Fraud Buyer

[userk007]

Hello,

I got a message from fraud buyer that he wants to buy the item(new mac laptop) I listed on ebay. I recevived few emails about the shipment verificaiton and item has been paid, So I shipped the item assuming they are valid. After speaking ebay customer support I reliased its a fraud buyer who never made the payment. Is there any way I can get my shipped item back? How do I tackle this? I have already reported this on ebay but customer support suggested to report it to police.

Thank you.

[john1297576 · Accepted solution]

You should report to the police but it won't get your lap top back. You really gave it away. If you had followed instructions you only ever post to the address given on the Paypal Payment as that also verifies that you have been paid. Failing to do this has been an expensive lesson.

[userk007 · Accepted solution]

The email I received from eBay did mentioned that shipment address is verified and Paypal has also confirmed it. Does this mean we shouldn't trust paypal either?

[1902elder · Accepted solution]

Are you sure the e-mails did come from Ebay and Paypal? Scammers often send fake ones which do seem to be authentic. It is not normal for Ebay to advise that an address is verified, and Paypal would only do so if the payment had been received.

[userk007 · Accepted solution]

I'm sure I received emails I received are from eBay but they never appeared in Messages of eBay. Paypal didn't send any emails but eBay did mention(in the emails)that amount has been received and waiting for shipment. There is also an address given to post it which is in US California.

[1902elder · Accepted solution]

All of that just confirms that you have been scammed. In future, you only send to the address in Paypal which will be confirmed when the payment has actually reached your Paypal account. Disregard any other messages you receive. This is a common scam particularly aimed at new or infrequent sellers.

[rusticrye]

I've just read your responses to another poster, and you're mistaken. Ebay don't send 'payment confirmation' emails as they never see payments. Payment goes direct from the buyer's PayPal account or card to your PayPal account. What you receive from Ebay is an order confirmation email. (And, incidentally, you must never send to the address on the order confirmation, as that is not necessarily where the buyer wants the item to go.)

PayPal sends the payment confirmation email (which includes the address you must ship to), as they are the payment processor. However, this email was not from PayPal, as you would have discovered if you'd simply checked your PayPal account before shipping the laptop. You fell for the oldest scam in the book, and believed the buyer when he said he couldn't pay you via Ebay and asked you to send him your PayPal email address so that he could pay you direct.  Which you then naively did, and the criminal gang, which is what the 'buyer' is, sent you a fake payment confirmation email purporting to be from PayPal.

All you can do is report this to the police, and do a web search for 'payment scams' and 'staying safe online' so that you don't make such an expensive mistake again.

@userk007 

[red_magpie]

I'm afraid this is a very well known fraud. You need to report it to the police. They will probably refer it to action fraud as an internet based scam, but there is very little chance you will get your MacBook back.

EBay is a very risky place to sell anything of value, and new sellers are often targeted.