Have I been scammed? What can I do?

Associate
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West Midlands
I advertised my Xbox the other day on Gumtree and got interest from a buyer about half an hours drive away. He did some negotiating and in the end offered to pay petrol money plus a little on top for me to drive it down to Southampton for his son.

He said he would pay the money via Paypal beforehand to make sure its legit, and I got paid £170 via Paypal with the promise of £25 cash when I arrive. The name was a female and the address was different to where I met (Outside a Sainsburys). He told me it was going through his sister as his Paypal was acting up, so I naively thought nothing of it. I mean, how would you receive your money through Paypal from someone else?!

So I went up and met his son outside the supermarket, gave him the Xbox and he gave me £25 as we discussed. Note that it wasn't all completely smooth from their end as they delayed the sale by a day last minute saying the son had football training.

Now I've received a Paypal claim from this person on Paypal saying that they had bought an iPhone 6s from me and I haven't sent it so they want their money back. I've messaged back and asked where the sale was made and explained the situation to them.

Now I have the full conversation with this supposed person via text, with him saying it was his sisters Paypal and arranging the payments etc. So is there anything I can do about this? Can I sort it out cleanly with Paypal or do I get the police involved for fraud? :(
 
Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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26,053
Get the police involved anyway. Don't take PayPal payment for something you can't provide proof of delivery for (a signed note by the buyer doesn't count).

Also don't meet in a car park. That was pretty dumb.
 
Associate
OP
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West Midlands
Get the police involved anyway. Don't take PayPal payment for something you can't provide proof of delivery for (a signed note by the buyer doesn't count).

Also don't meet in a car park. That was pretty dumb.

Yes, it was naive on my part, mainly for thinking that a non-PPG payment had me covered. I had assumed that once the money was in there, that was that, he sent me the money and that was secure. How wrong I was. :(

Could you lend me £5000? I swear I will pay it back, meet you outside the supermarket mate. :)

It wasn't that black and white, there was 2-3 days of negotiating going on, so it came across as reasonably legit. Plus, it never crossed my mind that someone would get someone else to pay into a Paypal account as a scam.

you should have asked them to pay by Paypal Gift

Well I thought that by doing it as non gift, that had me covered in case they scammed me (Via Paypals system) :(:(:(
 
Caporegime
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18 Oct 2002
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26,053
If you have a police reference number for this then you could always report it as stolen to Microsoft so it is no good on Live. Not going to help you get it back but will make you feel better.
 

HAz

HAz

Soldato
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10,856
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Torquay Devon
Pretty silly of you but makes you wonder how low some people can be to even make you drive it to them knowing they will later rip you off. Utter scum
 
Associate
OP
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Supermarket might have CCTV too; contact the police with the evidence you have and they will have to investigate.

Seems like they're after an Xbox for £25!

Good shout, now to see if the police are happy to get involved in it or not. The text conversation clearly talks about it being an Xbox, and I mention the Paypal payers name and he clearly says its his sister, and the amount that came into Paypal etc. is discussed, so hopefully it can hold up.

If you have a police reference number for this then you could always report it as stolen to Microsoft so it is no good on Live. Not going to help you get it back but will make you feel better.

Thanks for the recommendation, will do if I can.

Pretty silly of you but makes you wonder how low some people can be to even make you drive it to them knowing they will later rip you off. Utter scum

Exactly, I even tried to sort out meeting me half way and they said they will pay a bit extra on top for the hassle.

Really hope justice is dished out, if not just for me, for any future victims who will unknowingly get ripped off with such a sly scam.
 
Caporegime
Joined
13 Jan 2010
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Llaneirwg
An expensive lesson.
While people pay with PayPal scammers have easy pickings!

Really shows a lot I think when people on tech forums get scammed like this. Dread to think how much it happens in general.

If I was a lowlife I bet I got do pretty well.
 
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