No Redemption For Scammer
There was no redemption for a self-confessed Facebook group vape scammer on Judge Rinder
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by Dave Cross
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Darren appeared on the show with his sister and witness Emma. Carmichael brought along his friend Lee, although nobody understood why this chunky chum was there.
Carmichael’s defence was that he’d agreed to refund the money but changed his mind because of Darren’s attitude – and is therefore justified in not paying the money back.
Darren was asked at the outset to describe Carmichael, he gave a two-word reply: “Scammer! Thief!” Carmichael’s opinion of this description elicited incredulous laughter from the audience: “Yeh, spot on.”
Judge Rinder sought clarification by asking Carmichael if he was being sarcastic, to which the stocky Yorkshire man replied: “Well he’s just a pitiful little weasel, plain and simple. He’s owed the £75, that isn’t in dispute, he’s just a little weasel how he’s gone about it.”
This triggered Darren’s sister into commenting, where she called him “the weasel for scamming people”, which brought about a second stunning confession from Carmichael: “Yep, there’s a few, there’s a few, there’s a nice little list.”
Carmichael appeared to be proud of the fact that he has stolen money from people by promising them goods and not delivering them, something that bewildered Judge Rinder, “You’re admitting to that?”
“Yeh,” Carmichael came back, “I’m on something called the scammers list on Facebook. I’m not going to not admit to that, it’s on there. It’s one of them things. On Vape Scammers list – and Vape Court. You get taken to court like this, but on Facebook.”
“You sound proud of it,” exclaimed the TV show host incredulously.
Darren entered a competition to bid on a mystery box of vape gear, in the Vaperz Redemption Facebook group. He won the box with a £75 bid that he sent to Carmichael by bank transfer. The box never arrived.
Carmichael failed to respond to repeated requests for the prize, then failed to refund the money as he had promised.
Carmichael has a long history of problems with the law, claims to have been in prison a number of times, holds a conviction for harassing his pregnant ex-girlfriend and is listed on a number of Facebook scammer groups.
When Carmichael was found guilty of the “serious case of harassment”, he was given a 16-week sentence and an indefinite restraining order. His previous convictions date back to 1997 for various offences including:
- Assault
- Failing to surrender to custody
- Taking a vehicle without consent
- Breach of a community order
Carmichael claims his group has 16,000 members, as of today the actual membership is just over half that figure. He also claims he doesn’t make any money from the group – and was cleared by a benefits fraud investigation team when someone reported him to them. The reluctance to hand back the money apparently stems from Carmichael’s belief that it was Darren who reported him, something Darren strongly denies.
Carmichael obtains free products from vaping companies for review and promotion, and invited Darren onto “a live”. He explained what this entailed: “We talk about things, do games, competitions and taser each other. There were forfeits; whoever won a competition could pick to have a prize or make one of us do a forfeit [nodding and smiling at his friend].”
Judge Rinder pointed out that it is illegal to consent to being tasered or taser someone. The Judge also had to admonish Carmichael for repeatedly calling Darren a “nugget”.
“But he called me a scammer.”
“You called yourself a scammer, sir!”
“Well I am, I’m on me list.”
Unemployed Carmichael claimed that his frequent giveaways were from his personal vape kit, something he purchased himself with his own money because, “I’m good at managing money.”
“You are one of the most brazen defendants I’ve ever had,” added Rinder before informing Carmichael that he couldn’t refuse to refund the money as in law “being a ‘nugget’ is not a legal defence.” Also, the reason the refund didn’t happen couldn’t be because Darren had called Carmichael a scammer on Facebook, “because you admit to that.”
Then Carmichael threatened Darren on national television: “He’s lucky I didn’t get in a car. I’d have gone and leathered him. I’d have been in a criminal court.” Carmichael was forced into withdrawing the threat.
Before pronouncing his judgement, Judge Rinder asked Carmichael if the group had been shut down.
“It’s still going.”
Asked if he was still in charge of it: “Yeh.”
Asked if he is going to hold any further competitions or auctions: “Probably, yeh.”
“People beware,” interjected Emma.
Addressing Darren, Rinder concluded: “I’m appalled at the way Kevin has behaved in the course of this and in my court. [Carmichael mumbled inaudibly], so consequently, sir, this court awards you £75.”
POTV recommends that vapers should think carefully about joining any group or competition run by Kevin John Carmichael. We also suggest that vapers never pay for items by bank transfer or Paypal Friends & Family as it makes it exceptionally difficult to reclaim the payment in the event of problems.
Resources:
- Judge Rinder - https://www.itv.com/hub/judge-rinder/2a3290
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous vape companies to develop content for their websites.
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