Mattress scam re-appears in West Midlands
- CVS
- Feb 2, 2024
- 2 min read
The frequently seen scam has appeared in the West Midlands.
Several people have taken to social media to share their stories of recently being approached by a mattress scammer.
The scam, appearing across the UK since 2014, involves a person in a van offering a high-quality mattress for a cheap price.
Some have reported being approached by the van on the streets while others have had knocks on their door.
Anyone who buys the mattress finds it is a lower quality mattress than offered with many of these scammers finding old mattresses in skips or tips that they re-package and sell.
While some vans are plain, some fraudsters place legitimate looking logos on their vans and wear shirts that mimic company issued work uniforms.
One user of the app Nextdoor, Ed, has reported being approached by one of these vans, “I’ve been stopped two times in the last six months.
“I only know it’s a scam because someone told me about his friend [who] got caught, by the time he unwrapped it the van had gone with his £100.”
Concerned about the realistic appearance of this scam, Ed said, “Some old vulnerable person might think it’s a good deal and take it.”
Due to the longevity and wide spread of this scam, the National Bed Federation conducted a study into the frequency of victims to this scam, “Unfortunately, our latest research backs up the anecdotal information we’ve been receiving in recent months that this activity is on the rise as fraudsters look to prey on the most vulnerable in society who are struggling the hardest under the burden of rising costs.
“We’ve also heard from retailers and recycling centres that they’ve seen an increase in requests from traders wanting to take old, used mattresses off them.
“We fear the cases we come across are only the tip of the iceberg with many of those scammed either blissfully unaware, or too embarrassed to complain – we estimate that around 280,000 mattresses a year may be being bought this way!”
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