Have I Been Scammed? Facebook Marketplace Sold Item, Came to My House & PayID Was Done Whilst I Watched! UPDATED: 28 August

poczynek77 on 24/08/2023 - 08:52
Last edited 13/09/2023 - 07:12

Bit of a weird one and I am thinking i have been scammed but it seems different to all the ones that i have seen.

Details:

  • advertised on Facebook Marketplace on Sunday to sell my Apple Studio Display monitor
  • get a Facebook message from someone saying he would like to buy but asks for best price - i knock off $100 - and he agrees to the price
  • he says he will pick it up and asks best way to pay - i tell him direct bank deposit please - he says ok
  • he turns up on Tuesday this week and is a nice guy - we have a long chat about Teslas and him working for Star City Casino as a Supervisor there
  • tells me he lives in Homebush
  • well dressed etc (not sure that means anything but still)
  • he shows me his CBA app and him paying me by Payid and then he sends me the receipt right away by text where it shows his CBA bsb and account number. It is the EXACT receipt screen shot for a Payid payment - i literally saw him do it on his CBA app
  • the money doesn't go through straight away but the receipt does say it takes 24 hours to go through for accounts that are not known - i am ok with that
  • we chat more - he tells me about his brother and about his computers etc
  • he leaves with my Apple Studio Display
  • he texts me a few hours later asking if i can send him the receipt for when i bought the display - i say no problems and send it
  • i then contact him after 24 hours and tell him i haven't received the payment - he texts back saying it is 'pending' on his side
  • however since yesterday afternoon he is now uncontactable - if i ring his number it is always engaged and no text messages back since yesterday lunchtime and no money in my account
  • his Facebook profile i now cannot see - he may have blocked me maybe?

Is this a scam? It just seems different to the ones where it is me having to pay money etc. And it also seems strange he would come to my house and show me his CBA app and the receipt with his account details. What about if he got to my house and i didn't sell it because the money didn't get through straight away? There just seems so many ways this could have gone wrong for him if it is indeed a scam which seems like it probably is.

So i guess it is a scam?

EDIT:

This is the Payid CBA receipt i got:

https://ibb.co/jVhVD1Z

UPDATE 28 August:

Another poster was scammed the same way using the same type of receipt by the mysterious 'Deon Hong' on Saturday.

This guy … I wonder how many others he has scammed?

This is the Payid receipt that the other poster got:

https://ibb.co/cCcS6L8

These are the receipts side by side:

https://ibb.co/gZXxf7c

Mine is on the right

What we do know now:

-somehow he makes up the Payid on the spot which is pretty good for him to do that! Bravo Deon!!
-the other poster got his rego
-the other poster went to cops - I will go to cops tomorrow
-it could just be high end Mac goods?
-goes by Deon Hong on FB
-uses a photo of squid game actor

Questions now are:

-are even his account details correct as per those Payid screenshots? If he is creating the Payid receipts then why would you put your own account details?
-is his mobile number correct? REMOVED
-his rego number is possibly the only actual identifier of this person

UPDATE 30 AUGUST

We're closing in!

Third victim now who has video footage.

Deon - we are coming for you!

UPDATE 13 SEPT

We got him!

'Deon' was charged and arrested yesterday. Bail refused.

Thanks to all the victims who provided valuable identifying information to the police.

Podcast and Netflix doco to come…

General Discussion

Comments

      • werdplaya58 on 05/09/2023 - 16:37
        +1

        The reality is that OP and the other victims have actually had something valuable stolen. That may at least register as a higher priority. I think OP has made progress but in my view there's never any guarantees with these kind of things.

        It's still a short-sighted view on the part of that cop above. @CV9 sounds like you did all the right things. Unfortunately in any bureaucracy there's always people incapable of seeing the bigger picture. If you still do log the case with NSW Police then at least it can be linked to all the others.

    • Cave Fire on 05/09/2023 - 16:52
      +2

      Depends on who you get…. should have mentioned there are like five other victims? And the total is over 10k…. approaching 20k? And that's what is in this thread/one week? Think you can do as the cop said, log all the information as it can then be used by whoever is investigating the other cases.

    • Wayne7497 on 05/09/2023 - 18:08
      +6

      Complete crap, from a rookie cop, its straight out attempted fraud, it doesn't take years to investigate, jesus you must have some lazy incompetent cops in NSW, dont let it stand ask to speak to the OIC of the station. Never heard such crap from officers in the 37yrs i was with WAPOL , id have been ashamed and ridiculed by my bosses n peers doing anything like this . Damn this makes me angry, these were our bread n butter investigations , we relished in them, n never ever do I remember not making an arrest.

      • [Deactivated] on 05/09/2023 - 18:16
        +1

        Agree Wayne. I was perplexed both my mate and I. No joke of a lie he said "we are to busy to worry about this" gave 0 farks and told me to update the site. I literally have enough evidence to put this man behind bars or have him arrested. On a plate mate on a plate!

        • Wayne7497 on 05/09/2023 - 18:27
          +2

          Some states dont have specific " Attempted Fraud " , my state we did, every other state has " Attempt to commit and indictable offence " so thats the charge any competent investigator goes down.

          Look at it this way if tried to steal your gear, regardless of whether he ended up with any items its still an offence, intent is the only thing needed to be proved n this guys has demonstrated ton of that , no court would dismiss.

          • kiriakoz on 21/09/2023 - 21:13

            @Wayne7497: We've had an outright bikie war for decades here, the cops are hopeless. I've not been to WA, but I'm sure you guys are better. Watch some of the Underbelly series, we've clearly had corrupt force since the 1960's/1970's. No joke.

    • megaclix on 05/09/2023 - 18:41

      To be fair, I can see how Police may view your report as a minor issue. But the officer should have realised the value of your report is in the CCTV evidence, rego details (although suspected fake).etc, and linking it with the other reported actual frauds.

      This will be frustrating as I suspect we have to wait for the police to get round to investigating these cases.

    • mba on 05/09/2023 - 20:34
      +2

      Post the video of the interaction

  • simplerick on 05/09/2023 - 17:19
    +1

    Just get ACA to approach this scammer like they do on all their other news reports. Make the public aware of him, that will gain some traction

  • Tndjjo on 05/09/2023 - 17:36
    +6

    Was just scammed for 2 galaxy folds by him as well same proving fake payID receipt

    • MS Paint on 05/09/2023 - 17:42
      +2

      Damn. He is super active. Thanks for joining and sharing your plight. @poczynek77

    • poczynek77 on 05/09/2023 - 18:37
      +1

      Can you DM me? Have you been to the police and got an event number?

      • [Deactivated] on 05/09/2023 - 19:03
        +1

        No mate no event number they told me to log the info on site. They were not interested. I’m going to contact CBA Fraud and see what next.

    • werdplaya58 on 05/09/2023 - 19:15
      +1

      Out of curiosity what phone number did he use in your interactions?

      • [Deactivated] on 05/09/2023 - 20:12
        +2

        The number he used on me is 0423 128 460.

    • capslock janitor on 07/09/2023 - 12:37

      SOMEONE GOTTA MAKE A CITIZENS ARREST

  • [Deactivated] on 05/09/2023 - 17:38
    +3

    Guys I gave them all the evidence possible and I got told that it was not that important. Meanwhile he also scams people via his "mickey mouse" site. He has also changed his FB profile. I hope CBA Fraud does something about it as apparently this was his genuine CBA account. All together as a group sounds like a good idea or a beating on this man and force him to go to the police to tell them what he has done and continues to do so could help. Also a baseball bat!

    • Cave Fire on 05/09/2023 - 19:57
      +1

      Hi, if you make the digital submission it goes to them. Someone eventually reviews it, so will be useful for the others. They may even flag that rego number eventually. He might get lazy and use it again. Wouldn't do vigilante stuff as that can end up bad for either party. With how many people he has scammed in one week, it is only a matter of time for him imo.

    • bamzero on 06/09/2023 - 02:22
      +2

      Hmm, here CBA said the account number didn't exist. Seems strange he would go to so much trouble and leave identifying info like that.

      • [Deactivated] on 06/09/2023 - 09:33

        In that case he does have some sort of app creating the fake receipts. Even worst!

        • bamzero on 06/09/2023 - 10:13

          That's the current thinking.

          You guys might have to co-ordinate and all visit the station together. Maybe a little harder to ignore.

  • simplerick on 05/09/2023 - 17:49
    +3

    Can OP please shed some light on your progress.

    This all feels abit disjointed and now you have daily victims?

    Are you confident of catching this guy soon?

    Launch a campaign to warn others on facebook, do something to mitigate the damage, dont let countless victims suffer!

    https://www.gotocourt.com.au/criminal-law/fraud-in-australia….

    Fraud in New South Wales
    In New South Wales, section 192E of the Crimes Act 1900 makes it an offence to dishonestly:

    Obtain property belonging to another;
    Obtain a financial advantage or cause a financial disadvantage.
    This is punishable by a maximum penalty of imprisonment for 10 years.

    Under section 4B of the Crimes Act 1900, dishonesty is to be assessed according to the standards of ordinary people.

    • [Deactivated] on 05/09/2023 - 18:15
      -6

      … and now you have daily victims?

      I am one …. I keep reading the daily revisions to this work of fiction even though I know better.

      Where do I apply for compensationz?

    • Wayne7497 on 05/09/2023 - 18:33
      +3

      Just by reading your comment seems you have little understanding of " circumstantial evidence " please google it, you'll see 99% evidence spoken about on here is "direct evidence" not circumstantial evidence. As to many going to jail for crimes they didnt commit i find that highly unlikely even more so in property crimes.

      Identification parades never used never seen one done, its an American TV show thing

    • MS Paint on 05/09/2023 - 18:55
      +9

      Username doesn't check out

      • ashdays on 05/09/2023 - 19:39

        Username didn't say which country's agency either :)

  • jlogic on 05/09/2023 - 20:49
    +1

    This guy is living his life as if it was Grand Theft Auto… wouldn't surprise me that the cars he has got are illegal as well, plenty of auto spray shops around and we know he has the cash to pay for it.

  • cocomelon on 06/09/2023 - 15:02

    its time to involve current affair, i dont get it why, the media has to do all the work then the police come interested on joining the wagon

    • Moneyinthebank on 06/09/2023 - 15:20
      +1

      Chief wiggum would do a better job
      Police in Australia are not very good

      • Wayne7497 on 06/09/2023 - 18:26
        +1

        How about Police in NSW, rather than thow everyone in same boat.

        • RSmith on 06/09/2023 - 18:27
          -2

          Victoria would be the same.

        • Moneyinthebank on 06/09/2023 - 19:06
          -2

          Everyone same boat

    • simplerick on 06/09/2023 - 16:07

      There's money to be made in a good news story

      https://youtu.be/Q51YaQ5iCao?feature=shared

      Kind of ridiculous how these scammers are all over gumtree even today, just search Astrology

  • sss333 on 06/09/2023 - 16:51
    +5

    Just saw this thread now, a lot to catch up on, hopefully someone who has followed it all can write up a summary for epic threads when its done.

  • valdracool on 06/09/2023 - 23:22
    +6

    I also been scammed by the guy on Friday 1st , took my Breitling Supercocean Heritage 44 brand new !!! He is flexing it on his facebook profile.
    When I saw him he was wearing a Tag Heuer Carrera and told he me works for 12 years that the star casino.

    Got scammed by PayId … been stupid .
    Anyway I email you lebaussie.
    Going to the police… let’s seee

    • matt-ozb on 06/09/2023 - 23:34
      +2

      what was it worth and why were you selling a brand new watch?

      • valdracool on 07/09/2023 - 06:46
        +1

        Was worth a a good amount he gave 2k cash the rest payid which never ended up coming.
        The watch was gift !

        • matt-ozb on 07/09/2023 - 07:27
          +2

          Wow .. how did you get a $10k watch as a gift?

        • simplerick on 07/09/2023 - 09:47

          You might be the first person to have actually been paid??

          • soundofz on 07/09/2023 - 20:08

            @simplerick: Our clever scammer is good at using tricky tactics. I told him I was in a hurry, and looking back, he kept wasting my time until I agreed to use PayID. I didn't want to use it, but he kept saying we could either wait or call CBA to make things faster (Thanks CBA, your phone lines are painfully slow).

            I think he gave valdracool $2,000 in cash (trust building) because he knew he couldn't buy a $10K watch with just a screenshot. So, I assume he made up a story about an ATM limit of $2,000 and said he would send the rest through PayID.

            • valdracool on 08/09/2023 - 16:12
              +3

              @soundofz: The watch was 5800 on the amount agree… and the deal was happening at 8:30am in a public place .

              Prior meeting he did ask me if I was interested in a Leica Q2 and I was wtf would I do with that and he agreed on cash.

              That Squid game profile picture and his weird Facebook profile was strange but still went ahead.

              Before meeting it was all cash but came up with " I can only get 2000 cash from the atm".

              Did count the 2k which was correct and he did the payId straight in the at Oliver Brown. He bought himself a bloody ice coffee and sat his ***** in front of me and started chatting . He seemed genuine and I let him go with the goods.

              With New payid payment i read someone that fonds could be held for 24h so that why I wasn't too worry and got F****** .

              @matt-ozb look buddy the watch wasn't worth 10k retail and is around the 7ish and I was selling it for 5k around that since I needed to pay some bills more than having a watch I didn't need. And yes I got it as a gift but still didn't need to be scammed ;/

              I emailed a few people email but doesn't seems like any of you has his picture. if someone could share this with me that would be great.

              Went to the popo gave me fraud form that I have to fill and drop back or do online.

    • werdplaya58 on 07/09/2023 - 06:42
      +2

      Just contact @poczynek77 and give him the case number you get from police. That'll then allow your case to be added to the others.

      Be careful who else you contact as not all of the other victims that have popped up on here lately have been verified.

      • simplerick on 07/09/2023 - 06:47
        +1

        How do you verify a victim? Genuine question

        • werdplaya58 on 07/09/2023 - 06:50
          +1

          Them having gone to the police and having a case number that they can cite?

          • simplerick on 07/09/2023 - 06:54
            +2

            @werdplaya58: I guess if OP can get police to verify another victims case number then that's something at least. Assuming other 'victims' are not being fraudulent

          • matt-ozb on 07/09/2023 - 07:28

            @werdplaya58: Not sure about that .. anyone can make up a number

            • werdplaya58 on 07/09/2023 - 07:39

              @matt-ozb: If it's not in the system when OP passes it along, then I guess it's pretty easily identified as made up.

      • valdracool on 07/09/2023 - 06:48

        Not sure anyway that there is any point in contacting anyone than the police .
        Wanted to do a facebook group about this scammer …

        • simplerick on 07/09/2023 - 06:53
          +1

          That's a very smart idea, I've been saying someone should raise awareness on facebook already.

          Besides, why has his profile not been disabled by facebook? Would have thought heaps of victims naturally reported him to facebook by now.

          • werdplaya58 on 07/09/2023 - 06:57
            +1

            @simplerick: Weirdly there's no option to report fraud. I tried to report the profile as hacked but it's also not an option if the person who has been hacked isn't a) yourself, b) your FB friend, or c) a celebrity.

            • simplerick on 07/09/2023 - 11:19

              @werdplaya58: There are options to report the profile as fake, pretending to be someone, fake name, etc when you click the three dots … on his profile page

              • werdplaya58 on 07/09/2023 - 11:26

                @simplerick: Yeah sorry, I should have clarified. I reported as fake and FB responded that it wasn't and took no action. Probably because it is an automated process and it was a real person's account at some point.

                The other option I mentioned above, is to report he is pretending to be someone he isn't, and to do that it requires you to select from those 3 options listed above. Go ahead and try it and see what happens.

                • matt-ozb on 07/09/2023 - 16:47

                  @werdplaya58: That's weird .. why would you want to take down his FB account?

                  • werdplaya58 on 07/09/2023 - 17:11

                    @matt-ozb: It's kind of a moot point anyway because FB won't take it down, and if it did he would just switch to another.

                    But I felt bad that he was using some person's account that still had pictures of that person's kids etc. If it was me I'd hate to have my kids pictures up there alongside his scamming exploits etc.

          • valdracool on 07/09/2023 - 07:58
            +2

            @simplerick: I think it is good that he stay active .

            I can see that he now has a Rolex GMT that he may have scammed from someone.

            I’ll go to the police at least to have a proven record of the item stolen .

            We will get him .

            Are you guys maybe keep on creating a facebook group where we can post as much detail as we can pictures and all to creat awareness?

            I did my transaction at Oliver brown Zetland and got intouch with the owners to get cctv footage . He also bought an ice coffee .

            From memory he has a tatttoo behing his right ear with Chinese characters.

            • Moneyinthebank on 07/09/2023 - 11:30
              +5

              @valdracool: Don't report his account if his account gets deleted
              then you can't track him

  • djones145 on 07/09/2023 - 08:00
    +3

    soemone contact channel 9
    under investigation
    https://www.9now.com.au/under-investigation

    we need australia criminal experts to crack this case and get this person behind bars

  • JIMB0 on 07/09/2023 - 09:16
    +3

    Ehrmantraut would find him.

  • simplerick on 07/09/2023 - 10:01

    I'm genuinely concerned how people will be able to get their goods, money back after this is all done.

    Any victims should be gathering as much evidence as possible ie, facebook chats, proof of ownership for goods sold, text messages to scammer etc.

    What is the process in these situations?

    Court case, pays all the victims back?

    • Wayne7497 on 07/09/2023 - 10:10
      +4

      Chances are they wont get goods back or restitution from the court either, welcome to the Justice system.

      • simplerick on 07/09/2023 - 10:11
        +1

        I will have to believe you on that one, given your experience with the law

        • Wayne7497 on 07/09/2023 - 10:14
          +1

          Well i stopped hanging around for the result after giving evidence in court 25yrs ago, as NEVER was their justice fully for any victims, and i was just getting angrier, so not knowing was better for me,

          • simplerick on 07/09/2023 - 10:15
            +2

            @Wayne7497: This whole thread has made me angry and im not even a victim.

    • Moneyinthebank on 07/09/2023 - 11:08

      They should all find a lawyer to help

      • simplerick on 07/09/2023 - 11:24
        +1

        I believe one of the victims is a lawyer!

    • Kranbone on 07/09/2023 - 12:00

      I doubt they would get their good back. Even if taken to a civil case he'll just avoid paying them back and may even flee abroad.

  • [Deactivated] on 07/09/2023 - 11:14

    Can someone please upload a photo of his Facebook profile? He blocked me

  • simplerick on 07/09/2023 - 11:29

    The other option I mentioned above, is to report he is pretending to be someone he isn't, and to do that it requires you to select from those 3 options listed above. Go ahead and try it and see what happens.

    If someone else, like all the victims care to do that go right ahead :)

    • werdplaya58 on 07/09/2023 - 11:43

      Like I said, there is no option to report you've been scammed by him, and anyway, he blocks all his victims so they can't see his profile. And FB doesn't care. Even if he did get his account closed, from what I can tell, he has at least 60 others FB profiles he controls.

      • simplerick on 07/09/2023 - 12:30
        +1

        Hope I didn't come off dismissive, I just meant im not gonna report him on facebook as Im not involved, hopefully the victims will though

  • werdplaya58 on 07/09/2023 - 12:30
    +14

    Little while ago I did some digging on FB. A few things I found:

    • This guy operates at least two 'PayID casinos' (which I did not know was a thing). Didibet is one and the other is Crownbet888.
    • He tried to establish a scam watch business called Rex99 Enterprise (but seems to have gone nowhere). Seems fairly consistent with his fixation on watches though.
    • The person behind 'Deon' controls at least 60 other FB profiles. 'Deon Hong' and 'Dean Li' have been used in the past for FB marketplace scams.
    • The Dean Li account is a member in a range of other PayID casino / pokies groups.
    • 'Janet Lieu' is another account (listed as 'working at CrownBet888') that looks to be the 'controller' account linking together and coordinating all the other fake slave FB profiles to engage with his various FB pages/businesses. All the slave accounts like and engage with roughly the same set of pages - here's an example from one of the slave profiles:

    https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/187710/106340/screen_s…

    Seems the goal of the PayID casinos is to create an initial presence that is propped up with engagement from the fake profiles and fed in content from these other satellite pages. At the same time, they try to get as many people as possible to accept friend requests from the slave profiles (who are all cliche stock photos of women) so that the casino posts can be shared more widely and rope people in.

    Other things sort of more speculative:
    - Seems like he relocated from Melbourne to Sydney in the past few months
    - Possibly he has a GF (you can see a female hand in Deon's profile pic) who helping with run PayID casino scam. Probably the person who operates the controller account for all slave FB profiles ('Janet Liew').

    • simplerick on 07/09/2023 - 12:32
      +5

      Some fine detective work there mate, reminds me of that case of the hunt for the darkweb kingpin lol

    • Buckshot on 07/09/2023 - 13:07
      +1

      Start the count down on Deon's time as a free man.

  • capslock janitor on 07/09/2023 - 12:39
    +1

    Y'ALL OZBIKIES OUGHTTA BE MAKING A CITIZENS ARREST. VIGILANTE JUSTICE

  • Moneyinthebank on 07/09/2023 - 13:51
    +6

    He posted a photo and wrote batman
    I can't believe he is scamming and showing off
    How reckless

  • desty on 07/09/2023 - 15:38

    How is this person smart enough to have a fake app (does he use android or iPhone btw?) generating fake PayID receipts, yet not smart enough to rotate through multiple/burner phone numbers or Facebook profiles?
    Seriously.

    • soundofz on 07/09/2023 - 20:21
      +2

      He's doing it intentionally, posting pictures of stolen stuff on a fake profile means only the victims can see it. He's definitely keeping an eye on this in OzBargain, so there's no way he doesn't know about it by now.

      • ashdays on 07/09/2023 - 20:22
        +3

        He is rubbing salt on their wounds by posting his loot publicly. This scumbag is lower than the lowest of those cold calling Microsoft/ ATO scammers!

        • soundofz on 07/09/2023 - 20:26
          +1

          Can we figure out his home location from the pictures, Is there any GPS information in them?

          • ashdays on 07/09/2023 - 20:29

            @soundofz: Some tech wiz could probably look at their IP address and figure out

          • MS Paint on 07/09/2023 - 23:22
            +2

            @soundofz: Pretty sure FB removes exif data.

            • capslock janitor on 08/09/2023 - 13:08

              @MS Paint: What's exif

              • MS Paint on 08/09/2023 - 13:10
                +3

                @capslock janitor: answer

                Some social media sites, like Facebook, remove the EXIF data from an image during the upload process. If you’re uploading your photos to your Facebook page as part of your portfolio, any personal data — such as location, time and date — will be removed from the image.

      • Moneyinthebank on 07/09/2023 - 20:54
        +2

        This is like the movie catch me if you can

  • MS Paint on 07/09/2023 - 22:33
    +4

    Not sure if it's just me but the FB page of Deon Hong is not loading anymore.

    • beyond2k on 07/09/2023 - 22:34
      +3

      Yes not coming up for me too

      • Moneyinthebank on 07/09/2023 - 22:37
        +5

        it's gone, it's a shame
        Those who reported shouldn't have now there is no trace of him

        Should of left the profile we could trace him

  • Moneyinthebank on 07/09/2023 - 23:15
    +6

    Profile is back up now
    It must have needed to go through verification and he must have passed
    Maybe his real name is deon

    • MS Paint on 07/09/2023 - 23:18
      +1

      I'm seeing it again also

  • megaclix on 08/09/2023 - 01:18
    -1

    It is interesting - could there be a legal claim against Facebook in this instance, where they have been notified multiple times about this accounts fraudulent activity, but it is still allowed to be active. (I am guessing not, until a law is changed)

  • Nillionaire on 08/09/2023 - 02:52
    -1

    somehow he makes up the Payid on the spot which is pretty good for him to do that!

    Never watched those scambait Youtubers who have a multitude of tools to generate fake shit?

  • Shaneeo on 08/09/2023 - 05:49
    +6

    NSW Police are useless for this sort of thing.
    A couple of years ago I reported fraud at the police station, got given the forms for stat decs etc take home to fill out, took it back to police station and got interrogated around which officer gave me the forms. What time, detailed desc of officer etc. all a bit weird. Was taking a while, and then the new officer came back to check the exact time I came there again. I asked why the EXCACT time so important as No crime was committed in the police station. She then told me she was out the back reviewing the security footage to try and find who gave me the paperwork!
    Turns out they don’t like doing fraud cases.

    So my advice is… how is this guy converting the stolen goods to cash? Are the goods being advertised or sold on fb / gumtree? If they are, pose as buyer, bring ACA camera crew to the meet, expose this POS, and the police will be forced to act. ACA love scammers, and they also love government failings. Both in one story they will be there today. Until the police feel any pressure from media etc, sorry to say, nothing will happen

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