A desperate mother was conned by a crook who gave her a fake Samsung phone in return for £750.
Catherine McGill, 53, saved the money all year in the hope to treat 16-year-old son Patrick to a Samsung S22 Ultra as a Christmas present.
But the phone she received was dubbed "one of the worst" fakes by an expert who has seen the device since.
He told the Daily Record thousands of similar high-value devices are in circulation in Scotland alone. Samsung S22 Ultras sell for around £1149 in most shops.
Catherine filmed the silver-tongued crook, and informed the police. Police Scotland initially fobbed Catherine off but after the Daily Record made inquiries, an investigation was launched.
The mum of three, who gets by on benefits, said: “I feel heartbroken and I just keep bursting into tears when I think of it.
“This has wrecked our Christmas because I was saving up all year to get Patrick the top phone. The conman took all the money.
“I was nervous about using Facebook Marketplace but everything is so expensive and I just wanted to get a bargain."
Catherine, from Baillieston, Glasgow, is one of thousands of Brits who will be scammed this Christmas as cyber fraudsters make millions by exploiting the cost-of-living crisis.
The total for all counterfeit goods being sold in Scotland is now estimated to be worth almost £1billion a year.
The woman, who wants to warn others of the scam, said: "I had all sorts of alarm bells going but I thought my failsafe was getting the guy to speak to the camera, as he knew the police would be getting sight of it if the deal wasn’t straight.
“But I think he probably suspected the police would fob me off. I am glad they seem to be taking it seriously now.”
Sites like Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, eBay and TikTok are flooded with con artists using fake accounts to fleece unsuspecting victims.
Catherine said the brass-necked conman – who turned up in an Audi and claimed his name was Bermondo Cherban – told her he had a daughter and that he would never treat anyone badly because of that. The crook’s phone was fitted with a Romanian sim card.
When Catherine phoned the number later, from her own phone, he refused to pick up.
Daily Record called the same number via Whatsapp and the same man in Catherine’s video answered a video call.
The publication asked him to give Catherine her money back but he said he lived in Southampton and had not been in Glasgow since 2019.
Colin Mathieson, of Advice Direct Scotland, said: “On fake and counterfeit goods, there are tell-tale signs we advise people to watch out for, like spelling errors, a lack of warranty or receipt or a failure to display a postal address for the seller. PO boxes are generally not good.
"Following further investigations, this has been recorded as fraud and officers are conducting further inquiries."
Police Scotland said: “We received a report of counterfeit goods, involving a mobile phone, on Sunday, November 13, 2022, in the Baillieston area."
