Gmund Cars Ltd & Andrew Mearns FRAUD £1Million stolen

Robertb · 16 May 2019

I have no dog in this fight.

The vendor signed an SOR agreement with the agent, left the car, keys and documents on the premises and the car was sold. The buyer has paid the money in good faith and driven off in his lovely car. All good so far.

The issue is that the vendor has not had his money. This is at best being very slow at paying, at worst trading whilst insolvent, but the car has not been stolen ie taken without consent, and going to the police to say it has may go down like a lead balloon with an overstretched force.

easternjets · 16 May 2019

This has all the makings of a Ponzi Scheme, remember Bernie Madoff who made off with all his customers money?

It's the same premise, you loan me some money I invest it for you, then I pay you back your money plus a bit on top. he used the new investors to pay the old investors and so on till he got caught.
Same as give me your car, I'll sell it for you and give you a good price then I keep the money and buy a flat in the Seychelles!

The man is obviously robbing Peter to pay Paul, if he sold a car tomorrow he'd probably use that poor guys money to pay back Pagoda, the whole thing is a scam and the sooner he gets pulled for it the better and then hopefully made bankrupt.
No doubt 'dibble' will just say 'it's a civil matter' go see your solicitor.

mar1b0ro · 16 May 2019

Might be a good idea to tip off the local press ( Harrogate Advertiser) that something is likely to be going down at Gmund cars on Saturday so that they can get their scoop.. Nothing like a bit of extra publicity.

997 Coast · 16 May 2019

Pagoda1966 said:
Thanks for your continued support and suggestions folks. 9 weeks today since the vehicle changed hands. Although I've got lots of irons in the fire, some of them are taking time to progress, so I'm going to swing by Knaresborough police station on Saturday morning before the Open Day to report the vehicle as stolen.

If what I have planned isn't bad enough, having plod rock up during the day will go down like a bag of cold sick.

Wish I could contact the new owner - who I have no beef with whatsoever - as he could be a powerful ally in this matter. All I know is that he's in Telford and used to own a moonstone 3 door Cosworth. I put something on Pistonheads but no response....

Revs me up - however - You have legal action active.

__________________________________________________

Take care on Saturday - 911.uk deserve praise

patpending · 16 May 2019

Robertb said:
I have no dog in this fight.

The vendor signed an SOR agreement with the agent, left the car, keys and documents on the premises and the car was sold. The buyer has paid the money in good faith and driven off in his lovely car. All good so far.

The issue is that the vendor has not had his money. This is at best being very slow at paying, at worst trading whilst insolvent, but the car has not been stolen ie taken without consent, and going to the police to say it has may go down like a lead balloon with an overstretched force.

How do you know the keeper or buyer has paid in good faith and that the car has not been nicked?

Good faith carries little clout in court and the country is littered with people who buy things in good faith only to come down to earth with a bang.

The legal owner IS NOT a garage doing SOR or even the person named on the V5 and for the avoidance of doubt the courts always side on the legal owners side.

A 3rd party has no title to these goods unless he or she has paid the person who has.

jonttt · 16 May 2019

It is not a Ponzi Scheme by definition but there is a well known (well if your an accountant) accountancy term used for this type of fraud, it is one of the first "schemes" you learn to look out for as an auditor ;-)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teeming_and_lading

It usually starts will all good intentions ie due to cash flow problems money is "borrowed" with the intention of paying it back but it can quickly escalate from there.

This I feel is a classic case of "Teeming and Lading" but using client funds rather than company funds :wink:

I fear it will only get worse until it falls over, eventually.

It is definately fraud and if it can be linked to client funds it is even more serious as the Directors liabilities are even more onerous. One tactic I have used in the past in this kind of scenario (business not personal) is to report your concerns of fraud to the 3rd parties bank. They have a responsibility to investogate fraud (even better if you state your concerns are money laundering) and they may freeze the companies bank account. You have to be careful with this in this scenario though as it may shoot yourself in the foot ie they won't be able to pay you back. A more practical route may be to try to find out who their professional indemnity insurers are and report the matter to them, again may not work in this type of case.

I would report the matter to the police as fraud "Teeming and Lading" using client funds and tell them that you have done that. I think I've stated on here before that the police won;t be interested but your objective is to get to the front of queue so you are the next person paid back.

I would also deifnately report the wife to the local council for fraud whilst a director of this company. I would feel no guilt at all in doing that. The coucil will have a "whistle blowers" policy.

ps I would be very wary of following any "legal" advice on any internet forum, seek proper advice if you feel the need ie I have a feeling the legalalities of this are not as simple or logical as people would imagine. That is partly why he will have got away with it for so long, others will have sought legal advise and probably realised its not a strightforward scenario.

Ps
it looks like he uses CCF Accountancy Ltd,

http://www.ccfaccountancy.co.uk/

I would contact them and state you suspect Teeming and Lading of client funds are being carried out by this client of theirs. Again just be a nuisance ;-)

997 Coast · 16 May 2019

mrgrey · 16 May 2019

Jonttt, not sure this is teeming and lading more like borrowing from a trusting client with the intention of not paying him back until forced to do so.

You are a nice guy Jonttt I'm sure and mix with other nice guys so you want to believe these people have Professional Indemnity Insurance. Unless it came free I doubt they would buy it plus we have a problem with 'Professional' here.

An old Police officer friend of mine told me once don't waste your time/money with the law if you can turn up mob handed and ask for your money. I only ever did it once 7am Sunday morning it worked - back indoors for breakfast paid in full. That's Essex boy for you!

spongebob squarepants · 16 May 2019

Interestingly 911v could be describing Mr Andrew Mearns perfectly

http://www.911virgin.com/porsche/sellusyourcar/ :thumb:

997 Coast · 16 May 2019

:judge:

gmund a company to keep away from.

along with a few others that stink, that tar the good guys

KP964 · 16 May 2019

Weak limp wristed English men ..... He has £50k of your hard earned cash, go and get your money, go every morning & every night, get locked up but keep going back follow him in his car, use a megaphone to let his neighbours know what he is doing, let other businesses know every day, cause a riot man its £50k !!, keep going back to his business and his home, go ask his wife !! .
I would be taking a bible to the Bastrd and his stock .

grbspeedster · 16 May 2019

:agree:
I'd do the same,make life hell for him and his wife. Turn up at home address ,council offices and wait outside business stopping all customers telling them what has gone on
Just looked on 924 Forum ,see reports from previous years events at gmund but could not see a mention of this year.
I suspect the op may well be paid before the event, the event be cancelled due to all negative responses to them or if goes ahead Mearns may well not be in attendance
Shame not nearer otherwise would have attended to help spread the word. Certainly made this known to all I know in the Porsche circles
Hope all gets resolved for the op hate to see people ripped off

patpending · 16 May 2019

Years ago a guy owed me/my business 15k for goods that he bought and sold on but kept sending me bouncy cheques and all the lame excuses under the sun.

He was 150 miles from me but one morning at 6am I'd had enough of this guy and rolled up to his front door and blocked his drive so no cars could get out or in.

He started ranting until he realised who I was and I told him the Audi S8 is staying put until I get paid.

He went to the bank and withdraw the money at 10:01am

I must have been like an enraged gorilla but I'd had simply had enough of this guy and won't say what I told him but he knew I was deadly serious with regards to what I was saying to him.

It was not just the money it was the fact that he was treating me like some muppet that made me take that drive.

On reflection it was not a clever thing to do as it could have gone pear-shaped so don't make the mistake of thinking your going to get paid if you wait a little while but don't wait until your incandescent with rage, as that's when you may do something you regret.ðŸ‘

Gazc2 · 16 May 2019

KP964 said:
Weak limp wristed English men ..... He has £50k of your hard earned cash, go and get your money, go every morning & every night, get locked up but keep going back follow him in his car, use a megaphone to let his neighbours know what he is doing, let other businesses know every day, cause a riot man its £50k !!, keep going back to his business and his home, go ask his wife !! .
I would be taking a bible to the Bastrd and his stock .

Nice to see you out of hibernation keith

KP964 · 16 May 2019

Gazc2 said:
KP964 said:

Weak limp wristed English men ..... He has £50k of your hard earned cash, go and get your money, go every morning & every night, get locked up but keep going back follow him in his car, use a megaphone to let his neighbours know what he is doing, let other businesses know every day, cause a riot man its £50k !!, keep going back to his business and his home, go ask his wife !! .
I would be taking a bible to the Bastrd and his stock .

Click to expand...

Nice to see you out of hibernation keith

Cheers Gaz , ive been hiding under the leafs for a while , hope alls well :thumb:

Gmund Cars Ltd & Andrew Mearns FRAUD £1Million stolen

Robertb

Yas Marina

easternjets

Paul Ricard

mar1b0ro

Trainee

997 Coast

Hockenheim

patpending

Albert Park

jonttt

Monaco

997 Coast

Hockenheim

mrgrey

Monza

spongebob squarepants

Yas Marina

997 Coast

Hockenheim

KP964

Indianapolis

grbspeedster

Hockenheim

patpending

Albert Park

Gazc2

Magny-Cours

KP964

Indianapolis

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