A Lanarkshire community group have been left devastated after cruel scammers ripped them off for nearly £2000.
The Burnhill Action Group in Rutherglen have recently been working on a new community garden in the 'High Backs' area of the town, and wanted to secure a new shipping container to store a variety of equipment.
After fundraising efforts throughout the last year members of the group, who aim to improve the local area by delivering different activities for families, had earned enough to afford the container, which would be stored at the nearby grounds for Glencairn football club.
The charity agreed a payment with the company ABE Transport, who they saw advertising their products on Facebook Marketplace.
However, after sending over £1990 on July 18, the group have yet to be sent anything, and had no answer to phone calls or emails.
To add to their woe, after raising the matter with Virgin Bank the community outfit were gutted to be told that there was already no longer any money left in the account they had transferred their funds to - with the bank saying they could take no further steps to retrieve the money.
Elizabeth McDonald, one of the founders of the action group, told Lanarkshire Live she had been left heartbroken by the con.
She said: "We had to break the news to the kids and that was the hardest bit.
"We felt responsible for letting them down, and seeing the disappointment in their faces after we explained that the money was gone and there was still no sign of a container. It left us questioning whether we wanted to go on.
"We've needed a storage container for the high backs for a wee while, as the group has been growing.
"We've got gardening equipment, a bouncy castle and we've got bikes we're looking to give out to kids to use as well.
"So the kids themselves had requested a storage container so we could have this, and it's taken about 11 months to earn that money.
"We found a post on Facebook Marketplace offering a container for around £1700 with an additional £250 for delivery.
"We did our research, checked there was a legitimate company called ABE Transport with Companies House and we paid the money."
However, on the scheduled day of the delivery, Elizabeth was contacted and told a shortage of drivers meant the item would need to be delivered a week later.
When that time arrived, there was still no sign of the container - and the company have no longer answered calls or responded to messages.
The website the company used is also currently offline.
Another company called ABE, a road haulage firm, have no connection with ABE Transport.
Elizabeth and the rest of the volunteers have since contacted both the police and Virgin Money regarding the situation.
Virgin Money have been contacted for comment.
ABE Transport were contacted by email but have yet to respond.
However, Elizabeth told us that the group will go right back to fundraising again, after being inspired by the reaction of the kids that use the garden.
She added: "The most amazing thing was the kids all saying they wanted to get back fundraising again.
"It's been an awful thing to happen, but they've motivated us to get going again."
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