posted on June 16, 2000 06:53:07 AM new
Please be cautious of any money requests thru paypal. At the close of an auction/ebay that I won, I was sent a $ request indicating the item, winning bid and shipping. Unfortunately I sent the $, to soon discover this was not the seller. This fraud stold 160.00 from me.I realize the mistakes I made, however I find it extremely disheartening that no one cares enough to investigate, paypal has flat out told me there is nothing they will do.What is the purpose of a fraud dept of they are not interested in catching a thief??????? kb
posted on June 16, 2000 10:40:15 AM new
Pardon me for asking, but isn't it a little stupid to be sending money through Paypal or any service without checking out the information first? We're talking a very remedial system of checks and balances here...if the guy's email address is different from the seller's, don't send money. Get confirmation of any discrepancies first.
Don't blame a service for your own laxity of vigilance in protecting your interests.
If the guy is indeed perpetuating fraud of some sort, I know I've read instances of where Paypal will freeze the person's account. But it is really not their fault YOU sent the money to the wrong person.
posted on June 16, 2000 12:29:00 PM new
First let me thank you for calling me stupid, I hope you don't speak to your children that way. I didn't realize I had to be a private investigator to partake in the auction scene, I've learned my big lesson, rest assured. Although it may not be paypals fault (I never said it was) it would have been nice if they had taken some interest, after all this scam artist did facilitate his theft thru their service. I called them immediately to freeze the bogus sellers account, and nothing was done. Your compassion is truly appreciated, I think I'll go back to the antique malls and Neimans from now on, hope you never find yourself in a similiar situation. missy ps.lots of people have more than 1 email address, I forgot not everyone is as honest as me................
posted on June 16, 2000 08:30:40 PM new
I wasn't calling you stupid, kab...it was a generalization for everyone who doesn't read things through before they do act.
Perhaps everyone does need to be a bit of a P.I. nowadays...it's called using common sense and getting proper corroboration before dealing out your hard-earned cash.
If I get a message from a seller about an item, and it has a different email address than the seller on eBay has, I am going to message the seller on the original address and find out if he sent it through the other address before I send any money. This is especially true of things like Paypal. I personally have 4 or 5 email addresses linked to my account, and I make sure that in the message, the people know it is me.
I have NEVER and WILL NEVER send a request for money unless a buyer asks me too first (and I have had several who have done so, because it is easier for them to access the information on the auction and speed up their payments). The buyer will let me know if they want to use the service...I just offer it with all my other payment options.
posted on June 16, 2000 08:31:27 PM new
My advice is to call your credit card sompany, if applicable, and thell them that you didn't authorize any charge. They will charge it back to Paypal who will charge it back to the seller.
posted on June 21, 2000 02:06:36 AM new
kab, this is the link to Internet Fraud Complaint Center, file a complaint with them, I tried it once and was amazed at their reponse, but canceled the complaint when I finally received the item after waiting for over a month, check it:
https://www.ifccfbi.gov/
[ edited by bebonly on Jun 21, 2000 02:08 AM ]
posted on June 30, 2000 01:59:01 PM new
kab123, sorry to here what happened and the amazingly compassionate response from Mr or Ms Red, I wish I was a robot and never made mistakes the reality is that we have more than one dimension to our lives and cannot concentrate on the task in hand at all times, in other words you made a mistake and have shared that experience with others to warn them! i thank you and I will stick to paying people in the US by Writecheck, no problems to date, and I am in control!
posted on July 11, 2000 07:20:22 PM new
Thanks for asking! I received absolutely zero help from paypal, or ebay, or the internet fraud dept, and to top it off my cc company has denied my dispute. Amazing. I have filed a claim w/ ebay insurance and am still awaiting a reply! Perhaps this scammer knew I would't find much help and figured it was an easy steal. Hope no one else has had to go thru this maze of deciet. I'll update you should I find any resolve, thanks, Kab
You are not alone. The *exact* thing happened to me as well. I received an email before the auction was over, saying something like "I always send out EOA emails before the auction is over - because this is a dutch auction and anyone who bids is a winner. Please send your Paypal payment to me at this address, blah blah blah..." Well, I assumed this was the seller and sent the money. The payment was for around $23. A little while went by and the auction ended and I received an email from the REAL seller. She said not to send payments to ANYONE else but at her address because someone was scamming all her bidders! (And she had HUNDREDS of bids per dutch auction). I IMMEDIATELY wrote to Paypal, ebay, and Safe Harbor. I wrote to Paypal about 6 times before I got their canned response saying basically "sorry, can't help you". Ebay and safe harbor said the same thing. So, I had to pay $46 for an item that should have cost me $23. I'll never make that mistake again. The reason I thought it was the seller to begin with, was because their Paypal name was the seller's Ebay ID. Talk about scam artists!
posted on July 17, 2000 08:13:18 AM new
kab 123
sorry to hear there still giving you the run around.question,how long after you got phony
e-mail did you get one from real seller?
sounds like they could be working together.
maybe ebay could check old auctions to see if this seller has had this happen before.
posted on July 18, 2000 05:06:27 AM new
You are absolutely correct about Paypal not caring ! as far as I am concerned they are running an operation that makes it way to easy for crooks !! There seems to be alot of fraud going on the auctions & it appears Paypal's name is in most of them.
Maybe we should also start posting the crooks name & email addresses on this site so that everyone can be aware.
I just filed a complaint with the FBI website this morning as I still have not received my Alps printer I purchased using Paypal 1 month ago off of Ebay.
[ edited by maneframe on Jul 18, 2000 05:08 AM ]
posted on July 19, 2000 05:07:48 AM new
Thats a interesting story & it just confirms my statement of Paypal opening a market for crooks !! I will NEVER use Paypal again
posted on July 20, 2000 12:20:46 PM new
This is something I just dont get. In order to receive money from Paypal, you have to give them either your bank account for direct deposit or your address and they mail you a check. That means that Paypal knows this crook's name and address and bank account. And he has been doing this for a while. So why are they off the hook? They are aiding and abetting!
My Paypal account was shut down without notice or email because they suspected fraud. It turned out to be a mistake and the account was re-opened. But this guy is actually committing fraud.
Another thing, to get your email from ebay, he had to log into the auction and request it and ebay asks for his id. So ebay knows who he is also.
Have you tried the FBI, the Attorney General Office? There are plenty of agencies looking into the whole auction fraud scene.
posted on July 20, 2000 11:17:16 PM new
You are totally correct about Paypal knowing who the person is, BUT, they wont tell me anything about them NOR will they revoke the $268.00 I lost
I did file with the FBI & I am currently looking for other places to file.
I contacted Ebay also & they wont even give me his user name
I wonder how much trouble I would get into if I cancelled the payment off of my credit card ?? Can Paypal sue me then ?
posted on July 21, 2000 07:16:03 AM new
I am not a lawyer so this is just my opinion. Basically, you can charge back anything at any time for any reason. Your CC company then asks for an explanation and makes a determination. When the explanation is "never received the goods" you almost always win. That may be way Payapl has not changed their terms to allow charge backs. I have yet to hear an explanation how Paypal can send someone money and then tell the scammed customer there's nothing they can do.
posted on July 21, 2000 08:17:28 AM new
I contacted Paypal 4 times about this & I even asked them if they would contact the scammer & let them know that I was complaining to Paypal, ALL 4 times I got the exact same rsponse from Paypal (I copied & pasted there response)
Thank you for contacting PayPal. PayPal is not an escrow
service, and cannot protect buyers from sellers with illegal or
unsavory business practices. PayPal is here to help make your
financial transactions as quick and as easy as possible.
However, we cannot reverse claimed transactions in the event that
goods are not received. In the event that you would like a
refund on an auction payment, you may contact the seller directly
to request a refund, or pursue whatever resources your auction
site makes available.
If you have any other questions, feel free to contact us again.
Sincerely,
Meliza
PayPal Customer Service
PayPal - A Free Service of X.com
otherwords Paypal protects the scammers & the heck with the person that got scammed !
[ edited by maneframe on Jul 21, 2000 08:18 AM ]
[ edited by bebonly on Jun 21, 2000 02:08 AM ]