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I Just Got Victimized By a PayPal Scam

G

GizmoFreak

Golden Member
I sold a computer by posting an online classified on Craigslist. Pretty standard stuff. I've sold many items on Craigslist without any problems. Most of these transactions occur in person so there is less risk that one party will be ripped off.

However, this time, the buyer wanted to pay by PayPal. No problem by me, I thought. I'm also a longtime and heavy PayPal user. The buyer paid me via a verified account and sent cash. It was in my account, confirmed, and ready to use. We met in person and I gave him the computer. Then several days later, the transaction was reversed by PayPal. Efforts to reach the buyer or PayPal have been unsuccesful so far, though I'm going to give it a few more days. Now I think what happened was that the buyer hacked into a PayPal account to pay me. The real owner of the account found out later and reversed the transaction.

But the bottom line is that now I'm left without the merchandise or the money. I've done a lot of research on this the past day and it seems that PayPal has a history of screwing over sellers in situations like this. I read a lot of horror stories especially at paypalwarning.com. I'm going to reserve judgment on PayPal until they get back to me, but I'm very concerned that PayPal will screw me over.

What actions can I take? Can I go to my local police department? I don't think I'm going to be able to track down the scammer who took my computer. I'm sure he has many email addresses for his criminal activity. Who do I report this to?

And if PayPal turns out to be unhelpful, how do I go about reporting them or taking some sort of legal action against them?

I don't have all that much in the way of hard evidence. I do have all the emails that the buyer/criminal and I exchanged. I have the record of the transactions on PayPal. But that's about it. Is that enough for anything?

Or am I just screwed. Any advice would be appreciated. I've certainly learned my lesson regarding transactions via PayPal but what I need right now is to figure out how to get my money or merchandise back.
 
Paypal might help you now that eBay owns them.

This happened to a friend almost 4 years ago, he could do nothing. Paypal wouldn't help him, Paypal was like, "Yeah, you're SOL'd." He just had to eat the $200 loss.
 
That's why you should only accept cash if you're meeting someone in person... sometimes people pay with fake money orders.
 
You met locally and had a transation locally thus local Police Dept be your best bet, they might have this guy on file already and since u know what he looks like u mgiht be a big help...
 
There was no Confirmed Ship Address provided because the exchange took place in person. He PayPal'ed cash from a Verified Email, and we met half an hour later for me to drop off the computer.

Argh, I'm so frustrated.

I guess the consensus is to contact my local police dept. Yeah I can ID him but I get this feeling it's not a one man operation. I also have his e-mail and phone number, neither of which I've been able to do much with. He won't respond to emails ro calls obviously.
 
Man this sucks 🙁

Nightmare scenario.

Hope you get your money back or something.

Koing
 
Originally posted by: GizmoFreak
There was no Confirmed Ship Address provided because the exchange took place in person. He PayPal'ed cash from a Verified Email, and we met half an hour later for me to drop off the computer.

Argh, I'm so frustrated.

I guess the consensus is to contact my local police dept. Yeah I can ID him but I get this feeling it's not a one man operation. I also have his e-mail and phone number, neither of which I've been able to do much with. He won't respond to emails ro calls obviously.
Click to expand...

Please try these two searches:

1) Search by name only enter the last name, first initial, and state. Find him?

2) Phone number reverse lookup, any matches?
 
definitely call the cops..he can't be too far away...remember what he drives?..

also, u can try and pm paypaldamon...is he around anymore?
 
Originally posted by: slycat
definitely call the cops..he can't be too far away...remember what he drives?..

also, u can try and pm paypaldamon...is he around anymore?
Click to expand...

Yes he's still around but busy these days, he can be reached via e-mail (damon@paypal.com)
 
Originally posted by: Lifer
if you exchanged goods in person, why didn't you just accept cash?
Click to expand...

He wanted to pay by PayPal. I really just didn't think much of it. The money was in my account as cash. I've used PayPal many times before. I just really didn't think. I know, I know, stupid of me.

RossMAN, phone number search yielded nothing. I don't know his name. Just his email.


I guess I'll have to call the cops. He showed up at the Starbucks (where the exchange occurred) in a cab. I'm in Manhattan, by the way.
 
Originally posted by: GizmoFreak
Originally posted by: Lifer
if you exchanged goods in person, why didn't you just accept cash?
Click to expand...

He wanted to pay by PayPal. I really just didn't think much of it. The money was in my account as cash. I've used PayPal many times before. I just really didn't think. I know, I know, stupid of me.

RossMAN, phone number search yielded nothing. I don't know his name. Just his email.


I guess I'll have to call the cops. He showed up at the Starbucks (where the exchange occurred) in a cab. I'm in Manhattan, by the way.
Click to expand...
Hmmm...

How many days ago did this happen?

If you contact the PD, they might be able to get in touch with Starbucks and pull the security cam tapes...
 
I called the Sprint PCS cell phone number and it went to voicemail, with a standard greeting (no name mentioned).

You're probably screwed but it's worth pursuing with Paypal and Police Departments, good luck.
 
Hmmm...

How many days ago did this happen?

If you contact the PD, they might be able to get in touch with Starbucks and pull the security cam tapes...
Click to expand...

Just this week on Tues. I hope they have security cams.
 
Never use paypal for transactions that aren't being shipped. You will not be protected in any way. You must ship your package through an approved courier (UPS, Fedex, etc) and get confirmation of delivery. You could hand deliver something to the Pope, he can sign a paper stating it was delivered, but a successful chargeback can be brought against you since you did not follow paypal's terms.
 
Happened to a friend of mine, that's basicly paypal's policy. Buyer can rescind payment anytime they want and you're SOL. Sucks, but there's no alternative to them as of yet, really. Personally I wouldn't involve the police, I'd force-feed him a knuckle sandwich 😉
 
Originally posted by: vegetation
Never use paypal for transactions that aren't being shipped. You will not be protected in any way. You must ship your package through an approved courier (UPS, Fedex, etc) and get confirmation of delivery. You could hand deliver something to the Pope, he can sign a paper stating it was delivered, but a successful chargeback can be brought against you since you did not follow paypal's terms.
Click to expand...

YES, I've definitely learned this lesson the hard way. But I've got to fix the situation I'm in now.

I'd love to beat the living crap out of this guy, but I've got a sneaking suspicion that the guy I met with was just some errand boy in a crime syndicate or some sort of organized crime gang.
 
Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
I hacked into Rossmans paypal. Got anything for sale?:shocked:







g/l
Click to expand...

Wow you'll be able to buy a lot with $5 🙂

Just transferred the $2,568 out of there last week. Oh so close.
 
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