Comment: how the scammers scam the scammers

Ever been scammed? If not, you’re doing well: the National Crime Survey says four million financial frauds have been perpetrated in England and Wales. The Financial Conduct Authority calls it an epidemic.

I fell victim recently. It was a scam with a difference...

A particularly nasty type of fraud is where one gang of scammers sell on their client list to another who con the victims again. They call the databases “mugs lists”.

For a while, a mugs list has been up for sale of the London Capital & Finance scandal, where more than 11,000 savers — largely elderly — look set to lose most of the £237 million they invested.

Posing as a cockney with bad intentions called Lee, I entered negotiations to buy it in the hope of exposing a new twist to the LCF affair. The seller was a middleman calling himself Adam Malik. I suspect his name was as fake as mine.

We negotiated for a while, settling on £1 per name, but I refused to pay until I’d seen a sample. Malik held out for two days more until capitulating with a convincing-looking list of 10 people’s details.

My trap sprung, I eagerly phoned the numbers only for my excitement to be quickly dashed. They all went through to automated voicemail, except the last one. “Gobin Singh” picked up immediately, confirmed he was an LCF victim and enthused about the services I offered to sell. Problem: there is no Gobin Singh. He was a third faker in this little game.

Malik had played me. The list was fake. I was a scammer scammed.

When confronted, he texted back “lol”.

We’ll see who gets the last laugh, though. The police have been informed — and I’ve told them what I reckon is your real name, Wasim.