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Rip Off Britain S18E02
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TVTranscript
00:00Today, the scam you won't see coming until you check your pay packet.
00:05How Crooks took out a loan in one man's name, only for the repayments to be deducted from
00:09his salary?
00:11It's rubbish.
00:12Absolute rubbish.
00:13It was not me.
00:14I didn't take this loan out.
00:15100%.
00:16Plus, is eBay serious enough about scams against sellers?
00:20We meet the man left hundreds of pounds worse off, despite reporting the bogus buyer who
00:26stole his goods and then sold them on.
00:28I'm very frustrated and very disappointed, because I put a lot of passion into that drum
00:33kit.
00:34He gets a full refund and he keeps the drum kit.
00:37On your side when it feels like no-one else is listening.
00:41This is Rip-Off Britain.
00:50Hello and welcome to the Rip-Off Britain HQ here in Salford, where our brilliant team are working
00:55hard to keep you one step ahead of the scammers so that you don't get caught out.
01:01Coming up today, we're back on the case of the pet microchip scam, where dog and cat owners
01:07are juiced into thinking that their lovely little furry friend's microchip registration is all set
01:12to expire unless they pay up.
01:15Willow Weeping's microchip number will soon display unregistered animal in all affiliated
01:23websites and databases.
01:26Now, since we first covered that story, there's a new platform perpetuating the con.
01:31So, we've got all you need to know to avoid it and to make sure that your pet's microchip
01:36is registered correctly.
01:38Plus, as our advice clinic rolls into Reading, we try to help a woman who was content and thinking
01:44she was due a discount on her phone bill, only to be landed with a finance agreement for
01:49a pricey smartphone she didn't even order.
01:52But first, if you've ever had that sinking feeling when you open your payslip and the
01:57sum at the bottom is lower than you expected, then you'll know exactly how the man in our
02:02first film felt last April, when he discovered a £67 hole in his wages.
02:07Now, he thought that a simple call to HR would put things right.
02:11The last thing, of course, he expected was to be thrust into a stressful battle to clear his
02:16name, prove his identity and see off the scammers posing as him, in order to defraud the benefits
02:22system.
02:26This is Andy Sergi.
02:28He's a driver by trade and loves life on the road.
02:32I've been driving big vehicles, basically seven and a half tonne buses, passed me class
02:36two, six, seven years ago, basically enjoy driving.
02:40Over the years, Andy has driven all around South Yorkshire.
02:43For the last four years, he's been working for a company delivering skips.
02:48In April 2025, after putting in some overtime, he was expecting a little more than usual in
02:55his pay packet.
02:56But instead, there was less.
02:59My open weight slipped and I noticed I didn't fetch home as much as what I normally do.
03:04And there was £67 taken out and I didn't know what it was about.
03:09Andy's partner Lisa was just as confused.
03:11When Andy came in with this on the pay slip, it was like, what even is that?
03:17What's it about?
03:18I've never seen anything like this before.
03:20Andy went straight back to his employer to ask it if he could shed any light on the
03:25missing £67.
03:27But the answer left him and Lisa even more baffled.
03:30HR told me they've took money out of it because you took a loan out.
03:35And I said, well, I don't know anything about it.
03:38The deduction was called a Direct Earnings Attachment or DEA for short.
03:44And it's for money Andy owed the Department of Work and Pensions.
03:47So Lisa called the DWP on Andy's behalf to ask what was going on.
03:53It's about a loan that's supposedly been taken out in Andy's name.
03:57And because it's not been paid back, this near enough £900 is now still owing.
04:02And that is why they're taking it out of his wages.
04:06Loans like these are a form of advanced payment, which can be awarded by the DWP to help universal
04:13credit claimants with unexpected costs or while they wait for their first payment.
04:19Now to qualify, you need to verify your identity and provide bank account details.
04:25The repayments are usually deducted from your universal credit.
04:28But because Andy did not claim universal credit, the loan taken out in his name was being recouped.
04:35From his pay packet.
04:36And by the time he and Lisa had worked out what was going on, almost £200 had already been taken.
04:42When it complained, the DWP said it would pause the repayments and promise to investigate.
04:49But when it got back to Andy some five months later, I'm afraid it was bad news.
04:54Following a thorough investigation, the final decision has been made on the balance of probabilities that the claim was made
05:02by you.
05:04It's rubbish, absolute rubbish.
05:06It was not me. I didn't take this loan out 100%.
05:10It's just crazy.
05:13The couple realised that in order to prove Andy had not taken out the loan, they needed to find out
05:19who had.
05:19So they asked the DWP to see all the documents relating to the case, including details of whoever was posing
05:26as Andy.
05:28According to this, you're renting from a private landlord, a two bedroom flat in Tamworth.
05:35Right.
05:35No children.
05:38And you're single.
05:40Aside from being a couple for 36 years and having three children together, Andy and Lisa own their home, 80
05:47miles away in Doncaster.
05:49And the dossier is full of other details that just don't stack up.
05:53There's a lot on here that clearly proves that it's not you, because all this information is just absolute nonsense.
06:02Andy and Lisa put all of this to the DWP, but the couple were not confident that it would listen,
06:08so they asked us for help.
06:09We've recruited BBC reporter and consumer powerhouse Shari Vahl to investigate.
06:15I'm really interested in what they have to say, because what has happened to them sounds almost exactly like a
06:23case that I covered on you and yours on Radio 4 only a few months ago.
06:27I get a letter from the Department for Working Pensions telling them that I owe them £1,416.42.
06:38Hi, Andy.
06:40Shari wants to know everything that Andy and Lisa have learned about the bogus loan application so far.
06:46So this is the bank account that the money went into?
06:49Yeah.
06:49But that's not yours?
06:50Definitely not.
06:51And the application, was it made online or in the job centre in Tamworth?
06:55Online, apparently.
06:56And they had to go in to the job centre at Tamworth, but they failed to attend any meeting that
07:01was set up.
07:02But there were some details that really were Andy's, including his national insurance number and the details of the couple's
07:09joint bank account.
07:10Our joint bank account details were on the form. Obviously certain digits were blanked out, but they've got our joint
07:18bank account.
07:19But a few days after the application had been made, the details of the account the loan should be paid
07:25into were changed.
07:26So they've set up a bank account fraudulently in Andy's name.
07:31And once the loan had been paid into that account, the recipient vanished with the cash.
07:38Months later, when the DWP realised that no repayments had been made, it used other details on the application to
07:45trace Andy and start to deduct them from his salary.
07:48But the big question for Andy and Lisa is just how the scammer's got sensitive information, like his national insurance
07:56number and bank account details in the first place.
07:59Shari suspects it could have all started with a job application made through a recruitment website.
08:05Did anyone ever offer you a trial shift?
08:09Yes, I've had one at all trial shifts, yeah.
08:11So if you imagine you apply on that site and they say, we're really interested in you, Andy, we'd really
08:18like to give you a trial shift.
08:19So if you could fill in this form, name, address, date of birth, sort code and account number, national insurance
08:28number and driver's license.
08:32Now we call that identity bingo.
08:34Right.
08:35And what they have is your entire identity.
08:40Shari's basing her theory on a previous case that she worked on.
08:43In the earlier case, the job didn't really exist.
08:47But criminals had been able to use the information gathered from candidates to carry out identity theft and commit fraud.
08:54And Andy had handed over his details to lots of prospective employers in his job search.
08:59Do you think that feels right?
09:01I didn't think anything about it until you just said all that.
09:04And it all makes sense, it all falls into place.
09:06If you're looking for work, going on online recruitment sites is a perfectly normal thing to do.
09:13So the site itself, they're completely legitimate.
09:15Yeah, yeah.
09:15But it's the companies that can sometimes infiltrate and they can put up adverts that look fantastic, but they want
09:23your details first.
09:25And I would say never put your details in anything online until you've met these people face to face and
09:32you're absolutely sure they're real.
09:34So how it all happened is becoming clearer.
09:37But the more pressing matter is convincing DWP that Andy had absolutely nothing to do with the loan.
09:43So what was the last correspondence that you had from them?
09:47As it happens, a letter received today.
09:49Oh, let's have a look at this.
09:51I have revised the decision made in August.
09:53This means you have not been overpaid universal credit of £893.
10:02What they haven't said here...
10:04Is it the believers?
10:05Is that we accept that you did not take out this loan and that we accept this loan was taken
10:11out fraudulently by someone else.
10:14Mm-hm.
10:15I want to find out who has taken it, for them to admit that somebody has taken this loan out
10:21fraudulently, and for the money that took off is to be paid back.
10:24So there is stuff to do.
10:25I am going to take all this documentation away and I'm going to dig down deep, get in touch with
10:31the DWP, and let's see where we get to from there.
10:36Nice one. Thank you very much.
10:37Well, since filming, Shari has been doing just that, and alongside fraud lawyer Aaron Chohan, she joins us now in
10:45HQ with an update.
10:48Lovely to see you both. I'm also joined by Lisa.
10:52Lisa, how are you doing? Because I know Andy's working today, so how have you both been coping with this
10:58huge problem?
11:00Difficultly. It's been a very stressful, emotional, horrible time.
11:05Andy almost gave up. He said, we'll just pay it because it was that frustrating. It was horrendous, absolutely horrendous.
11:14Now, Shari, it was left on a bit of a cliffhanger in the film. What did you discover?
11:19Well, I did dig quite a lot, and I believe that the same gang that attacked the case that I
11:24did last year is the gang that attacked Andy.
11:28I think it's what's called a learned fraud, where one gang has worked out how to do it, and they
11:33teach another gang and say, hey, we've got a really good one for you. Try this.
11:37And because the DWP has to move money to people who are genuine claimants for this kind of universal credit
11:44loan very quickly, there are lots of steps and processes.
11:48It's almost lend first, ask questions later.
11:52I want to get to the why and wherefore, because, Aaron, you're the man with all the legal knowledge. What
11:57do you make of this whole scenario?
11:59I find the whole scenario really frustrating for Lisa and Andy. Before COVID took place, there was a lot of
12:04face to face communication between people, applicants for universal credit and the loans and the DWP.
12:10But when COVID hit, they had to move quickly online. And that created all these opportunities for fraudsters, people to
12:16imitate people, fake documents, fake ID.
12:20And years on, DWP accepted they got a lot of things wrong and they were going to correct it. They've
12:25seen situations of insufficient verification, change of account details, address details, as happened with Andy here.
12:32And had they learned from those mistakes, we wouldn't be in the situation talking about this really unfortunate episode.
12:38We know that Shari has come across this, of course, as well in her research. What should the DWP be
12:45doing to stop it? That's the big question. What should they be doing?
12:48When someone says, this is not me, they need to act more quickly and they need to treat people who
12:54are actually victims of crime much, much better and not make them go through the incredible administrative burden that poor
13:02Lisa and Andy have been.
13:05When we spoke to the Department for Work and Pensions, it told us it recognised the distress that all of
13:11this has caused Andy.
13:12It confirmed he's been issued a full refund and that there would be no further debt recovery action.
13:19The DWP also told us it has robust processes in place to catch the offenders responsible for ID fraud for
13:27the purpose of claiming benefits and to support victims.
13:30And it hurts anyone who receives a letter that they believe relates to a fraudulent claim to get in touch.
13:37We've put details for that on our website. It is bbc.co.uk slash ripoffbritain.
13:43The whole question of identity here is really crucial. What are the other serious points about trying to protect your
13:50identity?
13:51So with national insurance numbers and, you know, a copy of your passport, you know, real key identity documents fraudsters
13:57can take out credit in your name.
13:59The way to protect yourself is look at these credit reference agencies. They have fraud products which allow you to
14:04make sure that your identity and your credit rating is protected.
14:08There's an organisation called CIFAS, which is the UK's fraud prevention service and agency. They have a product called Protective
14:15Registration. It costs about £30 for two years.
14:18And what it does is it tells lenders that if you are going to lend money to someone like Andy
14:23or Lisa, their identity has been compromised before.
14:28So do some deeper checks before you lend the money. And that helps protect us as individuals and consumers from
14:33our identity being abused.
14:34Lisa, have you, as a matter of interest, heard very much over the months from the Department of Work and
14:40Pensions?
14:41No. The last letter we received was on the day of filming.
14:45Well, thankfully, Shira, you have heard from them. So what did you discover?
14:50It took a long time, this, but...
14:53And we know you stick with it. We do.
14:54It says, we are in the process of contacting Mr Sergi to say that DWP accepts Mr Sergi did not
15:05make the universal credit claim.
15:08And we've highlighted it so you can see it.
15:10Whoa, Lisa, how about that?
15:12It's a big relief. That's a big help. I can't thank BBC and Shari enough, honestly.
15:17But we shouldn't have to go to that extent for somebody to believe you.
15:22There'll be other people out there that will be like Andy and just think, oh, we'll just pay it.
15:27Don't do that. Fight it. Fight it. Fight it.
15:30We do love your fighting spirit. So we just want to say thank you both.
15:33Do give Andy our regards as well. And thank you, Lisa, for joining us today.
15:37Thank you very much. Thank you.
15:39Well, now it's time to tackle more of your problems in the Advice Clinic.
15:44The Advice Clinic is on the road.
15:47Bringing the best consumer advice.
15:49It could be worth speaking to the finance company.
15:52There could almost be a separate complaint.
15:54To you.
15:57Today we're in Reading at BBC Radio Berkshire's offices with solicitor Lisa Webb from consumer group Witch.
16:06Lisa, welcome to Reading.
16:08You've been here before?
16:08Not for a really long time, so hoping to rediscover a bit.
16:11Lots of people have been in touch. Lots of issues to get sorted. Are you ready to help?
16:14I can't wait. Let's do it.
16:18Lisa's on the case for Lucy Parry from Basingstoke.
16:21Last June, she had a call from someone who said they were from her phone provider Sky Mobile.
16:27Unfortunately, it was all a lie.
16:31Lucy, welcome. Thanks for joining us here in the Advice Clinic.
16:34So tell us what happened.
16:36I had a phone call from Sky just before my birthday.
16:39I thought that they were going to help me with my, you know, subscription and everything.
16:46Lucy was in fact speaking to a scammer who promised her a discount on her bills, but instead she received
16:52something else entirely.
16:54And a couple of days after the phone call, I received a mobile phone in the post.
17:00Random.
17:01Very random.
17:02So I rang the person back and explained that I didn't want a phone.
17:06I'd never ordered a phone and he said he was very sorry.
17:10His colleague had made a mistake and he would send a reply envelope and I could return the phone.
17:18A couple of days later, the envelope arrived, took it to the post office that day and I sent it
17:23back.
17:25Lucy thought that was the end of it until a month later when she checked her bill and noticed she
17:30was being charged £35 a month for the phone she had returned.
17:35And when Lucy called the genuine Sky Mobile, she says she struggled to get a resolution.
17:41I couldn't get them to stop charging me and I couldn't get the phone off my account.
17:50It's a familiar tale to Lisa, who says the scammers who posed as Sky were out to get just one
17:56thing, the expensive smartphone that turned up on Lucy's doorstep.
18:01So someone calls you out of the blue, offering you all sorts of great deals, chatting like they're your friend.
18:07They're getting information out of you so that they can access your account.
18:10Then they're ordering phones on your behalf that you don't want, you don't need.
18:14They post them to you.
18:15They will have given you a phone number for you to call them back if there are any issues at
18:20all.
18:20And then as soon as you contact them, they know that they can get their hands back on that phone.
18:24And all of a sudden it's theirs. It's theirs to keep. That's how they do it.
18:28Sky is aware of how this scam works, but it is quite a tricky situation because to some extent both
18:33you and Sky are the victims here.
18:36Yes.
18:37Lucy accepts that, but she says the customer service she received from Sky has been terrible.
18:43She says she's made nearly 40 calls in five months to try and find a solution.
18:49I was just going in loops.
18:51Everybody escalated it and everybody said it would be fixed and it just never was.
18:55Because I felt like they just put the phone down and went on to the next customer.
18:59So nothing was done.
19:01The charges on Lucy's account reached £175, which eventually Sky did promise to refund, along with £50 compensation.
19:10But so far she's only received £105 and £70 in account credit.
19:17Lucy has run out of patience and Lisa recommends that she takes the complaint higher to independent dispute resolution scheme
19:25CSAS.
19:27So you can say to them, here's the evidence of the appalling service I've received here, the number of calls
19:34I've made, the number of hours I've spent, the fact that they've promised me things and then haven't provided it.
19:39That CSAS can deal with. And that I think CSAS would look at and say, you need to pay that
19:46compensation that you promised.
19:48Lucy's complaint about Sky is not about a product or service, but about how it handles her complaint.
19:54And on that metric, SkyMobile has form, as researcher Tanaka explains.
20:01This seems to tell you with the latest statistics from telecoms regulator Ofcom, looking at complaints made to Ofcom about
20:07the largest phone providers between July and September 2025.
20:11SkyMobile had the most complaints and in terms of breaking down the nature of these complaints, SkyMobile came top with
20:17unsatisfactory complaints handling at 33% compared to the industry average of 26%.
20:22Lucy wants to know what her options are for leaving Sky altogether.
20:27It's all down to what your terms and conditions say. So do you have an exit penalty? That's something you
20:33might have to consider.
20:34However, if you have experienced such poor service, it is always worth challenging whether or not you should be forced
20:43to pay that fee because these companies do have it within their gift to waive those exit penalties and those
20:48exit fees.
20:49Lucy, thank you so much. You know, lessons for all of us about what to do and good luck.
20:54You will stay in touch with them and go after that compensation, won't you?
20:57I will. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time.
21:01In response to all that, Sky told us it takes reports of fraud extremely seriously.
21:06Admitted its service fell short in Lucy's case and said it has taken steps to improve the efficiency with which
21:13suspected fraud cases are escalated and resolved.
21:17It said the scam affecting Lucy is an increasingly prevalent type of fraud being seen across the entire mobile phone
21:24sector.
21:24And that it's working with law enforcement and the government to protect customers and encourage vigilance against scammers.
21:32The firm called Sky Mobile's placing in Ofcom's complaints report disappointing and said it has historically performed very well, but
21:41recognised that the result highlights areas for improvement.
21:47I'm pleased to say that Lucy has been given the money back she was charged for the phone and additional
21:53compensation. With the problem now resolved, she's decided to stay with the provider.
22:04Oh, gosh, what a nightmare Lucy had with the hours and hours of trying to sort it out on the
22:10telephone.
22:10Just frustration. Yeah.
22:11Terrible. But now we turn actually to an update on a story we first featured in April 2025.
22:17If you own a dog or a cat, you'll know that by law they have to be microchipped and their
22:23chip number has to be registered on a government approved database.
22:26However, there are some databases that are not on that approved list, including one we featured in 2025, which is
22:35called Pet Chip Registry.
22:37Well, Julia is over with one of our producers, Dave Quinn, who's got an update on those databases.
22:42I am indeed. Well, you might remember that we heard from pet owners who'd been contacted by Pet Chip Registry
22:48and told that their pets microchip registration was going to expire.
22:52And if they didn't pay, they could face the prospect of not being reunited with their four legged friend if
22:58they were to go missing, which is any pet owners absolute nightmare.
23:01Well, here's a clip from that report.
23:03Our records indicate that your microchip registration for Willow has expired.
23:12Willow Weeping's microchip number will soon display unregistered animal in all affiliated websites and databases.
23:22So that kind of makes you jump a little bit and think, oh, heck, I'd better do something about it.
23:30I just felt that I didn't want her not being registered.
23:34So I paid.
23:38The renewal cost topped £18.95 and she thought nothing more about it, confident that Willow was now properly registered.
23:46But two weeks later, she spotted an alarming social media post from her vet, which named Pet Chip Network.
23:54Microchips do not expire or need renewing.
23:59Please do not give any bank details until you are sure that a company is legitimate.
24:05I was furious.
24:07It's the emotional aspect of being duped.
24:18Well, that was back in April 2025.
24:21So, Dave, what's happened since then?
24:23Well, the company that we featured was called Pet Chip Network or UK Pet Chip Registry.
24:28Now, the Advertising Standards Authority investigated that company in March 2025 for misleading advertising.
24:35And it was actually DEFRA that had raised the complaint about it, saying that it gave the impression that it
24:40was registered on the DEFRA database when in fact it wasn't.
24:44Now, Pet Chip Network didn't reply to that.
24:46They didn't respond.
24:47And that meant that the complaint was upheld.
24:49And after that, Pet Chip Network just disappeared.
24:52Oh, so in a way, that was good news for pet owners.
24:55But the scam itself hasn't gone away, has it?
24:58No, it hasn't gone away.
25:00We've actually heard about companies who seem to be engaging in quite similar practices to this.
25:05So one of our viewers, Debbie Hearn, wrote in to us.
25:08She'd come across a company called Tracker Pet.
25:10Now, that company had sent her an email to say that her dog Sam's microchip had expired and she needed
25:17to renew it at a cost of £27.
25:20Now, Debbie says that she was quite scared, concerned when she received this.
25:24So as a result of that, she paid the £27 and sort of thought no more about it.
25:29But then she saw a repeat of our program where we talked about this issue.
25:33Yeah.
25:34And at that point, she worried that she had actually been scammed.
25:38Hmm.
25:39Well, is there anything to suggest that Tracker Pet is not a scam?
25:42Well, the thing to say about Tracker Pet is it does seem to be operating a database of sorts.
25:49Now, we've got the website of Tracker Pet here, but we found that there's some similarities with the Petchip Network
25:56site.
25:57So it's got some of the same photographs. It's got some of the same sort of phrasing and language on
26:02there.
26:03The important thing to say is that if you were someone who'd registered on this site, like Debbie did, your
26:08pet is much less likely to be found because it's not being cross-checked by vets or whoever else finds
26:14your pet.
26:15They're not going to know to look on this particular site.
26:18And did you yourself get in touch with Tracker Pet?
26:20We did try. We got in touch with them. We've not had any response back from them, unfortunately, but we'll
26:26keep trying.
26:27So can you just remind us, if a pet owner wants to make absolutely sure that their pet's microchip is
26:33registered on an approved site, what should they do?
26:35So the key thing you've got to do is go to the list of DEFRA approved databases.
26:40That's something you can do by going to gov.uk.
26:43On there, if you just do a search for pet microchip, it'll bring up a list of the 25 current
26:48databases that are registered with them.
26:50Don't just do a search into a search engine, though. Go via gov.uk and type your search in there.
26:56Don't pay money to any company that's not on that list, because if you aren't registered with a company that's
27:01on that list, you can get a £500 fine.
27:03So you must find a company that's properly registered with DEFRA.
27:07Wow. That's not nothing, is it?
27:08It's not. It's a lot of money.
27:09Yeah. Well, thank you, Dave.
27:11And if, like Debbie, you come across any company telling you you must pay to renew your pet's microchip, please
27:17do tell us about it.
27:19Email ripoffbrittain at bbc.co.uk.
27:22But for now, back to the sofa.
27:24And I have to tell you, it's a rather busy sofa as well, because Shari and Aaron are back and
27:29they're here to answer some of your questions.
27:31Now, Aaron, this first one is for you. It's from Adrian. And Adrian says she was offered £200 to complete
27:37a survey for a very well-known supermarket, but after doing so, she realised it was fake.
27:42She's now getting scam calls and she's very worried. What can she do?
27:46We see a lot of these instances where these fraud surveys are posted by fraudsters to try and get personal
27:50data from people because that's the currency they need to start committing fraud.
27:54But she has to be really careful now about future calls, giving out further information and trying to block those
28:00numbers where people are contacting her for information and trying to sell things.
28:03If she's even more cautious, she can talk to a bank and say, I'm worried about my personal data being
28:08compromised.
28:09She can report scam text to 7726, which is a really useful way to report fraud.
28:14Shari, this one is for you and it's about calls also.
28:17Sunita Su says she's getting calls from numbers she doesn't recognise.
28:20And when she answers, the person on the other end says that Sunita had called them.
28:26She hadn't, by the way.
28:27Her mobile phone company says her number is being cloned, but there's nothing she can do.
28:31There are several things you can do in this case.
28:34What's happened here is the criminals have spoofed Sunita's number.
28:38So they are using her number to call other people.
28:42So things she can do.
28:43First of all, when people call you like that and say, you've just called me, don't get cross.
28:48Don't panic either.
28:50Do, like Sunita, report it to your phone company straight away and report it to report fraud.
28:55And also what you can do is change your phone setting so you only accept numbers that are in your
29:01contacts.
29:02And what that means is they won't be able to get through.
29:05Criminals are trying to get your money, essentially.
29:08The thing she can do about this is check very carefully.
29:10If she ever loses service, even for the smallest amount of time, get in touch with your bank and check
29:17no one is attacking a bank account.
29:19Now, Aaron, don't go far, because in a moment I'm going to need your help unpacking the scam at the
29:24heart of this next film.
29:25It's all about how music-mad Gavin tried to sell a drum kit for £400 on eBay, only to lose
29:32both his money and his drums.
29:35Now, we actually know who's scammed him out of both, but for some strange reason, at the moment, eBay is
29:41siding with the scammer.
29:46For Gavin Vaklavik, the sound of drumming is truly music to his ears.
29:52Drumming is basically everything I live for.
29:55It's taken me to amazing places and it was always an instrument that I first listened to when I overheard
30:00music.
30:01The music tutor and DJ from Essex restores, builds and sells his own custom drum kits.
30:08I've modified the bass drum, it gives me a much punchier sound.
30:12There's just so many different colours of sound you can get.
30:17When it comes to parting with his creations, Gavin sells his kits on eBay.
30:22I'd strip him apart, I'd do all the repairs and give him a new lease of life.
30:28But in September 2025, one of those sales unleashed a chain of events that would leave him mystified, not to
30:35mention seriously worse off.
30:38It was a new one on Gavin and on us too. So, brace yourself.
30:44Now, this is a bit complicated. I'll start from the beginning.
30:53I had two drum kits ready to go out and one was Pearl Export black six piece with cymbals and
31:00hardware.
31:01Restored by myself and everything was shined up nice.
31:04It would be a good kit for someone.
31:07The kit sold for £400 on the 22nd of September.
31:11The buyer, called One to One Orders, asked for the drums to be posted to Dundee.
31:17They provided their email address with the name Ross Morrison and Gavin set about packing up the kit.
31:23So, I got the five boxes ready and I contacted the courier, arranged the collection time.
31:30I was happy just to get it out of the way.
31:33A day later came confirmation that the drum kit had successfully made its 500 mile journey north.
31:40But then, a hitch.
31:45Within about maybe an hour or so, I got a notification from One to One Orders asking why I'd sent
31:53a chrome drum kit.
31:56A picture of a chrome bass drum this sent.
31:59Well, I've never owned a chrome drum kit.
32:02Never seen this bass drum before.
32:04That's when all the fun started really.
32:09Gavin suspected One to One Orders was a scammer.
32:12So, he turned detective to find out more about the chrome drum.
32:17And, hey presto, a reverse image search took Gavin to a different eBay seller.
32:24He'd never heard of me. I never heard of him.
32:26But, all of a sudden, his drum kit is being referred to as one that I sold.
32:33Gavin now felt fairly sure that the buyer in Dundee, who'd identified himself both as One to One Orders and
32:41Ross Morrison,
32:42was planning to use eBay's buyer protection policy to claim he'd not receive the black drum kit he'd paid for
32:49and get eBay to refund him.
32:51Gavin knew that if eBay believed the buyer, it would take the £400 the drums that sold for straight out
32:57of Gavin's bank account.
32:58And, two weeks later, that's exactly what happened.
33:03At this point in time, my drum kit is lost. I've lost my money.
33:08I'm completely confused as how this chrome drum kit came into the story because I'd never seen it before.
33:15Gavin demanded that One to One Orders should return the black drum kit, but heard nothing further.
33:21So, after raising a complaint with eBay, Gavin reported what had happened to Police Scotland,
33:27in the hope the so-called Ross Morrison could be brought to justice.
33:31They contacted the Ross Morrison, who I believed was One to One Orders,
33:38and they sent an email back and that left me completely dumbfounded as to how this scam happened.
33:45That's because, drum roll please.
33:50As it turns out, Ross Morrison is completely innocent.
33:56Now, it's probably time we introduce the real Ross Morrison.
34:00He's a fellow drummer who does live in Dundee, but is an innocent party who found himself embroiled in the
34:07scam.
34:08Today, they're chatting for the first time.
34:10Is this finally the real Ross Morrison?
34:14Gavin, I can confirm it is me.
34:16I can also confirm that I have absolutely nothing to do with a gentleman by the name of One to
34:22One Orders.
34:24So, what exactly had gone on here?
34:27Well, let's rewind to Saturday the 20th of September, two days before Gavin sold his black drum kit on eBay.
34:35Fellow drummer Ross had been looking for a new kit and bought this chrome drum kit for £1,300
34:42from an eBay seller called, you guessed it, One to One Orders.
34:48About 10 o'clock in the morning, I peed it, and an hour and a half later, the guy wrote
34:55back to me and says,
34:55I'll be with you on Monday.
34:57What arrived wasn't a chrome drum kit at all.
35:00Instead, he found himself looking at a t-shirt printing machine.
35:05So, he went straight back to the cellar.
35:08Well, I made a big mistake, he says, I have sent the wrong parcel to the wrong person.
35:13I'll send it to you, you'll get it.
35:15So, on the Friday, opened the first one with much glee,
35:19and the first one, I looked at the thing, I went, it's black.
35:24Second parcel, it's black.
35:27Now, if you stuck with us this far, you've probably guessed what's happened.
35:31Ross received Gavin's black drum kit.
35:34But none of this is accidental.
35:37Here's what was really going on.
35:41On the 20th of September, One to One Orders sold the chrome drum kit to Ross for £1,300.
35:49But Ross received the t-shirt machine instead.
35:53That boy, why did he send me that? I can't quite, was it for timing?
35:57Yeah, I think so. Just to give himself time.
36:00Two days later, One to One Orders bought Gavin's black drum kit for £400
36:05and lied about being based in Dundee to get Gavin to send it straight to Ross.
36:11One to One then used a photo of a random chrome bass drum
36:15to falsely claim that Gavin had sent the wrong item
36:19and got a £400 refund from eBay.
36:22And, believe it or not, they also got to keep the black drum kit
36:26because Ross returned it.
36:29I sent it back to an address in London.
36:32It cost me about 80 or 100 quid to send it back.
36:35But to be honest, I didn't care.
36:37I just wanted rid of it. I wasn't happy with it at all.
36:41Ross used eBay buyer protection to claim back the £1,300 he'd paid
36:46for a chrome drum kit that never existed.
36:49Meanwhile, Gavin was left with nothing to show for all the time and energy
36:54he'd spent restoring the black drum kit.
36:57I'm very frustrated and very disappointed because I put a lot of passion into that drum kit.
37:03He gets a full refund and he keeps the drum kit.
37:06And, I'm sorry to say, he also got to sell the drum kit.
37:11I had a look on eBay and I found the cheeky little stamp that he is
37:16had advertised that drum kit.
37:18To add insult to injury,
37:20it looks like one to one orders made £568 from the sale.
37:26All pure profit.
37:30Gavin wants eBay to recognise that he's been the victim of a very clever scam.
37:35Because, so far, it's done nothing to help him recover his £400 loss.
37:41I feel completely let down.
37:42eBay had been single-minded and to go along with the side of someone
37:48who's just willing to treat me like a fool,
37:52it's put me on a bit of a downer, to say the least.
37:56I just wish that justice could be done.
38:00Then we could all move on.
38:06Well, talk about complicated.
38:09My head is literally spinning.
38:10But luckily, Aaron is back to help me unpick the whole shenanigans.
38:14We've covered a lot of eBay scams over the years,
38:16but this one really takes the biscuit, doesn't it?
38:18It's really mad.
38:19Such an intricate fraud.
38:21But they've done it in a convoluted way to almost give credence to it
38:26and you've ended up with this fraud.
38:27And they've made the money through these drums.
38:29Now, it's hard to know why these fraudsters did this,
38:32but we know from other scams, it is a numbers game.
38:34And the more of these scams they're running,
38:37if they get a return for a few emails, sending a few things by post,
38:41they're making a thousand and thousands of pounds for a few hours of work.
38:44So you can see why they do it.
38:45It just seems like a really elaborate, fictitious story.
38:49Long drawn out, yes.
38:50Well, as we saw in the film after Ross returned the drum kit,
38:53One to One orders put it up for sale using photos from Gavin's original listing.
38:58But when our team dug further, we found another account listing the same kit with the same photos.
39:05And guess what? That second account was open just to list the drum kit.
39:08Now, surely eBay should have woken up to this.
39:11Yeah, I think eBay really should have done.
39:13Gavin reported the suspicious activity really promptly about one to one orders.
39:17And he linked it to the drum kit.
39:19So therefore, when, you know, a seller goes and lists this same drum kit using the same images,
39:23obviously you think that's a red flag and eBay should pick it up.
39:26But that didn't happen. And that's a real frustration, I think, for anyone.
39:29Well, Gavin and Ross's experience was back in October 25.
39:34But one to one orders appear to have kept scamming people.
39:37And here's a review from January 2026.
39:41The worst person I've had dealing with in over 20 years using eBay paid for items 17th of December with
39:48no communication until the 3rd of January when eBay refunded the money.
39:52So this person appears to have reported one to one orders as Gavin and Ross did.
39:57But we're filming this in March 2026 and they're still advertising things for sale.
40:04I mean, what should they be doing?
40:06eBay had more than enough instances to see one to one orders acting as both buyer and a seller in
40:12a fraudulent way.
40:12And you'd think at that point eBay would invoke all their powers and rules and what they've got in order
40:17to suspend an account, to investigate an account and probably stop the account being used.
40:23I just find it bizarre that eBay have just let this one slip through.
40:26Well, we did talk in depth to eBay about all this.
40:31It explained that one to one orders was originally refunded automatically under its returns policy because Gavin hadn't followed its
40:40standard process and provided a returns label.
40:43But in Gavin's defense, he didn't think he needed to because he'd already reported it all to eBay as a
40:50scam.
40:51eBay told us it has robust protections in place for both buyers and sellers.
40:57And most importantly, after a number of conversations with us, eBay said it understands the inconvenience caused to Gavin and
41:05following an extremely thorough investigation, it has now decided to cover the cost of his refund.
41:12We asked producer Katie Saatchi to deliver the news.
41:16We've had loads of back and forth with them and they have said this afternoon to us that after a
41:21really thorough investigation that they are going to cover the cost of your refund.
41:25That's such good news.
41:27Yeah, that's really made my day.
41:29A little bit of justice has been done.
41:31I'm happy with eBay again.
41:33I'm just really glad that we've managed to put an end to it for you.
41:37Thank you so much.
41:38You've been brilliant.
41:40Great news for Gavin, but to avoid falling for a scam on eBay, I asked Aaron for his advice.
41:47Well, I think first of all, whilst you can't look at a buyer's history, you can look at what feedback
41:52they've given on other sellers.
41:54So you could probably spot, say, well, this is a buyer, they've come out of the blue, they're offering the
41:58money straight away.
41:59Let me just see what other kind of commentary they've given to sellers.
42:02Have they been quite dismissive of other sellers?
42:04Have they been quite argumentative?
42:06Is that a red flag?
42:08If you've got a buyer, are they also a seller?
42:10What are they listing?
42:10Is it similar?
42:11What images are they using?
42:12We just have to be cautious.
42:14Thank you so much, Aaron, and drumroll.
42:19If you've got a problem and you think our team can help, there are lots of ways you can get
42:24in touch.
42:24You can email us at ripoffbritain at bbc.co.uk or send a WhatsApp message to 0330 678 1321.
42:36We're also on Facebook.
42:37Just search for BBC Ripoff Britain or write us a letter.
42:41The address is Ripoff Britain, BBC Media City, UK, Salford, M50 2LH.
42:49Please include your phone number if you can.
42:51And don't send us any original documents as I'm afraid we won't be able to return them.
42:58Well, I'm sad to say that's almost all we have time for today.
43:02Now, if you've missed any of the advice we packed in from how to avoid that devious eBay scam
43:08to how to make sure your pet's microchip is registered with the correct site,
43:12then do catch up on today's programme and many more on BBC iPlayer.
43:17There's also plenty of advice on our website, bbc.co.uk slash ripoffbritain.
43:22We'll be back again very soon.
43:24But until then, from all of us here, thank you so much for joining us and goodbye.
43:28Bye bye.
43:29Bye bye.
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