Ripped off by a friend, what to do?

I met someone online about 2 years ago. We wrote a lot, gambled and sometimes called. A good friendship developed out of this. We never met because of the great distance from where we lived.

Now to the problem. Last year at the end of November we had written and came up with the subject of Ps5. There he told me he had bought 2 by mistake and now wants to get rid of one. I made the suggestion to buy them. At first he only wanted 100 euro, which I disagreed with because it was too little.

After much back and forth, we agreed on 300 euro. I gave him my address so that he could send it to me. But it didn't arrive, so I wrote to him and asked if he had not been kidding me. I even asked him several times for the tracking number that I didn't get.

He then investigated and told me that the package disappeared during delivery. He then allegedly got a list with the shipment history. This said I received the package and signed for it. He then kind of gave that to his lawyer for damages and blahh.

Because he wanted to make it up to him, he got me a new one, which I never asked him to do. He also wanted to bring these over personally. In addition, he had borrowed 300 euro from me. And since I help my friends when they are in need, I lent it to him. He assured me that he will give me back the money I borrowed if he brings the Ps5 over to me.

He wanted to come over last week. On the day when the time came, however, I got a message from him in which he wrote his gearbox, I said goodbye and that he had to go to the workshop. When I asked in which workshop he was no concrete answer came from him. Now I feel ripped off.

I asked him to transfer the 300 euro he had borrowed to my account. (So that I at least have the money again for now). So he said he had to look at his prints first, but that wouldn't be a problem. Well when I asked today nothing came back from him.

How do I do it now? I would like to sort it out peacefully.

I have a little panic when I threaten him with the police and so on that he blocks me. Unfortunately, I don't know his exact address. Only that he lives near Bremen. : /

Oh dear, I don't think you'll ever see the money again.

You can go to the police, but I don't think they can find out. But who knows…

They might or might not locate his cell phone.

Do you have his phone number? Or is he with WA?

Oh dear You have bad cards there. Sounds almost like some marriage fraudsters do. Play love first and then need money after a while.

You could, but you don't. Your case is too irrelevant for that

Yes, I have his number and he also has WhatsApp

Huh, if you can, do it too. It's always 60 euro and if they have the equipment anyway… The TE won't have been the only "friend" either.

HM ok. There's a chance. I don't know whether fraudsters can fake something… Card cell phone or something, but if he doesn't throw it away in time or deactivate it… Shouldn't scare him off but go to the police quickly.

I'm afraid that you fell for him and that he deliberately abused your suspicions (he probably tested you once to see if you were naive enough to jump into it - and now he has even struck twice and might even try again, because it smells that could be lured out of you even more). Do you have any possible data on him that will determine his identity? Don't threaten him with the police now, but deal with the game so that you can find more clues. Call in the police so they can watch this - they specialize in it and can blow up this scammer.

As far as cyber crime is concerned, the german police work is very retrograde, but hope dies last

Talk to him right away, if it doesn't work then you shouldn't care if he blocks you, because then he's kidding you. Maybe you should go see a lawyer and ask what can be done about it. If he doesn't voluntarily give you the money back then you will probably never see it again.

I'm not going to threaten him with it.

I have his number and he has What's app and also his Playstation name. Meanwhile I'm trying to find out whether he still has facebook and insta.

If I understand correctly, you have him

300 euro transferred for the PS that never arrived and
another 300 euro "borrowed" so he could buy you a new one as a replacement?

Sorry, but I don't understand the second step. Especially since you haven't seen any evidence that he even launched the first PS. Otherwise he could have told you something that the service provider supposedly told him.

This can't be solved peacefully here. To file charges? Against who? Do you know his contact details are correct? Then try, but be prepared for a few questions. Because you did not get into this situation through no fault of your own.

600 beeps were meant, of course… Well, they now have their own departments for stuff like that… Well, they don't have enough staff. I would try.

Oh yes, and in an emergency, I still have the entire chat history + screenshots and have saved the memos separately.

Yes i would try it too

No, the 300 euro he borrowed was for something else as he said he was in dire straits.

The screenshots - that doesn't help. You have to find out his contact details - and call in the police. Threatening is useless. Gather all the data you have and off to the police, and don't let him know anything, he should think the friendship is still intact. It's good that you have something tangible - good luck with it! Let me know what has become of it, I'm now very interested.

Either book it as a lesson and forget it. Even if an ad leads to the fraudster: he definitely doesn't have a cent to repay you. You don't reach into the pocket of a naked person.

Your decision, your nerves -> probably without success.