scammed through ebay for £3750

RFW

l966dpy wrote: »

the police have been informed. as for paypal thinking i could possibly be the one trying to swindle paypal out of £3750 then why couldnt it be assumed that the buyer who's paypal account was used could be claiming they have been hacked they could have arranged the whole thing themselves.so its simple i could buy something on ebay send a "friend" to collect tell paypal someone has "hacked" my account and they would automatically side with me no question.paypal have not even asked for any details eg the mobile number that contacted me,persons description ect surely they would need this information if they are so called looking into it.they say they will check IP addresses but i cant see that happening as they have asked me for no information at all.they have admitted it was a frauduentlly paid recorded with the police so why should the blame all lie on me

They have no way of knowing if you were involved in the scam or not, they have no way of knowing if you have given the gold bar to anyone or not, or even if it ever existed. Paypal's one and only chance for getting their money back is to go after you, as the seller. You really won't get anywhere going after Paypal, your only hope is to get as much info on the buyer as you can and hope the police catch up with them and get your goods or money.

As for the Paypal debt I would start getting everything in writing and posting it to them. Get independent advice on what to do, but I would suggest offering them a repayment plan to pay them back, especially if you are concerned about any effect to your credit rating.

in_the_Cotswolds

I personally work on this principle. If I accept Paypal for a collection only item can I afford to lose the money and the item. If I can't then it's sent by Special Delivery only.

unoriginal_uk

soolin wrote: »

Recorded would not be anywhere near the correct service for this. I assume, or at least I hope, seller had originally quoted for a specialist courier with enhanced insurance for gold. That makes it even stranger to me really though, if someone sells such a high end item and hopefully has spent time researching the correct courier to use then just hands it over at the door.

I do feel very sorry for the OP, but this is such a common scam, you fall over reports of it all the time and it's frustrating that despite all this these thieving scumbag scammers still find people naive enough to fall for it.

Soolin I was talking about recorded in the general sense of the word I.e. be it tracked, courier etc just make sure you use some sort do delivery method that is recorded and protected depending on what the item is.......

rossireps

only one peice of advice,dont walk away from the debt. i have first hand knowledge of iqor paypal/ebay debt collectors. they will not leave it you will get phone calls and letters and i would have thought for that amount,maybe a court hearing. my debt was a couple of hundred tops and the only gave up when i finally went bankrupt. horrible people they are

James_Lahey

Ouch! I've only ever sold one item on ebay (for 99p) but was aware of this nasty scam from similar posts, usually involving expensive phones and the like.

This is a particularly bad one though, really sorry that you were caught. I can only imagine the scammers faces as they pulled this one off (although hopefully karma will bite them hard and fast!)

You have my condolences and if there's any chance of recovery then the very best of luck.

lammy82

Just out of interest, does anyone know what would happen if this case went to court with Paypal wanting to recover their debt?

Would it be a case of them demonstrating simply that the OP did not follow the PayPal protection guidelines in order for OP to be forced to pay up?

Or would they have to demonstrate that OP was somehow involved in the scam, i.e. they set out to defraud PayPal in some way.

It just seems that PayPal should be going after the criminals who set out to defraud them rather than the comparatively innocent OP.

RFW

lammy82 wrote: »

Just out of interest, does anyone know what would happen if this case went to court with Paypal wanting to recover their debt?

Would it be a case of them demonstrating simply that the OP did not follow the PayPal protection guidelines in order for OP to be forced to pay up?

I think it would be fairly straightforward for Paypal. There is no proof of receipt by the buyer. From what I can gather there isn't even a signature from the buyer.

Bloke turns up at door asking for gold bar and he gives it him. Courts require evidence, from the seller there isn't any.

soolin

lammy82 wrote: »

Just out of interest, does anyone know what would happen if this case went to court with Paypal wanting to recover their debt?

Would it be a case of them demonstrating simply that the OP did not follow the PayPal protection guidelines in order for OP to be forced to pay up?

Or would they have to demonstrate that OP was somehow involved in the scam, i.e. they set out to defraud PayPal in some way.

It just seems that PayPal should be going after the criminals who set out to defraud them rather than the comparatively innocent OP.

I agree with RFW, a clear cut win for paypal (not that the tend to go to court, the strong arm tactics of debt collectors usually work)

Paypal could not be clearer about what is needed for seller protection, it is hammered homwe on every payment and without that the OP is left trying to explain why he has seemingly handed over a bar of god to a stranger.

Don;t forget this isn't only paypal, any merchant account with a distance selling element would have the same rules.

DCFC79

Sorry you got scammed for £3750, let this be a lesson for other ebay sellers.

soolin

DCFC79 wrote: »

Sorry you got scammed for £3750, let this be a lesson for other ebay sellers.

My frustration is that no one ever learns from this.

I know I go on about things, but these scammers are absolute scumbags but while people ignore all the warnings these scumbags continue to steal from people. If only we could stop people falling for this these scammers would have to find legitimate ways to earn money.