scammed help

lukesmom

My son has worked in a part time job to save up for a ps4. He found one on adverts he liked and I bid on it and the buyer asked me to pay by paypal which I did. He asked me to pay by family and friends because he would get it quicker. I did. Then he said he would courier it the next day and send me a tracking code. I mailed him yesterday evening and he said he hasn't sent it as he had family issues. I said ok but please send it next day. He said he would. Then I asked him yesterday had he sent it and he said yes. And then a minute later he accused me of reporting his paypal account and that his money was frozen! I told him it wasn't me who had done it. He said great now I've lost my money and my ps4 thanks for nothing. Bye. So I waited today and no ps4. No courier. I got onto adverts and they said go to gardai as paypal can't refund me seeing as the guy got me to pay it through the 'family and friends' option. Has anybody any advice for me? My 15 year old son is so upset and so am I.

uck51js9zml2yt

Unless you go to the guards you've no comeback.Sadly he can say he posted it and you can't disprove it.
I'm afraid you've lost your money

Gatling

Gards and give any details he gave you ,keep an eye on adverts to see if he is stupid enough to relist it for sale

AndrewJRenko

Did he tell you to use the 'family and friends' option on Paypal? Did you think that this was strange? What kind of reputation did he have on adverts.ie ?

L1011

Guards is the only option, but do not expect anything from it

Never use "family and friends" on Paypal unless someone is.

lukesmom

AndrewJRenko wrote:

Did he tell you to use the 'family and friends' option on Paypal? Did you think that this was strange? What kind of reputation did he have on adverts.ie ?

Yes he said it would cost him extra if I didn't. I didn't think it was too strange as I've been asked to do this and followed through before with no repercussions. He had 1 positive feedback and no negative. He was new to adverts but had 3 items for sale. Yes I know I've been very stupid. Too trusting.

BorneTobyWilde

Emmett Noisy Gull wrote: »

Unless you go to the guards you've no comeback.Sadly he can say he posted it and you can't disprove it.
I'm afraid you've lost your money

If it's that easy and full proof we may all start doing it.

BorneTobyWilde

How much was his PS4 ?

lukesmom

What can the gardai do and realistically speaking is it likely they would investigate it?

lukesmom

BorneTobyWilde wrote:

How much was his PS4 ?

I bought it for €200 and sent him an extra €15 for the courier.

kbell

http://touch.boards.ie/forum/1200

There's an adverts forum on here, post there, the mods are very helpful.

BorneTobyWilde

Couriers can be slow, even within Ireland. Can you ask him for the tracking number, he claimed he sent it and seemed to be mad about the fact he did as his paypal was frozen.
Should send him a text, tell him it never came and ask for the tracking number or a refund

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

If it's that easy and full proof we may all start doing it.

Unfortunately it can be that simple. Hence you take precautions with payments. We won't all start doing it because most of us are honest.

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

How much was his PS4 ?

That's immaterial.

that sucks, I think there's a few on here that would like to donate towards the young fellas ps4, I'll throw in 50quid if you want to send on your paypal address.

the_syco

Do you have his phone number? If so, Google it.

lukesmom

BorneTobyWilde wrote:

Couriers can be slow, even within Ireland. Can you ask him for the tracking number, he claimed he sent it and seemed to be mad about the fact he did as his paypal was frozen. Should send him a text, tell him it never came and ask for the tracking number or a refund

I've asked him several times. He's ignoring me.

Gatling

Is the ad gone from adverts?

lukesmom

Gatling wrote:

Is the ad gone from adverts?

Yes he had it listed as withdrawn and he also had an xbox 1s and an iPhone 6s up and they have been deleted also I presume by adverts mods who are watching him. His account is still active though. I'm lukesmom if anybody wants to see the comments

lukesmom

the_syco wrote:

Do you have his phone number? If so, Google it.

No I don't unfortunately. I've googled his name but no luck. He's in donegal and has a pretty common name

Tilikum

Was it a new PS4 he was selling?

lukesmom

Deleted User wrote:

that sucks, I think there's a few on here that would like to donate towards the young fellas ps4, I'll throw in 50quid if you want to send on your paypal address.

That is extremely thoughtful and generous of you but I don't see why someone else should also lose out because of this person

njs030

The only option is to go to the guards, as already said if you pay by friends and family there's no comeback.
If someone asks you to do it in future just say no they can add on the few Euro it costs for the fees.

Tilikum

I've paid by friends a family a few times with no problem. What exactly does that mean? They just don't have to pay a few quid for postage or something?

L1011

Tilikum wrote: »

I've paid by friends a family a few times with no problem. What exactly does that mean? They just don't have to pay a few quid for postage or something?

You pay the fees rather than them. You also lose absolutely all buyer protections.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Tilikum wrote: »

I've paid by friends a family a few times with no problem. What exactly does that mean? They just don't have to pay a few quid for postage or something?

You are taking the fees and too many risks if the seller is not known personally to you.

The_Valeyard

I never knew about this.

Sorry what happened OP. But I've leaned a valuable lesson from this.

lukesmom

lukesmom wrote: »

That is extremely thoughtful and generous of you but I don't see why someone else should also lose out because of this person

Well it's more about spreading the loss, I remember the excitement of getting new games console even if it was the Sega Master System back in them days..

Bananaleaf

Are you not even able to enter a dispute via paypal if you've paid friends and family?

Tilikum

I bought an xbox yrs ago on ebay. The seller had 50 odd positive feedback. All small items though. I was new to ebay so, along with a **** load of other people, i bought an xbox off him. We all got ripped off. Thankfully between ebay/paypal we got most of the money back. But it still broke my heart not to get my xbox.

I'll give you 50 through paypal. You'll have to wait until tomorrow though as its payday

L1011

Bananaleaf wrote: »

Are you not even able to enter a dispute via paypal if you've paid friends and family?

No, because you've assured them you were giving money to a friend and/or family. Absolutely unprotected.

lukesmom

Tilikum wrote:

Was it a new PS4 he was selling?

No but it was a ps4 pro with 5 games, a charger and one controller. He was also throwing in 6 months free online membership. It was too good to be true unfortunately.

Another boardsie contacted me offering another 50 so that's 100 so far, let me know if its wanted..

Bananaleaf

Will also donate via paypal if this is allowed. If for nothing else as a thank you to the OP who has alerted me to something I wasn't aware of!

lukesmom

Tilikum wrote:

I've paid by friends a family a few times with no problem. What exactly does that mean? They just don't have to pay a few quid for postage or something?

That's what I thought too. But he must have known exactly what he was doing.

Tilikum

lukesmom wrote: »

No but it was a ps4 pro with 5 games, a charger and one controller. He was also throwing in 6 months free online membership. It was too good to be true unfortunately.

would someone really go to all that trouble for the sake of 200?

Bananaleaf

Tilikum wrote: »

would someone really go to all that trouble for the sake of 200?

All what trouble? Posting an ad that takes 5mins max? Yes, they definitely would!

Tilikum

Bananaleaf wrote: »

All what trouble? Posting an ad that takes 5mins max? Yes, they definitely would!

do you not need to set up an paypal account too? linked to your bank account? It's years since i set up mine to be honest so I don't remember

Wexfordboy89

Tilikum wrote: »

would someone really go to all that trouble for the sake of 200?

You must have plenty of money if 200 euro doesnt mean much too you.unfortunatly for some its a lot of money and a young fella of 15 it defo a lot hes probably worked and saved up for a good month or more to save 200 quid

lukesmom

He's been waiting all day looking out the window for the courier that was apparantly coming. Please everyone if you didn't know. Never use the family and friends option it's so not worth it. There are scumbags out there and I was fooled.

Wexfordboy89

lukesmom wrote: »

He's been waiting all day looking out the window for the courier that was apparantly coming. Please everyone if you didn't know. Never use the family and friends option it's so not worth it. There are scumbags out there and I was fooled.

Srry about your son if i had money i give him some towards getting one hope you can sort if

Tilikum

Wexfordboy89 wrote: »

You must have plenty of money if 200 euro doesnt mean much too you.unfortunatly for some its a lot of money and a young fella of 15 it defo a lot hes probably worked and saved up for a good month or more to save 200 quid

It's a lot to me too,pal. What I'm saying is, in my experience these scammers, scam a ton of people at the one time. Not one person for 200.

lukesmom

lukesmom wrote: »

He's been waiting all day looking out the window for the courier that was apparantly coming. Please everyone if you didn't know. Never use the family and friends option it's so not worth it. There are scumbags out there and I was fooled.

Have gotten pm's from 2 other boardsies so fund is now at 150. If you want this, let me know, if nothing else it will show the young fella that the internet is not just full of scammers

lukesmom

Deleted User wrote:

Another boardsie contacted me offering another 50 so that's 100 so far, let me know if its wanted..

I don't know what to say honestly of course it's wanted there's nothing more I'd love than to get it for him after he saving up

Wexfordboy89

Tilikum wrote: »

It's a lot to me too,pal. What I'm saying is, in my experience these scammers, scam a ton of people at the one time. Not one person for 200.

Ah ok i get you he could have multiple accounts selling the same items to scam people

lukesmom

lukesmom wrote: »

I don't know what to say honestly of course it's wanted there's nothing more I'd love than to get it for him after he saving up

ok please pm me your paypal address you will get 3 amounts of 50 through as I will be letting the other 2 know your paypal id also

Wexfordboy89

Try gamestop or cex if you have one near you for ps4s think cex might be a bit cheaper not sure.

Tilikum

Deleted User wrote: »

ok please pm me your paypal address you will get 3 amounts of 50 through as I will be letting the other 2 know your paypal id also

The little man will be getting 4.

njs030

Tilikum wrote: »

would someone really go to all that trouble for the sake of 200?

What makes you think the op was the only person that bought it?
The console, 5 games etc for €200 and then asking for payment via friends and family looks like a scam if you know a little about it but if 4/5 people fall for it in a day that's a lot of money!
Account closed and open a new one selling something else based somewhere else in the country. It's not hard to do.

Wexfordboy89

notjustsweet wrote: »

What makes you think the op was the only person that bought it?
The console, 5 games etc for €200 and then asking for payment via friends and family looks like a scam if you know a little about it but if 4/5 people fall for it in a day that's a lot of money!
Account closed and open a new one selling something else based somewhere else in the country. It's not hard to do.

What i was thinking or he had same items listed under multiple accounts

Tilikum

I see what you mean now by 200 being too good to be true.

http://www.adverts.ie/playstation/sony-ps4-pro-1tb-new/13240271

There's a new one for 350 in Galway. If a few more boardies chips in

ok so 50 gone to you and another 100 on the way, hope he enjoys it!!