A MAN who planned to spend the money left to him by his late father on creating a dream home and “change his family’s lives” was conned out of £17,000 by a scam builder.

Geraint Davies, 39, found the tradesman online and even had the work measured up - with promises it would be completed within two months.

But instead of bricks and mortar, all he got was a catalogue of excuses before being left “feeling empty inside” when he realised he had been conned.

Mr Davies, from Flint, was left seriously out of pocket and describes the experience as "crippling".

The Leader: Geraint DaviesGeraint Davies (Image: Marco/Richards PR)

But he finally managed to recoup his losses when he contacted legal specialists at CEL Solicitors, who are experts in dealing with fraud and scam cases.  

The father-of-three told consumer rights champion Matt Allwright BBC1’s Morning Live that the money was left to him when his dad died.

He said: “We wanted to do something we’d look back on and think, ‘He’s really helped us out, even though he’s not here’.

“It was a nice gesture that we could use for something worthwhile and it was going to change our lives.”

He said he found a landscaping firm online and was soon paid a visit when measurements were taken and fees discussed.

Mr Davies was quoted £24,000 for the work, with £17,000 to be paid up front as a deposit and to cover the cost of materials.

“Thinking about it now, I probably didn’t do as much homework as I should have done,” he said.

“But he turned up and had the company name on the side of the van, so you take people at face value.

“It was scary (transferring the money) but I was confident he was going to transform my house into this amazing property that we’ve always wanted.”

That dream soon lay in tatters when a series of excuses left him growing increasingly concerned.

The workman was a no-show on day one, when he was due to erect scaffolding. Then the weather and being busy elsewhere were stated as reasons why he couldn’t get underway.

“He even sent a message saying his father had passed away,” said Mr Davies. “We started getting an uncomfortable feeling that something wasn’t right.

“We’d message him and say, ‘You’ve got a lot going on, give us the money back and we’ll come back around to it another time when we’re both free to get the work done’.

“He said there was a problem with his bank, that his account had been frozen. Then it went another few days, a few weeks, then there was silence - no messages back.

“(It felt) crippling. I felt empty inside. I’d thrown my inheritance, and what money we had to do anything memorable with, and just gave it to somebody to line his own pockets.”

But all was not lost as Mr Davies turned to CEL Solicitors, who help hundreds of fraud victims every year.

They decided his bank had not put the necessary safeguards in place to protect its customer from fraud, which is now the most common crime in the UK.

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CEL Solicitors’ CEO Jessica Hampson told Morning Live: “We actually found that Mr Davies acted completely reasonably.

“He had a look at reviews, he spoke to them in person, it would make sense for him to give the deposit that he gave. 

“The bank should have picked up on large amounts of money rapidly going into his account and out of his account to this new payee.

“It had no intervention whatsoever despite the obvious red flags of fraud. You trust the bank to protect your money and they do have a duty of care to the consumers.

“It’s unfortunate that there’s a culture of victim blaming but these scams are so sophisticated that ultimately we all need to be in this together in order to fight fraud.”

As for Mr Davies, he says the legal victory has been a huge boost after the devastating blow of losing his cash.

He added: “I felt light again, like I had a spring in my step. We were going to be able to do nice things again and not have to worry month to month.”