I got scammed by a buyer and eBay has been no help

[pajo_24]

Hi,

Thanks, eBay I asked for help and then you suspended my account and said I was a risk to eBay and I am the victim here, not eBay. So thanks for their lack of knowledge empathy and support. I had to set up another account so that I could post this on the community because eBay automatically assumed I scammed eBay and that isn't the case at all.

I have recently been the victim of a scammer on eBay and PayPal has informed me they see this happening all the time and I am one of many they see all the time. Last week I put an ad on to sell my XBX it was coming up 3 and a half years old and I purchased a new one. I have never sold anything on eBay I have never been on eBay for anything and the one time I wanted to Sell something I got scammed by a scammer posing as a buyer on eBay who is now in receipt of my Xbox and I am out of pocket.

To make matters even worse eBay has suspended my account and I can't get access to the correspondence between me and the buyer because I need these to contact the police to report that I had been scammed by a scammer posing as a buyer on eBay. I must have stood out like a sore thumb because no sooner had my ad gone live than I received an email via my eBay account from a th*****le****44@g***.com contacted via eBay and I agreed on a price and suggested using PayPal of course what I know now after speaking at length to PayPal customer service this is how scammers fool you and I was fooled Hook, Line and Sinker and I got ripped off and to make matters worse eBay has suspended my account I had to set up another account so that I could post this on your community which isn't fair I am thr victim here no eBay I am the one who is out of pocket I am the one who paid for DPD to collect and deliver and I am the one who has been conned here not eBay. I'm fuming at the lack of support from eBay I immediately have been labelled by eBay as a risk to th platform when I am the victim.

I have blanked out thr email that I now know is a bogus email and it isn't from PayPal but this is from the scammer and I was fooled into trusting Bayer that I thought was legit and it turned out to be a scammer and I fell for thr lies and the deception. Please find the email attached and I have blanked out the personal details for security reasons.

Thanks, eBay for not helping me and suspending my account when you didn't listen to what I said when I contacted you and you immediately assumed I was scamming eBay when it was thr complete opposite I have the correspondence between me and the buyer who scammed me.

Thanks, eBay when I needed support you turned your back on me and that is something I will not forget in a hurry.

 

 

 

[*knight-rider*]

You`ve fallen for the old Paypal email saying you`ve been paid, which is obviously fake and is a scam almost as old as Ebay itself. You should never rely on emails and check that it shows you`ve been paid on ebay, or even wait for the message off ebay that says `we sent your funds` before posting.

Had you looked at that email closely, the big giveaway is the email address it came from 🙂 These idiots that run these scams do it for a living and trawl ebay everyday all day doing this, because it clearly still works.

Another thing you could have done, with hindsight perhaps, is come here first to ask about it.

Something like that and of that value, i would have sold by collection only for cash on collection.

One final thing, which i`m not 100% certain about, is that if your suspended from one account, your not allowed to open up another one and carry on, in fact i`m surprised it allowed you to, assuming you used the same details, so you may get into further trouble yet.

[jckl1957]

Looking at your screenshot, there are lots of red flags - you are told twice that the payment will not show in your Paypal account until you have sent the item.  The paragraph headed 'Read the instruction below' uses very poor grammar, has an apostrophe in 'seller's' etc. etc.

I know you are angry and want to blame Ebay - I don't understand why they have suspended your account - but this simply shows how careful you have to be when dealing with strangers online.

The screenshot also says that you need to reply to the email by sending tracking.  If you replied to the email, or clicked on any links in it, do change all relevant passwords, think about adding two step verification to Paypal and make sure these professional scammers don't come back for a second attempt at robbing you.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

I have probably got the wrong impression but this sounds like it was actually sold off e bay rather than through the system, if so maybe this was why the account was suspended.  As i say, could be wrong as i have never been asked to do things other than through the system.  That paypal screams out scammer though, even to my naive eyes!   I never ever pay attention to e mails, always go on to the relevant account to double check whether something has come from the company or not.   Got this wonderful (!) offer from Royal Mint the other day, special offer, only a thousand of this set of coins and i was one of the lucky ones to be offered it....   Apart from the fact that i have never paid over £150 for a coin (for my nephew) not sure why they would think i would be prepared to spend £5000....  Checked on the real site and of course no such coin exists.

[tommystrezures]

Sadly you have been scammed. May I ask have you actually dispatched the parcel? Also ensure you change all your passwords for paypal, ebay and if you bank online them too incase you have inadvertanlty given any other details away. 

All payments are made through the ebay system, not via paypal, and whilst you have part blocked the email address of the sender, I am guessing thats a gmail address which means the original message never came through the ebay messaging system and infact to your personal email. As all ebay addresses end @ebay.com

My initial thought is that ebay may have suspended your account as they see it as an offsite sale. However, had you set all your managed payments up etc?

You obviously have the address and tracking etc that the item has been sent too is it too late to go onto the DPD website and change the delivery status eg recall it?

You need to report this to Action Fraud, which is the cyber crime agency, they will give you a case number. Once you have this I would then go back to ebay to discuss along with the case number and in a measured way talk to ebay. (I can't promise they will do anything but shouting at them clearly wont help) Just have all the facts to hand eg the item number, your account details (one you sold from) I would also suggest you ring earlier in the morning so you have a better chance of getting Dublin. If you get the Philippines hang up and try again until you get through to Dublin. CS can be contacted here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/eua?id=5275&mkevt=1&mkpid

[61stephenuk]

It seems that you arranged the sale and payment via messages and not through the eBay listing,this is depriving eBay of their selling fee and will be why your account was suspended and also why you have no seller protection.

It's a shame you didn't ask for advice earlier as it was your first sale where you would have been told of this well known scam.

Buyers do not pay sellers direct to Paypal if using the site correctly,the payment would have gone to eBay who then release funds to the seller once delivery confirmed.
As a new seller your funds would have been held for around 14 days in case of any problems.

You do have the details of your listing in the confirmation emails sent by eBay,you also have an address for the buyer(may not be theirs)and could report it to Action Fraud but I doubt either they or the Police will be of any help to you.

[plpmr]

adding to the advice already given -

the biggest red flag is that sellers don't get paid directly by buyer's - buyer's pay eBay and eBay pay the seller.

So if the buyer purchased and paid through eBay checkout you would not have had notification from PayPal.

One must ask how the buyer got your contact details in order to send you the 'PayPal' notification?

[*vyolla*]

Sorry that this has happened to you, but you've fallen for one of the oldest scams going, and unfortunately managed to make yourself look like a scammer too.

eBay would have suspended your account if you sent the buyer your email address, and this looked like you were doing an 'off eBay' deal (buyers don't pay sellers direct with PayPal, they pay via eBay checkout, eBay collect the payment and then pay it into the seller's bank account).

There's no reason why a buyer should have your email address.

It's a real shame that you started off by listing an expensive item and were unaware of how payments for eBay work.

To be honest, even if you could access your old account and get the buyers details it will mean nothing, all you can get is their eBay ID, which will be a fake one. The email the scammer has used is a disposable one. The only real part of this will be the delivery address, which will be a drop address so of no use either. You can file a report on Actionfraud just to log the scam and the drop address, but it won't get you your item or your money back.

[pajo_24]

Did I ever... I have filed a crime report with the police and I have told them everything that has happened I can't believe that I fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book but what annoyed me more than anything was the fact that eBay suspended my account when I was the victim and then sent me a standard email template stating that I was a threat to the eBay community and I had put them at risk and when I advised them what happened they shut me out and I had to create another account. As a Network Engineer and Security Analyst I got screwed by this scammer good and proper and I am more annoyed with myself for falling for the trap I must have stood out like a sore thumb because I had never sold anything on eBay in my entire life and the one time that I did I got screwed good and proper.

[pajo_24]

Jck1957 I didn't realise until it was too late and I got scammed good and proper but I have reported this to the police I have a crime number and I have given this to PayPal to show that I have formally got the police involved. I doubt if anything will happen so I am not holding out on any progression but I am a firm believer that every dog has its day. and Karma doesn't have an expiry day. For security reasons, I cannot say who I work for but rest assured I can find out a lot more than what the police will find I going to trace this scammer down and give them a taste of their own medicine... They messed with the wrong person because the organisation that I work for, I have the tools and the resources to find out who this person was and I will do so I can assure you. 

[missdollydaydream]

 I going to trace this scammer down and give them a taste of their own medicine... 

Stop being a plonker. Keep what you intend to do to yourself! This is an open forum.

[pajo_24]

Sorry, my bad.

[missdollydaydream]

Lets all do the O.P. a favour by not contributing any further to this  thread, Just let it dissapear off the board.

[myriad*seller]

Your account was probably suspended as you did an "off ebay" deal and accepted payment outside the eBay system

None of this is eBays fault, you fell for a rather obvious scam. 

Now you have been suspended this has ended your selling career on eBay anyway as you arent permitted to open another account, but eBay will ban anyone who "agrees a price" outside eBay and who accepts payment outside eBay. For the reasons you have found, eBay does not permit off-eBay deals such as the one you struck with the scammer, so your account was suspended in line with eBay rules. 

A hard way to learn a harsh lesson, I'm afraid.

When you sell items on eBay the money always shows as paid into your account at point of sale (even if subject to a new seller payment hold), it does not wait until the buyer has recieved the item, this should have been the first red flag...