Can my poor sister do anything???

pandagirl03

Ok long story. My sister bought a iphone got it unlocked etc used it for a few months but never got on with it, so sold it on ebay. The buyer had good feedback, paid with paypal with a confimed address, Then asked if he could collect the phone from my sisters house. She agreed to this. As she was at work her boyfriend dealt with it, the bloke turned up at there house and my sisters boyfriend handed over phone and didn't ask for him to sign anything as proof of getting phone etc.

All went well. 2 months later paypal sent them a email blocking there paypal account saying the man who's account it was said he never bought a iphone and did not use his account etc and it was a fraudulant transaction. My sister said that the phone was collected in person etc.
While they were waiting to see what paypal would do they did some digging. Managed to get the phone number for the bloke and rang it, the people that answered said that person did live there but moved out. So they then got hold of a lady who had bought a car from the same man 2 days before he bought her iphone. The lady confirmed the address was the same as my sister had but the name of the bloke was different on the log book she had got for the car, but description of the bloke was same as my sisters boyfriend had meet. Confused i am. So anyway now paypal have ruled in the blokes favour and so now my sister is £255 down plus a iphone.
Can they do anything more?? They have been to police but they dont want to know said its a paypal matter. Sorry its long and hope i have not confused people too much. Any help appreicated.

catmiaow

Problem is paypal only accept a recorded tracking number which has to be confirmed as delivered. The fact they collected in person, even if you got them to sign something would not matter in their eyes. If your going to do collection, i would suggest cheque or cash as payment methods. Obviously allowing the cheque time to clear before they are allowed to walk away with it.

You can not be sure that the person who says they did not purchase the phone is telling the truth. Maybe you could pay a visit to the address if it is not to far away and your sister boyfriend could identify the man. Could see about taking him to court in that case. Paypal will be of the same help as the police in this case i am afraid.

If you have the iphone details you could see about getting it locked if possible, may not help you recover the money but at least they wont be able to use it.

catmiaow

As you didnt get a signature from the person who collected, you may find court is a waste of time as well.

catmiaow

I think this guy sounds like a con man to me...

Bamber19

Had someone actually hijacked this guys account it could have happened exactly as above also so I wouldn't automatically assume the guy who owns the paypal account is the con man. The fact the description of the guy is the same/similar means very little, there's probably at least half a million other men in the UK that would be described in the exact same way as me. That said, if the paypal owner was a conman...it would also have happened exactly as you describe. Simply no way of knowing.

soolin

There is nothing you can do here via paypal or ebay as you have probably been scammed by the old 'paypal on collection' scam. Even a legal route might be difficult as you have no proof who you gave the iphone to, nor does it seem you can definitely track down the person who collected it with any certatinty.

However, as has been suggested above I assume your sister kept the imei details of the phone and if that is the case then block it immediately, it won't get your sister her money back but it should stop the scammer from getting any benefit from it, unless the phone has been shipped overseas.

dazza32

i,d try and find the guy,, and take action your own way ,, as the police are useless .. i wouldent let someone have a laugh on me ,, this world is sick its full of con-men and all sorts of other trash.. rofl i think im having a bad day lol,,

frivolous_fay

I would be tempted to email richard.uk@ebay.com and ask the head of ebay UK Trust & Safety his advice on the situation.

pandagirl03

frivolous_fay wrote: »

I would be tempted to email [EMAIL="richard.uk@ebay.com"]richard.uk@ebay.com[/EMAIL] and ask the head of ebay UK Trust & Safety his advice on the situation.

Thank have forwarded that on to my sister

peter_m_5

It appears that I'm the victim of a similar scam/con/theft/fraud!!
I noticed money missing from my bank account (£680). Upon investigation I found that a Paypal transaction for this amount had taken place without my knowledge. This was linked to an ebay transaction where I had "won" an auction and "bought" a computer. I had absolutely no knowledge of this whatsoever. I contacted the seller, who told me that the computer was collected by 2 men, from his father. I'm certainly not 2 men, and I don't look Nigerian, as apparently these guys did.
I've reported this to ebay and to Paypal and limited investigation has taken place as far as I can see. Paypal have refunded me £150, which they have got from the seller, but I'm still £530 down. Ebay don't appear to want to know.
If you are on this forum, I guess you know how ebay and paypal work...If you win an item, you get an email saying so and asking you to pay. You then need to log into Paypal to add funds to your account, which is then used to pay for the item. Paypal then send you a receipt, at least that's how it has worked for me in the past.
I have had no emails whatsoever and didn't log into Paypal to authorise payment.

I guess I will have to put this down to having been done over, although I'm going to continue to try to get my money back, but I'd like as many people as possible to know that ebay and Paypal may not be as safe and secure as they both claim.

boombap

I've never contacted them myself, but would Trading Standards or CAB be of any help?