UPDATE: Crowdfund Done! ❤ The target was reached in 4 hours after publishing and within a week it nearly doubled plus the donations continued to come in! It's amazing to have such a strong community supporting the project. Thanks everyone for supporting us. But we decided to close the campaign because we got more than what we need for now. Save your money for the Community Center ;) projectkamp.com/digger UPDATE: We continue to find the scammer! See what we found in the following update: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OKP4CQevYxg.html
Happy to see your hard work in sharing your experience paying off. You are an amazing bunch doing amazing things and I'm glad you were able to fund another digger!
Glad it went well... But I think the guys who did the fraud are attacking Olx again. Now the name of the company has changed... but the conversation is the same "imported without VAT from Ireland". When my wife and I saw your video, we fell to the floor. In the last two years we ordered 2 machines, one from the Netherlands and the other from Poland and everything went well but we used the same selection method as you did. We were lucky... we really liked the company from the Netherlands, they even sent us pictures of how the machine was loaded. But the same thing could have happened to us, we were left with our mouths open.
sorry put i have to say, welcome to real world... haha, i laugh for not cry... never buy with internet. The buy web of argentina got all of this things, so no difference from this countrys...
For anyone else who is trying to import any large value shipment: consider setting up a Letter of Credit(LoC) payment with a trusted bank. The bank holds the payment funds in escrow until the terms of the LoC are fulfilled. This usually includes presentation of original (not copies!) shipping documents to the bank that can be verified before payment is released (Usually an original BIll of Lading from the shipping company). The Terms can also include Proof of Delivery (PoD) documents that insure that the funds are not released until the goods are received.
You need to flag this to the Serious Organized Crime Agency, the National Crime Agency and Serious Fraud Office here in the UK and flag it to them to investigate in more depth
@@BM-si2ei I think that's probably safe to say. There's some excellent advice in this thread for them to follow now. Especially that letter of credit!
Banks can re-book money for 90 days. Make that ASAP, go to the police and make the scam official, give that to the bank as proof, and get a lawyer just in case the bank says it can't do anything.
i think they cannot based on transfer they have made, those scammers choose and tell you which transfer to use, send it to account lets say of nonexistent person, and then withdraw money from ATM as fast as possible.
usually only if the money is still in the account, if its gone (ie. transferred to another bank for example) there is no money to rebook, they wont magically make that money re-appear. that would be why they kept dave busy for a while, so they can move the money,
@@michlblacksmith yes and? Even if the money is gone and you don't believe for a second you will get it back not reporting it is incredibly stupid and selfish. Why complain that police never do anything if people don't even report this. If they scam 20 people is much more likely someone will look into it if those people report it then if nothing gets reported. Also banks have regulatory duties and I guess they'll not even report an incident if not police report is provided as evidence.
Although this is such a terrible situation, I was incredibly impressed with your sense of humor and ability to shoot a great video about it. Really rooting for you guys to make the best of this situation - and for them to get caught.
@@AgentJo-i1u What a crappy thing to say. Not helpful at all. This community is trying to do something hard. They are planning, rebuilding, renovating, clearing invasive species, reshaping the land, repairing, managing people, feeding people, making electricity, and more. How much time have you spent on the property helping them with their work?
I'm a 30+ year IT consultant, in cyber-sec and it doesn't surprise me that he dragged you along. I also wouldn't be surprised that all his information is made up and there's nothing there to trace him. When it comes to these scams it's much easier to track them down in real-time; to try to track them down once the communication is cut involves a lot of luck. Hopefully he left some real clues behind, or someone else comes forward with more substantive information. Good luck and I just subscribed, love what you young people are doing!
@@TheCow2face It's rare that a company so new would already have so many positive reviews. They must have made multiple accounts and left themselves reviews. Boooooo. 👎🙄
@@StaceNyourFace It's definitely not a huge red flag. Maybe a small hint. The Company could be new, 7 ratings are legit. I know companies with 1000+ legit ratings in a year. One of my shops, opened last year is also easy at 150+ without begging for it. maps.app.goo.gl/cc1p4tksPrkZc6N39
Agreed, I'm an American but as a native English speaker there were a few syntax & grammar errors after the first email that started setting off alarm bells in my head.
@@GreenHair81 agree about the language. A native speaker might make spelling mistakes when in a hurry, but these were 'official' emails and would/should be revised and edited. But these details can be hard to spot If you're not a native speaker yourself.
Mark Mccann (yt) not long ago did an expose on how this scam works; a digital fake front on top of a real unclaimed google maps business, either past or present. I'm sorry the project got scammed.
I had 5k$ stolen from a builder. I fought for a year to get it back, to no avail. The authorities did nothing. Town's people laughed and said, "he does that all the time. " Not one of my best experiences. I'd like to forget it.
The reason they delay for so long, is so you can't get a refund with your credit card campany, any thing over 25-30 days is impossible to reverse. Main reason why the scammers keep in contact for a certain time.
it was payed by a back fund transfer, no credit card company involved. Is still possibile to recover the money from the receiving bank as they didn't check the account owner properly
@@ThePapaupa12 If this was even theirs to begin with. Oftentimes they partake in another scam where the victim is said to transfer the money to another victim's bank account who then transfers it further to another one. I mean even setting up an account is pretty easy, they go to a homeless person and for like 2 bottles of liquor you get an official account. Happens all the time in Germany too. Then you have companies (LTD) with such a straw guy as ceo, oftentimes even German name for increased trust but any money you send gets wired to Dubai the second you put it into their account. Rules are for people that obey them, not globalist scammers
Just love to see how the power of community working... And specifically the mercy of the Project Kamp broader community, it really touches me. I'll send you by email the contact of my father who knows a looot of machine retailers in the Center part of Portugal (his job is to sell them filters for the machines). Use someone who speak Portuguese to get in contact with him, I'm sure he will be glad to help you guys!
Their are some very active youtubers that fight against scammers. One youtuber even made a video about fake companies pretending to sell such vehicules as your digger. These guys are amazing IT geeks and may be able to track and expose your scammers.
Absolutely crazy situation but incredible you've raised MORE than you lost in such a short space of time. You'll be able to get a better digger now thanks to your fans
I was thinking last video that when you looked on Google Maps, "ask one of your irish fans to check out the location". What done is done, and I agree with Dave, make the most out of what happens.
he should have done that before paying anything. i have gotten scammed before. use a third party so i can get my money back. the nature of my business it happens.
I had a mate who sent a local taxi to the seller to see if the machine was there in the yard,the driver was into the whole situation and even facetime my mate and showed him the whole yard to prove that he was being scammed ,everybody hates the scammers
I'm from Ballymena and I know that google location - its a local council road service depot - those vehicles are mostly gritters for road salt - unfortunately the address is a total dead end for your purposes. ...but looks like you'll be getting a digger soon in any case! good luck with it all and keep on keeping on!
You are not stupid. It makes you feel so bad. These scammers are so clever and so corrupt. It's the feeling of total injustice. I nearly got scammed by a person impersonating my friend and it left me feeling so bad. If you can sort it in anyway I really hope you can. But otherwise just put it down to a hard lesson learned. You are so genuine a group of people to even share this scam to us. Love you and bless you all
Hi Dave you are a good person and Project Kamp is a virtuous mission with kind people. Please don’t be hard on yourself. You were scammed by a criminal. Nothing you did was wrong or foolish. Barclay bank should help you but trust me they won’t. I was scammed by a cab driver who charged me 1,000 euros when the actual fare was 8.30 euros he gave me a receipt for 8.30 euros. It took me 7 months to get Barclay to refund me the money. Please stay focused on your mission. It will work out in the long run. All my best…Joe.
This actually made me thinking. How Dave found the page of this fake company? "People advised us to import it"... who did? Could it be that the scammer was one of those people?
Two things that raise a red flag for me: - the language in the messages from the “seller” does not read as if the writer has English as their first language - Barclays Bank does not operate in Northern Ireland
Thats maybe obvious for you but not for us non-english speakers. I thought it was legit since we saw company on .gov site and google maps with images showing some heavy machinery on their land. It is sad that those scammers are using some random companies and the bank did not investigate this CROSS BORDER transactions since any payments above 10k with no history are checked but most likely not for businesses but just retail customers.
Man this is a very tough lesson. Your honesty about the whole thing is refreshing though. It’s easy to look back and see the red flags. Not so easy when you’re in the middle of it. The person you were communicating with didn’t seem like they spoke English as a first language but that isn’t always obvious. As a rule you shouldn’t really buy any plant equipment that you haven’t physically put hands on and checked out yourself. It would have probably cost you less than €200 to get a flight over and check things out in person. Not a lot when you think about the amount of money involved. I think I would stick to buying in Portugal or Spain where you can drive to and look at things yourself. Take a mechanic or an operator with you to go over the machine to make sure it’s as advertised. At least you won’t fall for it again. Definitely file a police report in Portugal and in NI. It won’t get you anything back but it’s the right thing to do. Good luck next time around!
@@adamtash2891 strong words!. Not inaccurate but I prefer very naive! If you’re planning to spend an amount you can’t afford to lose then you should do it face to face. Make sure you can run the machine and not just at idle. If the seller isn’t happy with you digging a hole and pushing the hydraulics under load then walk away. Small excavators are everywhere so there are always other options. I’d rather spend a few quid on a cheap hotel and a flight than empty my wallet only to find you’ve bought fresh air or a machine that’s a liability. And always assume it’s never been serviced properly or greased often enough!
@@TheBrick2 very true. When you find a good one you want to pick it up yourself. Sellers can charge the earth for delivery so it’s best to get it yourself if you can.
@@markcallaghan843 i mean overall i really enjoy the page and dont wanna sound mean....but I find myself thinking in every video that the level of effort is bare minimum in many aspects and consistently naive.........I suppose the types of people that end up in a free camp are not going to be the type of people that actually get things done at a fast rate....it makes sense....but for example, they shouldve cleared the land in the first year not year 4 or whatever it will be....i hope a fire doesnt come and destroy everything bc they are not ready.....and they should be.
What you guys are doing at project kamp is transforming old energy into new. This is part of it. How unfortunate and unfair it may be. Let it play our in a bigger timeline and your smiles will be big. Much luck on the path for all of you!
8 hours later and they already hit and exceeded their target! Good going kampers! Feel sorry for you guys, but hopefully this outpouring of goodwill helps heal your heart a bit.
Time to go to the police. And ask an attorney how to proceed. Also ask if your bank can recapture those funds. Oh God, I feel so bad for you all. Heartbreaking!! Don’t take it too personally. And remember, the law of karma ALWAYS catches up with you! Always. Just donated. Good will conquer evil , that too is a universal law!
This does work but takes a while if the scammer has closed the account. We only lost $34 USD, BUT since we had paid through PayPal, they were able to recover it and forced the scammer to shut down their accounts, Shopify closed their account, etc. I realize that this is bigger, but maybe by having a "buyer" or a bank do the transaction for you (like PayPal) they have more standing to go after the scammer.
Hope the refund comes back to it. Go in-person to the next places. Its great to have super fans allover the world watching you guys. Use us as much as you can next time
Oh noooo 😢! Sorry to hear that! I also felt bad when I saw that the bad guy blamed "(Brazilians)" for the scam... besides being a thief he is helping to spread prejudice against Brazilian foreigners... so sad!
Contact the police in Northern Ireland, they are the PSNI. It is import to report it, as the higher the value of the scam, the more time and resources will be given towards the investigation.
Jesus. I am so sorry guys... I can only imagine how frustrating can it be. Is really difficult to avoid this kind of things. They play with people's needs. Cannot support you economically at this moment, but always watch you and speak about your project as a reference.
Don't feel stupid you did your due diligence and tried everything to confirm that is a real business. I've been scammed before and i was pissed. These people are low lifes and deserve to be in jail Keep working on it and you will get some satisfaction
I don't know how you stay so calm. I wish I was so inclined. I am sick to my stomach that this has happened to you wonderfully thoughtful people. Good luck and sending good karma.
I know I'm not out there with you guys but after watching your vids from literally DAY 1 fell invested you know? I wanna extend a thank you to the guy in N. Ireland that made the trip up to look. I feel burned for your project, sucks! But you got great folks with funds to help and I KNOW it'll happen in time to still meet your goals this season! Cheers you guys!! And so sorry you got screwed!
I am so disgusted with the type of people who think it's okay to steal/scam/whatever you want to call it! I am so sorry that this has happened to you but the scammers, as many have also said, are very clever! My husband and I have had a similar experience with buying a business and we, like you guys, carried out due diligence..... long story but essentially we lost everything we invested...... I really hope that you can get some justice and that karma comes and bites the scammer squarely in the back-side! In the meantime, we will make a small donation towards the next digger - maybe Caterpillar or JCB do the decent thing. 🥰
One lesson learnt is how strong and caring your community is! So maybe next time if you find a digger somewhere else in Europe you can ask the community to check them out before buying, and I saw a lot of very good advice on bank procedures to ensure the money is released to the seller only when you get the goods. Lots of good lessons learnt for all of us really ❤
😢😢 Heartbreaking… felt really sorry as I watched this episode. Thank you for this video despite feeling all shitty being scammed. The message fr ur vid helps keep our guards up against (possible) scammers.
Amazing community support! 🎉 Looking forward to seeing your new digger help you. Yes for Justice. Yes for waterfall crying. You are blessed by many hearts Dave, pk and all.
Don't think you need to be chasing Milo Webb. The guys name on Companies House is Ian Keith Furguson of 21 Carnlea Road, Ballymena. Looks very rural, but maybe send your man there?
Came here to say this. Their identity was verified electronically and their address is on the LTD filing documents. I don't see why someone would set up a scam shell 1hr from their house, so potential identity theft included as well
Ballymena isn’t really that rural - there is also a main Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in the town. The station is no more than 2 miles from this address. Online scams need to be investigated by either the country in which the company originates, or the country in which the initial enquiry from a customer originates. This has nothing, thus far, to do with a National Crime Agency, as a poster has suggested. Contact police in Portugal, and PSNI in Northern Ireland - they will keep you right. I really, really hope you make some headway with this - I’ve watched your channel for some time, and I adore your ethos!
Can you connect with private investigators so as to offer them this data, if they combine it with their clients info they might be able to add some more pieces to the puzzle and find this "#!@&" (
My grandparents almost fell for a scam recently - it's so hard nowadays, especially in your case where they send official looking documents and are super communicative.
Bro, I hate when good people are scammed and I hate even more when it's hard to find justice. If things don't go well with the authorities, last resort is 4chan. Hope you get your money back and buy a proper digger to make wonders on that nice piece of land you got there! Thanks for being nice people and for sharing your journey. 🙏🙏
Man ik ken het gevoel, je verwacht nooit dat je gescamd wordt totdat het gebeurt. Hopelijk neem je het jezelf niet al te kwalijk, we gaan uit van het goede in mensen. Veel sterkte!
Hey Dave. Scammers are out there hard these days, I work in the anti-fraud industry and believe me even the most experienced investigator could be scammed so don't feel stupid. You need to report this to your bank and to the Portuguese Police. With some luck, your bank could contact the receiving bank and they will evaluate and perhaps you might get refunded. Best of luck
COMMUNITY and FRIENDSHIP is everything! Good luck with your compensation and digger projects. Evil greedy people are in the minority, but nice guys are everywhere and will help you :o)
Biggest tip: when you don't have experience importing / exporting, use a quality control company you can find in most countries. They will visit the site, checks the thing you want to purchase and then you'll make further arrangements / pay etc. Costs a penny, but atleast you're safe.
Usually the header information in the mail will give you some information on where the mail actually came from if it wasn't faked. Might want to check that. Sorry to hear that you got scammed. I think one good general rule is never to pay upfront and to use payment methods that give you extra security like PayPal. Good luck! Looking forward to the actual digger!
I love this video so much! Thank you for your transparency in this difficult situation and sharing with all of us! We all love seeing your journey every update, the good and the bad. I have been scammed in the past as well and I loved seeing that others on the discord were able to help and confirm suspicions for you from very far away! I was cheering when I saw the dashcam footage and loved that you exposed the scammer to 180+ thousand viewers! Much love from Los Angeles! I hope to come work and play at Project Kamp some day in the future :) May you never stop growing.
Donated what we could. Hope this helps. Your videos are really cool and interesting and i look forward to them every Monday. Good luck with the crowd funder.
Although he kept a positive attitude through the video at some point you can see the sadness in his eyes… the lost faith in humanity kind of it… I mean this guys are doing such a noble work there, put so much effort in it, all for the greater good of their piece of this planet, maybe even more by being an example for others and then this happens, they run into greedy shameless pigs. I guess this is something that unfortunately most of likewise people have to deal with. Time to show resilience and with help, support and appreciation to keep going forward with this beautiful project.
Hey, really sorry to hear this. Please remember you guys are not to blame. Some scammers are just really smart and they could have fooled me as well. That said, dear fellow commenters, shall we just stop all this pointless hindsight advise? It taste really sour, does no one any real good, and shifts the blame to the victim not the perpetrator. I am sure Project Kamp are beating themselves up enough without all that. Love to you all!
I actually think a lot of it is useful information for everyone reading to look out for. And some people are giving good advise for the upcoming purchase of the digger, like the information about the Letter of Credit
@@buttspantser That might be the case and it is a fair point, I have to admit. However, there is something like a time and a place. You can bet they feel real bad and the last thing they probably want is hindsight advise. Can you imagine sharing you have been robbed and people immediately 'helpfully' saying you should not have walked down road X in the first place? It doesn't matter really how well you mean your comment. It comes across as callous if you don't get the timing and phrasing right. Besides that, most comments were basically just repeating what they already said themselves.
Thanks for sharing. It gave me the motivation to leave a complaint against a construction company that was supposed to build our dream home and instead scammed us. You think such things don't happen to you, but then it does and it is devastating. Just know it is not your fault ❤
thanks for sharing this very important info. the scammers got a lot better. i saw some scam listings before but the websites involved were so bad that it was obvious… this was really convincing imo. sorry this happened to you
Some people are being tough with you in the comments. Being scammed happens and scammers are becoming more clever by the minute. It’s not you’re fault and a victim of a crime should never been blamed for it! I hope everything goes well in the future for this great Project Kamp. 😊
Exactly! Can't believe some of the comments... it's never a good idea to put shame on the victim... yeah, in hinsight there are red flags but mistakes happen
Having worked in financial services, the first thing you should do is call the the bank where the payment went to (should be shown in your bank account statment) and report it that it's involved in possible fraud. Then report it to your bank account as a payment that has been involved in possible fraud. They might ask you for a crime reference number but I'm not sure how they would deal with it if it's a Portuguese account. In the UK the bank can issue a refund If it's confirmed to be involved in a scam/fraud.
Sould definetly always be the first thing. Most times banks want their own customer to be happy. With the banking system they are able to backcharge the money. Banks don‘t have anything to loose. Because worst case the seller will sue the buyer for not paying up.
So sorry to hear that! All of it seemed legit, so don't feel stupid. It's not about intelligence, scammers will try to scam everyone. Thanks for sharing your story! People must learn that not only old people can get into traps like that.
That is absolutely wild! I live in Belfast, not too far from Ballymena. That was a fairly sophisticated scam, they went as far as setting up a company and picking an address that looked plausible from google maps. It might be worth while speaking to the PSNI, thats the local police force in Northern Ireland.
