Cracking Gumtree Scam!! I Got Done.... Now Paypal Chasing Me... What Shall I Do??

jw_2000_uk

Hi Lads..

Basically..

i put a Ipad on gumtree for sale..

3 days later i had a phone call, he wanted to collect in person and pay £240 via paypal..

so that was fine, 19:00 he paid, i checked. and withdrew..

21:00 he collected from my house.. happy days....

NOT.. I had the money in my bank, so that was fine...


Turns out..

Its clever !!!!..

But i had received a paypal payment off someone else,who thought they were going to get some gamecube games..

So basically the buyer of my ipad,had scammed someone and me, and gave my paypal address as the payment for gamecube games,what never existed.

all this was done within a 3 hour space..

So the buyer of my ipad, had it for free, using someone elses money.





Ive spoke to the bloke who also got scammed, he was a nice bloke, but claimed through paypal,He explained the situation to paypal(but they are stupid)

So they have seen it that, i didnt send the gamecube games out, and i lost the case..

So im £240 in the negative, and a Ipad down...

Obviously i cant bring myself to pay this..

Now there saying about sending a debt agency.

Any advice in what i should do lads??

Back in jan 05 i lost £539, and paypal didnt give me a bean.. So this annoys me off even more.

Claim Stefan Taylor 7AR45634KW443273W 6 Jan 2005 -£539.00 GBP Non-receipt 18 Jan 2005 Case Closed PP-000-063-458-274 stefan@1creative.co.uk

Oliver14

Sorry to say you'll have to pay it. Paypal will send debt collectors after you. This scam was a little complicated but by letting them pay via paypal you left yourself open to this simplest of scams. Its a version of the paypal on collection one . Basically you need to prove online delivery for paypal protection on a collection item you dont get this so would lose any claim for non receipt. So the other guy who paid you has claimed for non delivery which you cant prove.

jw_2000_uk wrote: »

Back in jan 05 i lost £539, and paypal didnt give me a bean.. So this annoys me off even more.[EMAIL="stefan@1creative.co.uk"]k[/EMAIL]

Not to be patronising but the fact that you have been scammed before and you left yourself wide open to this does point to the fact that your not up on how Paypal works. Paypal is pretty safe if you understand the basics of seller and buyer protection. If you get this sorted before you use Paypal again spend a little time familarising yourself with this.

soolin

Whilst it might seem a clever scam to you it is in fact just about the most common scam there is and is mentioend prominently in this post:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1623183

Paypal are not stupid they are quite clear that their service is not suitable for items that are collected and if you log in to your paypal and look at th etransaction it will clearly show near the top of the transaction what is needed to stay safe. Did you not even notice that you were paid for games when you sold an Ipad? even being unfamiliar with the scam I would have thought that would ring a bell.

I'm sorry but i really don't have much good news for you here, the buyer of the games assuming he sent a proper paypal payment is entitled to his money back which leaves you the onlyl oser. I can think of nothing at all to help you here, usually I might suggest a throw away appeal to paypal but as the buyer clearly paid for one thing and you gave the scammer something entirely different I am not even sure there is any point to even try that speculative move.

jw_2000_uk

Hi, you say about the paypal terms etc..

But when i lost over £500, i was the buyer..i bought a laptop off ebay, didnt arrive, opened a case, got nothing.

So how would that be a nieve??

Having bought and sold over 2000 items, i understand how it works..

I understand how stupid paypal are, and whats going on here.

I just refuse to pay.

Oliver14 wrote: »

Sorry to say you'll have to pay it. Paypal will send debt collectors after you. This scam was a little complicated but by letting them pay via paypal you left yourself open to this simplest of scams. Its a version of the paypal on collection one . Basically you need to prove online delivery for paypal protection on a collection item you dont get this so would lose any claim for non receipt. So the other guy who paid you has claimed for non delivery which you cant prove.



Not to be patronising but the fact that you have been scammed before and you left yourself wide open to this does point to the fact that your not up on how Paypal works. Paypal is pretty safe if you understand the basics of seller and buyer protection. If you get this sorted before you use Paypal again spend a little time familarising yourself with this.

soolin

jw_2000_uk wrote: »

Hi, you say about the paypal terms etc..

But when i lost over £500, i was the buyer..i bought a laptop off ebay, didnt arrive, opened a case, got nothing.

So how would that be a nieve??

Having bought and sold over 2000 items, i understand how it works..

I understand how stupid paypal are, and whats going on here.

I just refuse to pay.

If you had paid for a laptop and it did not arrive then you would have been fully covered, how long ago was it and why was your claim refused? It is virtually unheard of for a buyer to lose a claim, was it recent did you do anything odd like pay as a gift or pay in instalments?

I am concerned though that as a regular user you don't understand how paypal works, it is perfectly safe as long as you understand it and as you fell for the most common scam there is we naturally assumed you were new to paypal, I'm sure you can see why we thought that.

This does leave you in a terrible position now, obviously your paypal account is unusable and you can't open another and paypal debt collectors are known to be rather unpleasant when they hunt people down. I think your first port of call should be the debt board here on MSE to get info on exactly what debt colelctors are allowed to do, so you know well in advance when they cross the line with harrassment. Then you need to negotiate a repayment plan with paypal.

hermum

If you don't pay lass then paypal will instruct debt collectors.
Unfortunately you have fallen for probably the most common scam on Gumtree.
They do say on the site to meet face to face & accept cash.
I can't see that appealing will make any difference.

jw_2000_uk

Thanks for the posts lads..

Its was jan 2005.
Claim Stefan Taylor 7AR45634KW443273W 6 Jan 2005 -£539.00 GBP Non-receipt 18 Jan 2005 Case Closed PP-000-063-458-274 stefan@1creative.co.uk

Bought on ebay, paid straight away with paypal..

Buyer didnt even respond, no proof..

And i got zero.

Regarding this being a common scam, id be very suprised if theres many thats had this way of scamming happen..

I had the money in my bank transfered from pp within 5 days..

I cant see how i could of forseen it was a scam, and that anything was wrong untill a week later.

soolin wrote: »

If you had paid for a laptop and it did not arrive then you would have been fully covered, how long ago was it and why was your claim refused? It is virtually unheard of for a buyer to lose a claim, was it recent did you do anything odd like pay as a gift or pay in instalments?

I am concerned though that as a regular user you don't understand how paypal works, it is perfectly safe as long as you understand it and as you fell for the most common scam there is we naturally assumed you were new to paypal, I'm sure you can see why we thought that.

This does leave you in a terrible position now, obviously your paypal account is unusable and you can't open another and paypal debt collectors are known to be rather unpleasant when they hunt people down. I think your first port of call should be the debt board here on MSE to get info on exactly what debt colelctors are allowed to do, so you know well in advance when they cross the line with harrassment. Then you need to negotiate a repayment plan with paypal.

soolin

On each paypal payment received it says

OK to post the item

Payment Status: Completed

We recommend that you:

• Post to the buyer's address on this page
• Use a shipping service with signature confirmation
• Save all tracking information or other proof of postage

Tips to sell securely

It is the most common scam but it doesn't happen as much as it used ot as most sellers understand it so the moment someone tried it on would just refuse. We still get the occasional mention on here, usually with sellers on ebay who have a large item that they can only do for collection and ask if there is any wya at all not to be scammed (the answer is no--paypal on collection is absolute- you either risk it or you use another venue to sell)

jw_2000_uk

I read that before mate.

But still isnt what happend to me..

When the money was in my bank. After the 5 day transfer from paypal..

Of course i'll never let tht happen again.

Cash in collection from now on.

It is the most common scam but it doesn't happen as much as it used ot as most sellers understand it so the moment someone tried it on would just refuse. We still get the occasional mention on here, usually with sellers on ebay who have a large item that they can only do for collection and ask if there is any wya at all not to be scammed (the answer is no--paypal on collection is absolute- you either risk it or you use another venue to sell)[/QUOTE]

soolin

It is what happened to you, just slightly more complicated.

Ignore the games buyer, if the original buyer had bought and paid for an ipad and you had allowed him to collect he could have still got the money back up to 45 days later for a simple INR claim or 180 days for a fraudulent use of card claim. The fact that you sold an Ipad, got paid for games and still didn't spot the scam makes it worse, not better.

As an experienced seller I am surprised you mention the money being withdrawn to your bank account as you must realise that means nothing.

jw_2000_uk

Ok, i'll hold my hands up to that, in 9 years, having never had a problem like this one, i pretty much thought, its in my bank, its mine..

So that makes me even more angry, on my basic claim of INR for over £500 i got zero.

P.s. Payment had no notes/ref hence the games thing didnt twig, untill he got hold of me :-(

soolin wrote: »

It is what happened to you, just slightly more complicated.

Ignore the games buyer, if the original buyer had bought and paid for an ipad and you had allowed him to collect he could have still got the money back up to 45 days later for a simple INR claim or 180 days for a fraudulent use of card claim. The fact that you sold an Ipad, got paid for games and still didn't spot the scam makes it worse, not better.

As an experienced seller I am surprised you mention the money being withdrawn to your bank account as you must realise that means nothing.