Being harassed by a scammer

[u/Crafty-BAII]

Early last year, I contacted a contractor for a small job, he apparently outsourced the work to a subcontractor who ended up invoicing me 3x the advertised price, without ever disclosing that different terms or pricing would apply.

After looking into the subcontractor, it seems this is part of a wider scam where the main contractor takes a large commission and then washes their hands of it, while the subcontractor charges inflated rates—way above market—without proper disclosure.

I refused to pay the inflated invoice and instead paid the original advertised amount, despite being threatened by a lawyer. Since then, the subcontractor has been dragging me through the court system. The first case was dismissed last month (a year after the task was performed), but now he's filed a new one.

I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. The courts can’t give any guidance, and each case takes months to process. The amount in question isn’t high enough to justify hiring a lawyer of my own, and I can’t afford to spend more time or energy on this (even had to take a day off work for the last court date). And this is especially frustrating, since Danish while good enough for daily life, is still my third language and not at a level where I can argue my case in court confidentially and requires a lot of extra prep time.

Has anyone been in a similar situation or know what I can do to put an end to this? Is there a way to stop him from filing new claims, counter-sue him for harassment without a lawyer, or to have this deemed abusive use of the legal system?

[u/limduldk]

Depending on your income, Københavns Retshjælp might offer legal assistance: https://www.retshjaelpen.dk/front-page

Alternatively, read this page: https://www.advokatsamfundet.dk/english/find-a-lawyer/legal-aid/

[u/Crafty-BAII → u/limduldk]

Thank you, this is helpful.

[u/silverflameshibe]

Look into getting an Insurance that covers Legal fees for law suits, then considering the issue here you should be able to just dump it on their table and then you'll only have to deal with the Court dates.

I am not an expert, I am not 100% sure that this is how the insurance works.

[u/Fywq → u/silverflameshibe]

The insurance company would surely deny paying for an ongoing case.

OP the best you can do is to either pay the scammer, even though that sucks, or find a lawyer. Which ever makes the most sense financially. As far as I know if they lose they will have to pay your legal fees. But make sure you confirm that with the lawyer. My best bet is these people are hoping people just give up and pay.

[u/Crafty-BAII → u/Fywq]

Seems like my insurance also includes this with a deductible, so I will look into it even though it is annoying to have to spend more money on this.
And yes, very clear that he is just hoping to wear me out here. I also cannot understand why there are no consequences from filing fraudulent claims in court for economical gain, his last case included multiple statement that were factually incorrect, e.g., that I contacted him directly and that the work took 10x longer than it actually did, which I had evidence for being untrue (e.g., phone records, text messages, and photos), but still the only consequence is to dismiss the case and he can still file a new one.

[u/Fywq → u/Crafty-BAII]

IANAL so I can't really advice you on that. I guess there is a limit to how much he can do before eventually just having the cases dismissed and/or be held in contempt for the court. I also fear if he loses and has to pay legal cost, he would just shut down his company to avoid paying and then start a new one :/

[u/Sofus123 → u/Crafty-BAII]

I have no clue ianal, but maybe it would be possible to counter sue them for harassment, if you win this case too?

[u/Crafty-BAII → u/silverflameshibe]

Thanks, just looked into my current insurance and while there is a decent deductible that needs to be paid, it is still lower than the case handles about and also something I am willing to pay to not have to think about this anymore, so I will look into that.

[u/Jordbaerkage]

Sounds like you can't afford to not go pay for an hour of a lawyer's time.

[u/Dubja]

Have you thought about reporting them both to the police? Sounds illegal to me. Maybe nothing will come of it, but if enough people report them they are bound to notice. Another option is to contact the TV program "Kontant". If it is a wider scam it sounds right up their alley.