VICTIMS of a scam in which a fraudster used a fake banking app to trick them into believing he had paid for the electrical devices they were selling online have spoken of their shock.

The scammer struck on separate occasions during the evening of Saturday, June 10.

One victim, who lives on Claremont Road, Billinge, said he had put a laptop up for sale on Facebook Marketplace.

“I had communication with this profile which was this girl. It’s a profile they’d set up and they posted a message to me saying ‘my partner is on the way’,” said the man, who asked to remain anonymous.

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“This boy came at around 8.50pm and went to pay with a mobile banking app which at the time I thought was completely legitimate. I had no idea this fake banking app existed.

“He showed me the transaction. I later found out no money had been transferred and he had blocked me on Facebook.”

He said the scam cost him £450 and the scammer also conned a woman in Haydock out of £800 for a phone on the same night, and it is believed there was another victim in Lower Ince, Wigan.

“We are talking £2,000 worth of stuff, it’s someone who goes after Apple stuff.”

The victim said he has managed to procure CCTV footage from a neighbour and found a potential Facebook profile of the offender but was disappointed to be told by Action Fraud that they would not be referring the matter to Merseyside Police.

“I’ve tried to get as much information, the one thing I was missing was his car registration number but this is what the police are here for.”

Meanwhile, the victim from Haydock said that the fraudster had showed up at her home in Brookside Way, Haydock on the same evening, Saturday, June 10.

She said she had been selling the phone, and the scammer turned up and used the fake online banking app and had not made any payment at all.

In relation to the Haydock incident, Pauline Smith, head of Action Fraud, said: “Action Fraud can confirm that it received NFRC230606001995 on 20 June 2023 and it is currently being assessed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) at the City of London Police.”