A SUSPECTED fraudster accused of conning people out of money online has been reported to the police.

Daniel Hedges, from Colchester, has been reported to Action Fraud in relation to items of clothing listed for sale on marketplace app Depop.

A PayPal account under Hedges' name received payment from customers – including a Worcester man – but the items were never received.

The Depop account, named atvdanz and with the title A.Designer_limited_ listed designer trainers and baseball caps for sale.

A man from Worcester paid Hedges £150 for a pair of Christian Louboutin trainers but quickly realised he had been scammed.

The man, who did not wish to be named, said: “I’ve used Depop a few times and never had a problem and saw the trainers on there for £150 which is a bargain, even for a second-hand pair.

“The seller, atvdanz, was initially asking for £180 but we agreed on £150 and I transferred the money via Depop, which uses PayPal for transactions, because both Depop and PayPal say they’ll refund you if the item never arrives.

“On my PayPal account, I could see that the £150 had been paid into the account of a Daniel Hedges with the email address hedgesdan0@gmail.com and a postal address in Colchester. I thought ‘he can’t be a fraudster as he wouldn’t be stupid enough to use his name, email address and a postal address’ – but it looks like I was wrong.

“Via Depop, he told me that he’d send me a photo showing the stamped and addressed parcel containing the trainers when he was about to send them, but that never happened. When I contacted him he didn’t reply and then blocked me. That was when I realised I’d been scammed.

“I reported the matter to Depop and Paypal and they’re both now investigating. PayPal said they'll refund me if Hedges can't prove he sent the trainers, so I'll get my money back.

"I emailed Hedges to see what he had to say. I then got a message from PayPal to say that Hedges had sent me an echeque for £150 and that it’d take up to seven days for the money to process, but the money never cleared.

“A few days later, Hedges replied to my email to say the £150 hadn’t arrived because he had no money in his bank account.

“He apologised and begged me not to go to the press, and claimed someone had paid him £20 to use his Depop account and they were the one who had defrauded people, not him. He said they had used Depop to scam three people. When I asked who this person was and why he hadn’t reported them to the police, he said he ‘wasn’t a snitch’.”

The Worcester man has reported Hedges to police organisation Action Fraud, which has launched an investigation.

Our reporter emailed Hedges for a comment but he did not respond.

Depop has now shut down the Depop account and PayPal is investigating.

There is an Instagram account with the title A.Designers_limited_ which sells designer clothes and shoes including the same pair of Louboutin trainers which Hedges listed on Depop. The Instagram page and Depop account also had the same strapline of ‘A.designers The World at Your Feet’.

When our reporter contacted the Instagram page, a woman called him and said that the Depop account was not connected to the Instagram page. The Instagram page has now been deleted.