Ebay scam, what to do now?

[htid]

My mate has been scammed and is wondering what he can do about it, i thought I'd ask here. Here is the sequence of events:

1)He wanted to sell his phone so he listed it on ebay for £225 and got a buyer.

2) The guy sends the money via paypal and my mate receives it, so he posts the phone via Royal Mail Special Delivery

3) The guy signs for the phone

4) Paypal say the card that was used to buy the phone was stolen or something, so the guy who's card it really is, wants a refund.

5) Paypal tell my mate they want the money back off him, but he won't get his phone back

6) He gets an e-mail saying he has lost the case. Meanwhile my mate is getting charged for all the "admin" fees and the like that the real credit card owners bank are saying paypal owe.

So basically he's lost his phone AND now they want the money back, so what can he do from here? Any ideas?

[TeePee]

Don't give them anything. Let paypal try to tke him to court.

www.paypalsucks.com

[TheAnimus]

ensure pay pal isn't asociated with his bank account.

ie, don't let them just yoink the money out.

Contact citizens advice, I'm not sure who the best regulator too complain to would be (as its escrow) but also the finacial services omnibsman will help too.

[Clunk]

Yep, sod paypal, if he has a direct debit, he should cancel it right away.

[chuckskull]

Yeah cancel direct debits at the banks end right now(should be able to do it online), paypal will just take the money in a a few days without warning. Happened to me for the tune of £700, helloooo overdraft :|

Then argue you the case until you're blue in the face, citizens advice and a solicitor will go a long way to help. Especially seeing as they make it very hard to contact anyone other than a call centre drone. If anything like my case, paypal will eventually give up on the money but bar you from the using it with the currently registered bank account.

Nothing to stop your mate opening a new bank account iof he's desperate for paypal though.

In case you missed it, cancel all direct debits RIGHT NOW.

[Agent]

4) Paypal say the card that was used to buy the phone was stolen or something, so the guy who's card it really is, wants a refund.

Card fraud is covered by the card holders bank. It is not up to Paypal to give a "refund" to the person who has had fraud commited on their card.
Its under the Consumer Credit Act. Im *really* busy this week, but if you dont have any luck by next week, ill dig out the sections of it that will apply to your friend.

[MD]

there is one thing that is crucial to all of this - did your mate ship the item to the buyers confirmed address?

If so and he has the proof of postage you have to tell paypal its covered by thier standard payment protection.

If not PayPal can rightly take the money back - thier terms on this suck - it all depends if your mate shipped to the confirmed address of the recip.

Matt.

[Agent]

there is one thing that is crucial to all of this - did your mate ship the item to the buyers confirmed address?

If so and he has the proof of postage you have to tell paypal its covered by thier standard payment protection.

If not PayPal can rightly take the money back - thier terms on this suck - it all depends if your mate shipped to the confirmed address of the recip.

Matt.

I would honestly love to see PP's terms and conditions stand up in court. Just because they have a clause in there doesn’t mean its legal.
The bottom line is that the bank will always cover fraud online on a credit card - its legally entitled to. After all, they had to authorize the transaction at some point.
Why paypal wants this money off the user is anyone’s guess. I suspect its to keep the banks sweet and their books looking nice.

[ACiD303]

A similar thing happened to me last year - except I posted the phone and then by the time I got home, paypal froze the money saying it was from fraudulent sources.

Took about 4 months for the case to be settled (not in my favour).

[Agent]

Took about 4 months for the case to be settled (not in my favour).

By Paypal or a court ?

[htid]

Card fraud is covered by the card holders bank. It is not up to Paypal to give a "refund" to the person who has had fraud commited on their card.
Its under the Consumer Credit Act. Im *really* busy this week, but if you dont have any luck by next week, ill dig out the sections of it that will apply to your friend.

This is the e-mail he got:

Dear **************,

We recently notified you that one of your buyers filed a chargeback stating
unauthorised use of a credit card.

It is PayPal's standard practice to dispute wrongful chargebacks. Using the
information you provided, we are in the process of disputing this
chargeback with the buyer's card issuer.

Because the card issuer has reversed this charge, PayPal is temporarily
holding an amount equal to the disputed funds until this matter is
resolved. If the chargeback is resolved in your favour, the funds will
remain in your account.

The credit card company has charged PayPal a settlement fee for this
chargeback. In accordance with the terms of the PayPal User Agreement, we
have debited your PayPal account to cover this fee.

.............


We understand that you may not have been expecting this chargeback. If this
chargeback has made your PayPal account balance negative, please reimburse
us by adding funds to your account or by sending a cheque to the following
address:

..............


Please submit your response in the next 72 hours. The chargeback dispute
process is subject to strict timelines. If you are unable to respond within
72 hours, we may be limited in the ways that we can dispute this
chargeback. After we receive and review any additional information, we can
determine if we can take any further action. While we need to you respond
quickly, a final decision about this chargeback may take up to 75 days.
- If your PayPal account balance has become negative, please reimburse us
within 60 days of the date of this email.

________________________________


He's gonna see CAB on Friday but it sounds like the guys bank have charged Paypal already, and now Paypal want that money :-S