The FN Scam merchant.

[Rat Catcher]

Thursday morning it was c.10:30.

[watty]

He turned up in the beautiful seaside resort town of Balbriggan one morning last week, I meant to post it but forgot. Anywaysanall, you were right about him not going for cash up front. I rang him through the Free Now app a couple of minutes after pressing arrived. That's when the name rang a bell, if you'll excuse the pun. I hadn't seen the messages he sent via Free Now but they were there, pretty much as per screenshots in this thread. He wanted my phone number to send pictures of what he wanted me to collect in Dunnes Stores and bring to the hotel. I told him I don't give my number out and I'd need cash up front so I could meet him at the hotel and take it from there... cunt hung up on me. I don't think I got the no contact fee either.

You should definitely contact FN about that scrub fee.  As they reported from their recent "Second Driver Advisory Committee Meeting", they were "prioritising the automation of these [Automated Scrubs] to make things smoother for you. [And they would] be sharing more details on timelines soon."  Your experience could help them become a better company 

[Rat Catcher]

I think you have to select unable to locate victim to qualify for the no contact fee. I probably didn't choose that option as I had contacted the client through the application's telephonic communication facility.

I'm sure the account has been reported to them by now. I think Doc is probably close to the mark in suggesting the apparent desire to harvest our phone numbers for some reason or other, with our Free Now subscriptions possibly being of relevance?

In that case it seems likely that the perpetrator is nowhere near the jobs being input and could well be operating from abroad. If you just wanted a handful of random drivers' phone numbers and you were on the ground it'd be much easier to simply take a short ride and pay by Revolut. It'd certainly make one think twice about accepting Revolut payments in the course of normal business.

[Belker]

He turned up in the beautiful seaside resort town of Balbriggan one morning last week, I meant to post it but forgot. Anywaysanall, you were right about him not going for cash up front. I rang him through the Free Now app a couple of minutes after pressing arrived. That's when the name rang a bell, if you'll excuse the pun. I hadn't seen the messages he sent via Free Now but they were there, pretty much as per screenshots in this thread. He wanted my phone number to send pictures of what he wanted me to collect in Dunnes Stores and bring to the hotel. I told him I don't give my number out and I'd need cash up front so I could meet him at the hotel and take it from there... cunt hung up on me. I don't think I got the no contact fee either.

What FN username did he use ?
Simso ?  Simpson ?

[Belker]

Many months on now and WE seemingly super sleuths still have not figured out how this scam works ??

Defo as both DMG and Rat Catcher suggest, it is surely something to do with getting the taxi drivers phone number or whatsapp number and knowing the drivers FN account ??

Whatever the scam is, it must be working or else he would not be still doing it ??

[Rat Catcher]

Simpson.

[Rat Catcher]

Given that several of the tiny group of drivers on here have been targeted it's clear the scammer's casting a pretty wide net. Fortunately none of us have fallen for whatever the scam is but one can't help wondering how it's been allowed continue for so long. Free Now must be aware of it - are they not addressing it because they can't and/or they don't want to? - and I'd imagine NTAs enforcement officers have heard of it although it may not be within their remit?

[Belker]

My thoughts exactly, but as WE can't figure out what the scam actually is, then most likely neither can FN or the NTA ??

[Rat Catcher]

One would have thought Free Now could make some effort. The fact that they're not doing (or achieving) anything suggests they either have something to hide or it's simply beyond their technical competence. To be fair, computing €5.40 + €3.00 is beyond their technical competence but scams accessing data often involve disgruntled former employees.

[markmiwurdz]

I was probably one of the first to get him,yonks ago,I just thought nothing about it at the time only cancelling and blocking him when I saw the "buy me stuff in a garage shite"