Scammed - Desperatley need help

waamo

Frankly I think your chances of seeing your money again is about zero. I wouldn't invest to much time and effort into this as it will drive you crazy with no reward.

cymruchris

As others have said - because of the way you've handled the transaction - circumventing Paypal's policy of paying fees when purchasing items by using the friends and family route - you'll not get your money back. By challenging it, what you'll do is to highlight the fact you've broken the rules, and will end up with no PayPal account at all. You're better off putting it down to experience, moving on, and don't try to challenge it, so that you can keep your PayPal account for future use. It's not the answer you wanted to hear, but sadly as you've bent the rules, you're not going to get anywhere with a claim. Basically you're saying - Dear Paypal, I broke your rules to buy some stuff by using the friends and family option, so that my seller could get the full amount of money I sent them, denying you your profits, can you now please go chase them as they didn't deliver the goods they promised. As you can see when it's written like that, you can probably see how Paypal will deal with it. Unless you actually know where the person lives - you won't be seeing the money again (or the toys) sadly. 

hollydays

dstill said:

Thanks but that wasn't very helpful.

It is helpful because it will save you raising your hopes.As unpalatable as it sounds, it's the truth.

dstill

cymruchris said:

As others have said - because of the way you've handled the transaction - circumventing Paypal's policy of paying fees when purchasing items by using the friends and family route - you'll not get your money back. By challenging it, what you'll do is to highlight the fact you've broken the rules, and will end up with no PayPal account at all. You're better off putting it down to experience, moving on, and don't try to challenge it, so that you can keep your PayPal account for future use. It's not the answer you wanted to hear, but sadly as you've bent the rules, you're not going to get anywhere with a claim. Basically you're saying - Dear Paypal, I broke your rules to buy some stuff by using the friends and family option, so that my seller could get the full amount of money I sent them, denying you your profits, can you now please go chase them as they didn't deliver the goods they promised. As you can see when it's written like that, you can probably see how Paypal will deal with it. Unless you actually know where the person lives - you won't be seeing the money again (or the toys) sadly. 

Get what your saying and have to agree with the issue around PayPal.  However, I'm no criminal and would not intentionally deny anybody money that is due to them particularly when they are providing a service.  However, although naivety has caused this I appreciate it isn't an excuse, but naivety is an inevitable part of life and has been my downfall on this occasion as my mind doesn't think like a thief so didn't see this as suspicious.  I'll continue being an honest individual with good morals...….

cymruchris

dstill said:

Get what your saying and have to agree with the issue around PayPal.  However, I'm no criminal and would not intentionally deny anybody money that is due to them particularly when they are providing a service.  However, although naivety has caused this I appreciate it isn't an excuse, but naivety is an inevitable part of life and has been my downfall on this occasion as my mind doesn't think like a thief so didn't see this as suspicious.  I'll continue being an honest individual with good morals...….

That's the best way forward - the more you fret about this - the more damage it'll do. There are some bad people in the world, and you've now experienced it. I'm sure you won't let it happen to you again in future, and by sharing your experience with others, it might help them avoid it too. At least it was for a relatively small amount compared to the grand scheme of life. I'm sure you didn't want to take the financial hit, but in time you'll recover. It leaves a sour taste in your mouth, but there's little you can do, so best as you say to continue being an honest individual with good morals.... 

Takmon

dstill said:

cymruchris said:

As others have said - because of the way you've handled the transaction - circumventing Paypal's policy of paying fees when purchasing items by using the friends and family route - you'll not get your money back. By challenging it, what you'll do is to highlight the fact you've broken the rules, and will end up with no PayPal account at all. You're better off putting it down to experience, moving on, and don't try to challenge it, so that you can keep your PayPal account for future use. It's not the answer you wanted to hear, but sadly as you've bent the rules, you're not going to get anywhere with a claim. Basically you're saying - Dear Paypal, I broke your rules to buy some stuff by using the friends and family option, so that my seller could get the full amount of money I sent them, denying you your profits, can you now please go chase them as they didn't deliver the goods they promised. As you can see when it's written like that, you can probably see how Paypal will deal with it. Unless you actually know where the person lives - you won't be seeing the money again (or the toys) sadly. 

Get what your saying and have to agree with the issue around PayPal.  However, I'm no criminal and would not intentionally deny anybody money that is due to them particularly when they are providing a service.  However, although naivety has caused this I appreciate it isn't an excuse, but naivety is an inevitable part of life and has been my downfall on this occasion as my mind doesn't think like a thief so didn't see this as suspicious.  I'll continue being an honest individual with good morals...….

It does clearly state when you make a payment that one is for buying goods which is what you were doing and the other is for sending to "friends and family" to repay money which isn't for goods.... so it was pretty clear which option you should have chosen.
It's not naivety it's simply choosing not to read the information presented to you and not thinking about what you are actually being told to do and if it aligns with this information. This is a common technique that is used by the large majority of scams so hopefully it's not a massive amount you have lost to help you be more cautious in the future. 

knightstyle

If I were you I would forget about getting the money back, it is lost and yes you have been scammed. Sorry but that is how it is.
However see what you can do to warn others publicise the scammers phone number and all other contact details on public sites.  How about getting a burner sim and ringing at all times of the night?  Or perhaps ring them and pretend they have won a prize and you need their address to send it to?

soolin

For others reading this, gumtree do warn against payment by PayPal friends and family 

https://help.gumtree.com/s/safety?cat=Safely_Buying_Selling&article=Safe-Payments

Takmon

knightstyle said:

If I were you I would forget about getting the money back, it is lost and yes you have been scammed. Sorry but that is how it is.
However see what you can do to warn others publicise the scammers phone number and all other contact details on public sites.  How about getting a burner sim and ringing at all times of the night?  Or perhaps ring them and pretend they have won a prize and you need their address to send it to?

They don't have the scammers phone number.

JetpackVelociraptor

OP, you say they sent you a picture. You can use this picture to do a "reverse image search" on Google, to see where else that same picture is being used online. It's highly likely that they stole the picture from someone else, so you shouldn't immediately assume that you've found the scammer if you find the picture again - but they may still be using the same image on Gumtree or other similar sites, and you may therefore be able to find them that way.

You can also google their email address (use "quotes" around it to make sure you find just that address) and any names they've given you, although the names are likely to be fake.

You can report them to PayPal for misusing the friends and family payment. There's a risk that PayPal may closes your account, but I would expect that they are more likely to close the scammer's account.

If you manage to get any more information about them (their real address, for example, or other contact details) you could open a case with Action Fraud.

You can post on Gumtree yourself with their details to warn others, or you could post another wanted ad on there, wait for the scammer to contact you again and see if you can get more contact details out of them.

While some of the above suggestions may help someone later on to catch the scammer, or help others to avoid them, none of it is likely to help you get your money back.