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Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
National
Jennifer Hyland & Laura Ferguson

Glasgow conman says he'll pay back lost cash after latest £100,000 scam claim

A Glasgow conman accused of leaving people £100,000 out of pocket has said he will personally repay everyone.

Matthew Farr, 37, was jailed for his part in a solar panel scheme that saw him using customers' deposits to aid his gambling habit and luxury lifestyle.

He is now at the centre of new rip-off claims at his car repair firm in England and the email address he has given to those who want their money back doesn't appear to exist, the Sunday Mail reports.

READ MORE: Glasgow parking wardens patrolling Rangers and Celtic matches warned to leave before end for safety

Farr, who modelled himself on Jordan Belfort, the fraudster in hit film The Wolf Of Wall Street, vowed to "personally repay all customers and investors" of Masco Detailing Ltd.

A statement on the company website said: "The sum total of personal loss and debt I have now far surpasses the sum total of investors and customers. Living the life of luxury off of other people's money couldn't be further from the truth and I estimate that the number of customers left out of pocket equates to less than 0.1 per cent of all customers serviced by Masco.

"Despite this, I do not wish to see anyone out of pocket due to Masco so my intention is to personally repay all customers and investors who lost money due to the company going out of business from my future earnings."

But victims of the Glasgow conman said their emails had been returned to the sender. The Sunday Mail previous revealed how Farr, who also uses the name Matthew Scott, has been ordered to spend a week in jail after failing to appear in court.

That came after a customer launched a civil action against him over a payment of £3,450 to Masco Detailing for work on his car in August 2021 which was allegedly never carried out or refunded.

He was ordered to pay the man £4078.28 in March last year. Farr did not pay and failed to appear at Nuneaton County Court in Warwickshire about the debt. He was found in contempt of court in December and a warrant was issued.

After being made aware of Farr's new online promise, the victim contacted the firm via the email address provided in order to request a refund. But it bounced back saying the host or domain name was "not found".

The 44-year-old victim said: "I'm not surprised. It's a conman conning people all over again."

A former F1 mechanic also contacted the email address to inquire about a refund on the £10,000 he invested and lost but received a bounce-back email. Masco Detailing was formed in July 2020 with Farr, under the name Scott, as sole director. He persuaded scores of people to invest in the firm with the promise of lucrative returns but they claim he vanished after taking their cash.

Farr, who now lives in Leamington Spa, is also accused by customers of taking money upfront for jobs not done. We spoke to a man who invested more than £75,000 in the firm while another said he handed over £20,000. None of the investors we spoke to saw a return.

When contacted by the Sunday Mail over customer's bounce back emails, Farr blamed a technical issue but said he had contacted Microsoft who had resolved the problem. However when emails from customers again failed to be delivered, he blamed a spelling error in the email address listed on the website.

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