The owner of an audio shop has gone to the police after receiving scores of complaints from people who say they were scammed by a Facebook page with a similar name to his business.

And recently, things took a more sinister turn when a woman who says she was also scammed by the page – this time by not being paid for work she undertook for it – allegedly received a threat against her life.

For at least six months, a Facebook page called Future Tech has been posting adverts for smartphones, games consoles, laptops, tables and smart watches, attracting around 1,800 likes and followers. 

But according to local audio equipment supplier FutureTech Pro, the page is a scam, with the supplier receiving dozens of calls over the last several months from customers of the page who say they have sent money and not received their items.

“We have nothing to do with it; people keep calling me about the page... I’m fed up,” FutureTech Pro owner Stefan Farrugia said, adding that his shop sold and installed professional audio equipment and did not deal in mobile phones or other consumer electronics. 

Farrugia said while he had managed to warn most potential buyers in time when they contacted him with enquiries, some had already sent the page money for products by the time they called him.

Farrugia stressed that internet users should be wary of social media pages offering products for unrealistically low prices and said that after receiving “a lot” of calls, he decided to report the Future Tech page to the police.

While the page claims to represent a shop based in Gozo, when Times of Malta researched the company, it found a defunct listing in the yellow pages that contained a link to a website which no longer exists and a phone number that did not connect.

It is understood that a shop called Future Tech used to be based at the same Gozo address as the one listed on the Facebook page, but that it closed some time ago. FutureTech Pro, meanwhile, is based in San Ġwann but has a distributor in Gozo.

Threat

Milena Ivanov is one internet user who claims to have fallen victim to the scam – though not as a customer but instead as a worker.

She had been searching for remote part-time work online, keen to find something that could fit around her taking care of her four-year-old daughter, when she stumbled across an advert that seemed to fit the bill.

After enquiring further, Ivanov says she was told by a Facebook user going by the name Leo Charlie that Future Tech needed people to post adverts of mobile phones and other electronics on Facebook marketplace using their personal accounts and forward any enquiries onto the page.

According to screenshots of Facebook messages seen by Times of Malta, Charlie told Ivanov she could choose to be paid €800 every 30 days or €400 every two weeks and would receive a commission on sales.

So, after sending Future Tech her name, address and Revolut details for payment, she got to work. But she soon became suspicious.

I will send my bad boys to track you down and take your life

Weeks went by without her being paid, and when she chased Future Tech for payment she was told to “stop panicking”. The Facebook user operating the page also told her that if she stopped working, she would not be paid for any of her work.

And she had misgivings about the business; she said the page never supplied her with a phone number, communicating mainly over Facebook and sending details of products it wanted her to post online by e-mail.

Eventually she had enough, and made it clear she was terminating her work – at which point things turned nasty.

Telling her, “You are gone”, the operator of the page reminded her they had her home address and Revolut details.

“I will send my bad boys to track you down and take your life,” they said, according to screenshots of Facebook messages exchanged between the page and Ivanov seen by Times of Malta.

Speaking about her experience, Ivanov said she had mixed feelings about the threat.

“It’s scary; I have a child, so I’m scared on the one hand, but on the other, I know it’s only online. So, I don’t know how to feel,” she said.

What would her advice be to others who think they might be getting scammed?

“Always be careful; check the profiles and check if the people are real – if you can speak to them on the phone and it’s a Maltese number, it’s probably okay. And always contact their company first.”

Leo Charlie’s Facebook account became unavailable shortly after being contacted for comment. Future Tech received and read the message but did not respond.