Potential scammer pushing me to click a link and threatens to send the police

Question

I was contacted by someone wanting to buy a bird cage I was selling on Facebook market place. He said he couldn't collect as he was at work he told me he would send a cash envelope via dpd and that I would have to pay the insurance. I would be fully refunded the insurance money which is 100 pounds plus the money for the cage when I courier comes to my house tomorrow.

At first he didn't say I'd have to pay anything he said he would pay the insurance, so I thought it meant that he was paying and didn't need anything from me, he didn't explain things very well, but then I received a email from dpd but it looked strange saying I had to confirm my address because a paymneorder in my name for 150 pounds and that they are awaiting the insurance costs.

I messaged the man back and told him that I don't trust this. After he's been constantly messaging me threatening me with the police are coming to arrest me tomorrow, I explained to him that I have no money in the bank to pay this. He just keeps pushing me to click a link that he keeps sending me saying I will have to worry if he doesn't get his money back he claims he's paid the insurance and other money to send this cash envelope to me.

Now I'm terrified that police will come tomorrow as he says or a stranger will turn up pretending to be from dpd which he also said would happen, please can anyone help me

Answer 1

Please, take a deep breath and realize that empty threats are typical scammer behavior. He is behind a keyboard far away. He does not actually want police involved (and he can't simply have them arrest someone on his say-so). He is very unlikely to have anyone come to your house. He simply wants to scare you into sending him money. The email from "dpd" is likely fake, if you haven't already realized that. The best response is to ignore the scammer.

Answer 2

This is 100% a scam. Break contact immediately.

• delete the ad
• Do not reply to any contact
• block the user on Facebook
• block the email from scammer and "dpd"
• does he have your phone number? Block him on every platform he contacts you on: sms, WhatsApp, block call.
• if he switches to another number; block it immediately without replying.
• Do not plead, or beg or try to reason with him. Just block everything.

He will quickly realise he is blown and will move on elsewhere and stop wasting time with you.

As for his "threats" - disregard them utterly. It is an absolute joke to imagine the UK police would "arrest" someone because some random guy on the internet told them you weren't playing along with his scam.

Don't get scared - get mean. This **** is trying to rip-off money that you could spend on your daughter. See it like that and act like an angry mother bear protecting her cub.

Answer 3

In addition to the other answers, please be careful with possible follow-up emails from "DPD" (which are fake as well).

There is a raise of scams where a "courier company" ("DPD" in your case) has something for you and you "need to pay [insurance, delivery fees, ...] in order to get your [package, ...]".

This is just to say that you must also ignore "DPD" threatening you to send the police/army/prime minister because [whatever reason they can give].

Simply ignore everything and the scammer will go away (do not reply to anything), they do not have time to spend with someone who will not cooperate.

Answer 4

This is a classic advance fee scam.

Just molded to your circumstances.

The scam is, we're about to do a profitable transaction but I just need you to pay me some money first (it's better known as "a Nigerian prince with an inheritance", or an African lottery you never even bought a ticket for, but it's the same basic scam).

Depending on items, platform and conditions, scammer contact may be rare, or it may be very frequent. When I sold some specialty items, I fielded dozens of such scams to find 1 legit buyer.

All they want is you to send the $50, after that you'll never hear from them again.

They certainly aren't going to call the police on you, they are criminals!

Anyway, all contact with them is a 100% waste of time, as they do not want your items and will never pay you 1 cent.

Answer 5

As others have said, it's clearly a scam.

• No one in their right mind will send money by post or courier. There are tons of faster, cheaper and more secure ways to do it. Many if not most postal services and courier companies actually prohibit sending cash through them.

• Insurance is never paid by the recipient. The only cases where a courier company or postal service may ask for money are:

  • If you are buying COD (cash on delivery): you buy something, and the delivery company gets the money and pays it back to the sender before giving you the package. Since you are selling, does not apply.
  • If there are import taxes or duties to be paid. That happens if you buy something from abroad. Not your case.
  • If there's a shortfall in postage. Only happens for regular postal service where the sender adds stamps on the package or letter. Never happens for courier companies. And it's usually symbolic, not more than a few quid.

• There is no package with cash on its way to you. If you really wanted to have fun, ask for the tracking number. Then use it on the official site of the reputable courrier company which you'll find by your own means. Do not follow any links they send, and do not trust the ekspressdelivericompani they tell you they used. If it's not a well known, established company like UPS, DHL, Fedex, DPD and the like, forget about it. Probability that you will get a tracking number from such a company? Zero.

They won't send anybody to your place. There is no package arriving tomorrow. If ever there was one (no chance), just refuse the delivery.

These guys are operating from hundreds if not thousands of miles away. They don't have time to come pay a visit. They'll just move on to the next target. Cut all contact, block them, report them on any of the platforms you used, and be done with it.