Kostia Posted March 1, 2010 Share #1 Posted March 1, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) Sorry if it is not the right place for that : My M8 was (maybe) stolen today. After several emails between me and the 'buyer' in Abidjan last week-end, I received this morning a certificate from Paypal telling me that the money has arrived and will be paid on my account after Paypal receives the tracking number. It was a false certificate. Because I am sick and febrile today I didn't pay attention. And the package is now sent to Africa. I hope to stop the shipping tomorrow morning, but even the Police (night service !) couldn't (or wouldn't) do nothing for me this evening. Of course, after 7:00 PM, no client service number is on duty nowhere. Take care with Paypal certificate of payment received from abroad. That's all folks ! Oh no ! my new M9 will arrive tomorrow. Maybe more expensive that I planned for... Have a good evening. Kostia Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 1, 2010 Posted March 1, 2010 Hi Kostia, Take a look here Trumpery via Paypal. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
frozenace Posted March 1, 2010 Share #2 Posted March 1, 2010 Good luck with that. Crooks these days do anything and everything. There seem to be loads of spoofed e-mails going around... a person I know tried to sell her engagement ring on eBay and actually found out that the e-mails were fake... I always check the balance in my account after selling. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted March 1, 2010 Share #3 Posted March 1, 2010 If someone pays you by paypal the money is credited to your paypal account - simple. There is no 'certificate'. There is information on all of this on the Paypal website. Sorry to hear to hear that you've been scammed. As an aside even once the money has been credited it can still be revoked if Paypal receive a complaint or find there has been a fraud - I'd only accept a bank transfer payment for an expensive item (and even foreign cheques can bounce many months after you cash them!) If I were you I'd get on a plane to Africa and try to intercept the parcel - I doubt you'll recover it any other way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kostia Posted March 1, 2010 Author Share #4 Posted March 1, 2010 If someone pays you by paypal the money is credited to your paypal account - simple. There is no 'certificate'. There is information on all of this on the Paypal website. Sorry to hear to hear that you've been scammed. As an aside even once the money has been credited it can still be revoked if Paypal receive a complaint or find there has been a fraud - I'd only accept a bank transfer payment for an expensive item (and even foreign cheques can bounce many months after you cash them!) If I were you I'd get on a plane to Africa and try to intercept the parcel - I doubt you'll recover it any other way. It is my fault, I knew that Paypal had new rules, I thought that it was one of them. I was too tired to check. Anyway, maybe the Post Office will try to recover my shipping tomorrow morning... Small chance, but... Thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted March 1, 2010 Share #5 Posted March 1, 2010 My commiserations - you fell for a scam- an expensive lesson. But hardly to your discredit. In my experience the crooks are very smart - and once in a while even an intelligent honest person will fall into a trap. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted March 1, 2010 Share #6 Posted March 1, 2010 You might get lucky if someone is willing to put themselves out, but in the UK once something is posted, it's posted (for example how does the Post Office know that you aren't scamming the buyer by getting the item back that they've paid for ?). As you have an address I wouldn't give up. Try the local police, or even a debt collection agency, speak to the embassy even, but you need to act quickly! Good luck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted March 1, 2010 Share #7 Posted March 1, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) Abidjan? I wouldn't waste my energy. Unless you are on the spot and bribe the right persons - forget it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpattinson Posted March 1, 2010 Share #8 Posted March 1, 2010 If someone pays you by paypal the money is credited to your paypal account - simple. There is no 'certificate'. There is information on all of this on the Paypal website. Sorry to hear to hear that you've been scammed. As an aside even once the money has been credited it can still be revoked if Paypal receive a complaint or find there has been a fraud - I'd only accept a bank transfer payment for an expensive item (and even foreign cheques can bounce many months after you cash them!) If I were you I'd get on a plane to Africa and try to intercept the parcel - I doubt you'll recover it any other way. My commiserations, I wouldn't get on a plane if I were you, people have been killed after going to Nigeria to try to recover money lost in '419' scams. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
yanidel Posted March 1, 2010 Share #9 Posted March 1, 2010 A M8 user in Abidjan? Come on ... I feel sorry for your experience but you can only blame yourself, it could only be a scam. If one has enough money to buy a M8 in Ivory Coast, well he probably has enough to buy 5 * new M9's (and 3 Ferrari's) in the first place. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carylwithay Posted March 2, 2010 Share #10 Posted March 2, 2010 You certainly have my sympathy. I bought an iMac from Amazon, at least i thought I did. I had never used Amazon before. I followed the directions and wired money to Rome. Never saw it again and Amazon refused to acknowledge any responsibility. it was on their website and somehow got diverted. Good luck trying to get it back but i am not hopeful you will. Caryl Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennB Posted March 2, 2010 Share #11 Posted March 2, 2010 Kostia, My sympathies for your hard learned lesson. But try not to kick yourself too hard (well, maybe kick yourself some, just so you'll remember the lesson! ). After all, you didn't commit the crime. If anyone's to blame it's the crook! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug_m Posted March 2, 2010 Share #12 Posted March 2, 2010 I'm sorry this happened to you. However, thanks for posting about your experience. Your taking the time to post will help someone else. Also, does anyone have any advice on making sure the connection between Paypal and one's bank account is absolutely safe? I have not been ripped off, but took my bank account off of my Paypal account because the connection made me nervous. Paypal then refused to let me make any credit card purchases. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted March 2, 2010 Share #13 Posted March 2, 2010 I've been using paypal for years never had any problems with them, just a couple of issues with non delivery of items which I then had to try to get refunded by paypal - a lengthy and irritating process via automated systems and e mails. What happened here is that the fraudster gave instructions to the seller which were incorrect - if someone pays you by paypal you receive an e mail notification from paypal and to double check you can log into your paypal account - directly, not via any 'link' the purchaser may send you - and make sure the money is showing as received. You need to have your bank linked to the account so that you can collect the funds in your paypal account, as well as a security measure for them. As I've said it still isn't 100% as the buyer can raise a dispute and paypal will then hold the money until they decide that it is resolved. That's not happened to me yet though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted March 2, 2010 Share #14 Posted March 2, 2010 I think Paypal is a pretty robust system if you go by the letter of the rules, which you would if using your bank account or credit card account. Only ever go into Paypal via the official front page Log On, and everything is in black and white, money in, money out, etc. Its not Paypal fault when these scams occur. On the upside, people in the Ivory Coast can be very honest, only today I got an email asking me to look after $6 million in my bank account for a 20% cut, now you don't get offers like that every day, what a great country! Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_n Posted March 3, 2010 Share #15 Posted March 3, 2010 - if someone pays you by paypal you receive an e mail notification from paypal and to double check you can log into your paypal account - directly, not via any 'link' the purchaser may send you - and make sure the money is showing as received.Exactly. In addition before I ship I transfer the funds out of my PayPal account to my bank. When I get the email from PayPal that the transfer is in process and I can see there is now a $0.00 balance in my PayPal account, then I ship. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted March 3, 2010 Share #16 Posted March 3, 2010 Exactly. In addition before I ship I transfer the funds out of my PayPal account to my bank. When I get the email from PayPal that the transfer is in process and I can see there is now a $0.00 balance in my PayPal account, then I ship. I'm not sure that protects against chargebacks. My understanding is that in the event of a chargeback Paypal will try and extract the money from your linked bank account. For that reason, I don't accept Paypal for anything worth more than a couple of hundred quid and I refuse Paypal altogether for sales made to overseas buyers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_n Posted March 3, 2010 Share #17 Posted March 3, 2010 It doesn't protect against chargebacks Ian. I admit I've been lucky, but then I do due diligence on my sellers and buyers. I don't necessarily have to buy and can refuse to sell even at auction if I wish. I do use PayPal and like it but I'm very, very careful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gravastar Posted March 3, 2010 Share #18 Posted March 3, 2010 I believe you can get some protection against fraudulent charge backs by having a separate bank account set up only for PayPal transactions. As soon as you have transferred PayPal funds to your PayPal bank account you transfer the same funds from your PayPal bank account to another bank account. In that way there is no money in the Payal account for the reverse charge. Depending on the terms of the account it may be possible for PayPal to overdraw the account ???? I've used PayPal for a number of years and only ever had one problem. I was unable to login to my account and was suspicious it had been hijacked. I immediately telephoned and emailed PayPal but they wouldn't do anything until they had received my complaint by letter in writing - which being a friday evening meant the following monday at the earliest. It turned out the problem was due to a PayPal system glitch. Bob. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PiRIUS Posted March 3, 2010 Share #19 Posted March 3, 2010 I have been using PayPal for about an year now and I will always prefer to pay by PayPal than directly through a credit/debit card ANY DAY. PayPal is in my opinion EXCELLENT, and VERY SAFE. But the buyer/seller has to be smart anyway, and can not blame PayPal for their own stupidity. Have you read all the PayPal Rules and Regs? You should, and then you will not have to blame PayPal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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