Paypal say i have to pay the £500 for someone buying a stolen credit card

simpson_eh · 5 April 2007 at 5:26PM

Hey, i had a ps3 for sale on ebay. I had it on buy it now and someone bought it.
I checked my paypal account and it said the funds had gone through so i posted it off special next day delivery. I withdrew the money from my account into my bank. Now a week later paypal sent me an e-mail saying the item was bought with a stolen CC and my account was frozen. It's now unfrozen but i have a balance of -£500, customer services say if i don't pay it within 90 days to paypal they'll get the debt collection agency in.

Paypal seem happy to just leave it at that, they're missing out the point someone signed for this ps3 at the address i sent it to, if this was fraud it should be reported to the police, but paypal seem to just be passing the buck onto me.
I thought if someone stole a cc the company compensated them.
Paypal claimed on the phone if someone went on a fraud spree and bought lots of items from stores ppl could go into ASDA etc and ask for the money back. Would the cc company have recovered the Fees from paypal or are they just claiming double money?

I plan on going to the police and reporting this, i find it completely unfair i have to come up with the full £500 because someone bought an item off me with a stolen CC. I have the address it was posted to and signed for.

This is such an inconvieniance to me, now i can't even pay my ebay fees because i'd have to pay the PP balance first and i can't use my debit card because it's registered at the PP account so gets denied.

Does anyone have any advice please?

FloFlo · 5 April 2007 at 5:40PM

Was it a confirmed address?

simpson_eh · 5 April 2007 at 6:17PM

No, so i can see my mistake now and realise i am responsible for the fees:(

The problem is i can't go to the police until paypal complete their fraud investigation by which time my item will be long gone.

I'm just looking for people who have had a similar problem, what all evidence did you take to the police, i fully intend to pursue this. Hopefully the person is stupid enough to have had it posted to his actual address with his real name so i can take him to court, if i can't get money back i want him prosecuted.

I got an e-mail from someone else claiming they did it to him too so over £1000 worth of fraud at least hopefully the **** gets jail.

bella4uk · 5 April 2007 at 6:45PM

I'm hearing this time after time and its just the pits.
Put it to paypal, ok so and so has had their card stolen but how on earth did the person who stole it know the paypal password???????
I always have to enter my password every time I buy using paypal.....don't you?

demonblade · 5 April 2007 at 7:17PM

welcome to paypal, we are a company happy to take your money, give you no protection and will screw you over when things go wrong.

Do not hesitate in contacting us, we hope to get back to you within a few years, meanwhile our auto bot can handle all queries with the most useless answer possible.

We hope you enjoy using our service.

Sugar_Coated_Owl · 5 April 2007 at 8:29PM

There would have been protection had the seller met all the PayPal seller requirements.

mark_dumpleton · 6 April 2007 at 10:30AM

His username is scam?!?!

frivolous_fay · 6 April 2007 at 11:01AM

simpson_eh wrote: »

I thought if someone stole a cc the company compensated them.
Paypal claimed on the phone if someone went on a fraud spree and bought lots of items from stores ppl could go into ASDA etc and ask for the money back. Would the cc company have recovered the Fees from paypal or are they just claiming double money?

The credit cards aren't going to compensate out of their own pockets. They claw it back from paypal (and paypal can do nothing about this) and then paypal claw it back from you.

FloFlo · 6 April 2007 at 11:04AM

How far is it, for that amount I'd be camping outside their house?

I have palpatations (excuse spelling) when I sell something over £20.

digerati · 6 April 2007 at 11:14AM

simpson_eh wrote: »

The problem is i can't go to the police until paypal complete their fraud investigation by which time my item will be long gone.

No need to wait for PayPal to investigate - they don't really do anything as it costs them too much to do a proper investigation.

simpson_eh wrote: »

I'm just looking for people who have had a similar problem, what all evidence did you take to the police, i fully intend to pursue this. Hopefully the person is stupid enough to have had it posted to his actual address with his real name so i can take him to court, if i can't get money back i want him prosecuted.

Ring your local Police station and make an appointment to see a CID officer - don’t frustrate yourself by arguing your case with a desk clerk in reception - they are instructed to dismiss cases of 'fraudulent payment' as civil matters. (Fewer 'open' cases look better to the bureaucrats.) From the circumstances as outlined it's a clear case of Fraud by false representation which is a criminal offense under Section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006.

The Police Officer that you speak to will hopefully be aware of eBay - almost every UK Police Station now has at least one specialist Officer knowledgeable about online fraud and e-crime - however it is possible that they won't be available. (They tend to get overworked at certain times of the year, so bear this in mind.)

Just in case the detective you speak to isn't up to speed with eBay, bring these contact details with you - they will need them to contact eBay UK.

Email: [URL="mailto:law-enforcement@ebay.com"]law-enforcement@ebay.com[/URL]
Fax: 0207 6812389
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/safetycentre/law_enforcement.html

You should provide printed copies of: eBay auction(s), payment details and payment reversal notice, posting and/or delivery details, all email between you and the buyer or other victims of buyer, and finally notes of any telephone conversations you have had with buyer, PayPal or eBay.

All this should be logged as evidence so you'll be able to refer to it in any subsequent court proceedings.

You should also make sure that you can supply the Police with the user names of other victims, together with the item numbers of all the sales. Remember, you are building a case that can’t be dismissed as a civil matter - bear in mind that third party emails won’t be accepted. Emails forwarded to one member from another victim cannot be considered as part of your complaint so don’t waste time gathering them. Rather coordinate with other victims and get them to supply printed copies to their local CID once you get a crime number.

Once you have received a crime number be prepared to relay it to any of the other victims you are able to contact. They can add that information to the details they supply to the Officer who takes their report.

You may not get restitution, but the seller's details will be recorded and may permit a prosecution (and compensation) at a later date.

simpson_eh wrote: »

I got an e-mail from someone else claiming they did it to him too so over £1000 worth of fraud at least hopefully the **** gets jail.

If you want to contact other sellers that sold to this scammer - check buyer's recent purchases (replace 'scam' with buyer's ID)

Hope this helps :-)

simpson_eh · 6 April 2007 at 4:36PM

Cheers for the advice, i can't do any full complaining until tuesday when i can get access to a printer.

I did go to the police station and couldn't get past the receptionist. The man was obviously completely ignorant of it and told me paypal have no rights to charge me to just contact trading standards and he said this "no crime has been commited against me"!!.

I pointed out to him that a crime has been commited, would you like the name and address of the place it was delivered to as someone is using a stolen CC which is a crime and he said no saying it's a different jurisdiction and he basicaly didn't seem to care. Don't they want to catch criminals?

So can i just bypass the receptionist next time, am i allowed by my rights to request to speak to a CID person?

I mean i don't see why i shouold have had to argue and present my case for 20 mins in an open room full of other people.

Paypal say i have to pay the £500 for someone buying a stolen credit card

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