

Edited August 24, 2022 by AidanHampson

[Guitar89]

I got done to the tune of £45 for a Boss pedal.

 

Cash to the girlfriends PayPal which is currently [email protected]

 

He is currently James Smith.

 

There's a lot of pedal scamming going on with FB marketplace now and I'm usually pretty good at seeing it but this guy caught me out. Not sure how even! James Smith, low resolution pictures, weirdly cropped, duplicate listings for pedals. Even when I figured it out and told him he still argued it's in the post... Damn. Such a sad life.

[prowla]

10 hours ago, Guitar89 said:

I got done to the tune of £45 for a Boss pedal.

 

Cash to the girlfriends PayPal which is currently [email protected]

 

He is currently James Smith.

 

There's a lot of pedal scamming going on with FB marketplace now and I'm usually pretty good at seeing it but this guy caught me out. Not sure how even! James Smith, low resolution pictures, weirdly cropped, duplicate listings for pedals. Even when I figured it out and told him he still argued it's in the post... Damn. Such a sad life.

Previously a number of people received tracking details to prove the item had been sent; unfortunately, they all received the same tracking id.

[funkgod]

there is now a warning on facebook market by a chap who got ripped on a boss dr880 drum machine, the same one i was going for when he said no collection because he was going on his holls, so i bailed,

 

so the guy with the ad has been intouch after i reached out to him, and he said he has had getting on 50 messages from others on facebook about him.

here is the ad...

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/436885068313583/?referralSurface=messenger_lightspeed_banner&referralCode=messenger_banner

and here is his reply

 

"Unfortunately been going on since Jan 2021 (at least). Over 50 people have contacted me to say they have been scammed - all reported to action fraud and Facebook, yet he continues to operate

Mason

Also check out the link in the description of my ad (the basschat one but also the Facebook thread)"

 

Not long now Mr smith i feel.

 

 

 

 

 

[ped]

12 minutes ago, funkgod said:

there is now a warning on facebook market by a chap who got ripped on a boss dr880 drum machine, the same one i was going for when he said no collection because he was going on his holls, so i bailed,

 

so the guy with the ad has been intouch after i reached out to him, and he said he has had getting on 50 messages from others on facebook about him.

here is the ad...

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/436885068313583/?referralSurface=messenger_lightspeed_banner&referralCode=messenger_banner

and here is his reply

 

"Unfortunately been going on since Jan 2021 (at least). Over 50 people have contacted me to say they have been scammed - all reported to action fraud and Facebook, yet he continues to operate

Mason

Also check out the link in the description of my ad (the basschat one but also the Facebook thread)"

 

Not long now Mr smith i feel.

 

 

 

 

 

UK ‘Police’ don’t care. This will go on forever. 

[funkgod]

1 hour ago, ped said:

UK ‘Police’ don’t care. This will go on forever. 

i hi ped, i dont think its the police he needs to worry about now, i think people want his head on a stick.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/418321094942305/permalink/4845139762260394/?sale_post_id=4845139762260394

[ped]

You’re certainly correct that he doesn’t need to worry about the police. Maybe if we can get footage of him using his hose… 

[funkgod]

ADDRESS ????

if you follow this link to face book,

https://m.facebook.com/groups/418321094942305/permalink/4845139762260394/?sale_post_id=4845139762260394

 

about an hour ago luke hannah posted a link to his address  🙂

 

[ambient]

He’s getting some media attention now, though for his entertainment scams rather than his thievery.

 

https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/news/booking-firm-owes-us-tens-of-thousands-claim-tribute-acts?utm_source=facebook-instagram&utm_medium=fb-insta-stories&utm_campaign=stories

[Rich]

I've just sent an email to Jamie Body, the author of that Stage piece, giving him the background on Mr Mason and have given him links to this thread and the other Mason-based one.

[Rambi]

I was also scammed by this person going by James Smith in Sheffield. I did a search for the FB handle https://www.facebook.com/matt.smethurst.334 which lead me to this thread. 
I've reported it to https://reporting.actionfraud.police.uk/reporting-form and would encourage others defrauded by this person to report to the police/action fraud. 
The item is no longer up on FB marketplace but the commerce profile is down. 

[prowla]

1 hour ago, Rambi said:

I was also scammed by this person going by James Smith in Sheffield. I did a search for the FB handle https://www.facebook.com/matt.smethurst.334 which lead me to this thread. 
I've reported it to https://reporting.actionfraud.police.uk/reporting-form and would encourage others defrauded by this person to report to the police/action fraud. 
The item is no longer up on FB marketplace but the commerce profile is down. 

One of the FB selling groups has been blocking threads warning against him.

[Velarian]

On the One Show tonight there was an item by Watchdog’s Matt Allwright about people getting scammed on the Vinted web site. Not dissimilar to the experiences here. At the end of the item he said if there was anyone else who’d been scammed on any online marketplace to get in touch and report their experiences.

 

I know that he’s a guitarist so he’ll probably be interested in hearing from anyone on here who’s been affected. I would suggest all affected members to get in touch ASAP to create some noise about this story. 

[Jon08]

Do we actually know his town/county of residence ? Open letter to the relevant Chief Constable basically listing his illegal activities signed by those who have been scammed complaining about the failure to prevent his activities. Delivered to Police with a notification that the letter will be made public(local/national press) within 3 days. All those scammed able to provide screen shots, Paypal transaction records.  

[risingson]

mods please delete - post not relevant here apologies. 

Edited September 27, 2022 by risingson

[darrenbrown513]

Hi, folks

Just writing here to say that I also was a victim of this scam on 6th September 2022 for a sum of £41 for a Boss DS-2 Turbo Distortion pedal. Money was sent to this James Smiths supposed girlfriends PayPal email address ([email protected])  I'm from Derry in N. Ireland so can't really see there being much resolve on my end unfortunately. I submitted a report to action fraud also.