Beware Donedeal seller fraud

ShaneW1986

Hi there folks, I’m not on here looking sympathy just hoping I can prevent someone from making the same mistake as myself.

I was in contact with a travel agent who had some tickets for the Manchester United Vs.  Juventus game on the 23^rd of October. I went to purchase the tickets only to find they were already sold out at this stage is were I made my first mistake. In a panic I jumped on Done Deal  in an attempt to find some replacement tickets. At this stage I was thinking emotionally and not logically.

A little bit of background, my Fiancée and I have never been to a Manchester United Match of which we are both fans, and she had a massive school girl crush on Ronaldo so I though it would be a nice surprise. I also work at sea and so the option of collecting the tickets in person wasn’t an option for me.

I found a promising advert which stated it had four tickets to the match but that they couldn’t attend due to a wedding so I got in contact. He said he still had them for sale and so still in a panic to get tickets and so while still thinking emotionally I agreed to pay him by PayPal and that I would even throw in an extra tenner in to cover the cost of registered mail.  He seemed like a genuine fella with an Irish accent and the account had been on Done Deal for six years and WhatsApp for five years. So I thought it would be safe enough. At this stage I made my second mistake I agreed to pay him as family and friends so as he wouldn’t get charged taxes (NEVER MAKE THIS MISTAKE OFFER TO PAY THE CHARGES AS EXTRA).

I then made the transfer, the moment I hit the send money button I regretted it but it was already to late. He continued to keep in contact answering the phone and occasionally a message when I badgered him enough but I couldn’t get the tracking details from him, he was always full of excuses. I even asked for a refund and made the request on PayPal he agreed but that never materialised either.

 I eventually got fed up and asked a couple of friends to message him and ask were the tickets still for sale and lo and behold they were. At this stage I contacted Done Deal and reported the Fraud. They have since removed the advert but haven’t made any attempt to contact me to offer any information or advice.

Please folks learn from my mistake, any one that has some genuine advice please share it with me undoubtedly there will be the usual trolls but I have no doubt the moderators will take care of them.

Mod changed the thread title

Allinall

Always check the service history.

So many people fail to do so.

YMMV

Snotty

Anyone asking to get paid as friends and family should immediately ring alarm bells, expensive lesson for you but nothing you can do now.

per aspera ad astra

Do PayPal not always protect the buyer?

bazz26

This is the wrong forum for this issue. This is the Motors buying and selling subforum.

NATLOR

per aspera ad astra wrote: »

Do PayPal not always protect the buyer?

Not when using the friends and family option. Hence the warning not to use it

ShaneW1986

Yeah I'm aware its in the wrong place sorry about that it was a mistake hopefully a mod can move it.

tedpan

How much did you pay? Maybe reporting the name, email and phone number to the Gardai?

Gonad

Surely if they were on done deal 6 years this couldn’t be the first time this was done ?

Done deal should not allow that profile to post another advert again

Gone Drinking

We all make mistakes, just chalk it down to experience!

ShaneW1986

Yeah chalking it down like you said. Hoping that when I get home next Saturday ill take a spin in to the local Gardaí station and give them all the details I have to date:

Phone Number
Email
I reckon I've found his social media profile as well

If I have hoping the Guards are able to prevent him from screwing someone else even if I don't get the money back.

biko

From motors buying forum

discodaveirl

ShaneW1986 wrote: »

Yeah I'm aware its in the wrong place sorry about that it was a mistake hopefully a mod can move it.

You done a google search on the number?

ShaneW1986

Yeah but nothing comes up for it. Also sorry TedPan paid over 350 euros.

893bet

Try buy again.......in person......prob won’t meet though.

ShaneW1986

Advert's taken down now because I reported it for fraud.

893bet

But u had the number from last week.....decided to go....

per aspera ad astra

I was going to write a whole list of things that you could do to get your money back, or get your own back – but you know what? F*** it! – These things work themselves out in the end. Karma IS real. And some day – his scum-ocity WILL catch up with him. It will. One way or another – the universe WILL sort him out...

Sleeper12

per aspera ad astra wrote:

Do PayPal not always protect the buyer?

Not when you opt for the family & friend option. Why would you need protection from family and friends?

OP this scam has been around for years. You'll find it on adverts too. Most add on adverts & DoneDeal.ie are genuine.

There's no advice I can give. You now are aware of the scam so pointless warning you or making you out to be foolish. All I can say is that I'm sorry it happened to you. You are doing the right thing telling as many people as possible to warn others

ShaneW1986

Done Deal have since been in contact and have followed up with the following message:

"Hi Shane,

Thank you for contacting DoneDeal. I'm sorry to hear that you had this experience.

It's really important that all instances like this are reported to An Garda Síochána. For this reason, we'd recommend the next step is to report it to your local Garda Station directly. The garda who is taking the report from you will complete a data protection request form which in turn is sent to us. Please give the investigating garda all the relevant details about the matter, to help us provide any relevant information to them.

Due to Data Protection law, we can't pass any information about the seller directly to yourself. However, we have a great working relationship with the gardaí and we will be happy to assist in any way possible.

Please let us know if there's anything else we can help you with."

So fingers crossed PayPal will have the same approach. When I get home hopefully I can help prevent this guy from screwing someone else!

whiterebel

I wouldn't hold out the same hope for Paypal. You deliberately circumvented their system which would have given you protection in this case.

ShaneW1986

Yeah but hoping that because it's a case of fraud and it's a request from the Gardai and not myself they might comply. Only can cross my fingers and hope, not really expecting my money back just hoping the guards can catch him!

stronglikebull

Paypal will do nothing. This type of scam has been on the Internet for years, and Paypal have never done anything about it. Friends and Family payment is for exactly that, someone you know. Paypal have no evidence that this was fraud, only your say so. For all they know, you could be lying and trying to get money back from a legitimate sale.

You can report the phone number and whatever name you have to the Gardai, but there's very little that they will do either. This is a low priority crime, and will likely never be investigated. That's just how it is.

As for Karma? It doesn't exist. This guy will be quite happy with his ill-gotten gains, as many others are. The universe does not sort out scammers and fraudsters. Only the very prolific ones ever get caught, if even they do. Petty crimes like this go largely unstopped.

daddy pig

you have no chance with paypal- once it went through as friends and family they will wash their hands of you straight away.
one option however is how did you pay with paypal? did it come out of your credit card? if so open a chargeback and deal directly with your bank in relation to it.
this will of course mess up your account with paypal but for €350 i would be going down that route.

ShaneW1986

Was a visa debit card so not entirely sure if that's an option?

lawred2

https://www.ccpc.ie/consumers/shopping/disputed-card-transactions-chargeback/

per aspera ad astra

stronglikebull wrote: »

As for Karma? It doesn't exist. This guy will be quite happy with his ill-gotten gains, as many others are. The universe does not sort out scammers and fraudsters. Only the very prolific ones ever get caught, if even they do. Petty crimes like this go largely unstopped.

You know, Karma is more than just a five letter word. Our actions have consequences. Cause and effect – it is there, it does exists – it is real. And I'm not talking spiritual or religious nonsense. Everything we do or say has consequences. One way or another, he's gonna get what's coming to him – in some way. He's putting out bad vibrations – and because of this, bad vibrations are coming his way. Think what you want – but no goodness will come to this man – and if it does, it'll be hollow. He might be up a few hundred euro – he might does this every so often, and be happy out – but will he really be happy? Will everyone around him love him? If he's an absolute ba*stard to a stranger – he's fundamentally broken as a human, he's a c*nt. Do you not think his family, or friends see that? He's a c*nt – and that's how society will view him. That IS his karma. Will his life be rich? He might have money, but will he actually be rich? You reap what you sow, what goes around comes around – these aren't just old sayings that mean sh*t. Anyway – we're never gonna agree on this – I just wanted to respond...

ShaneW1986

Cheers for the info, looks good but not sure how the process will work dealing with an intermediate party like PayPal. Will try anyway worst they can say is no and I'll be no worse off.

L1011

ShaneW1986 wrote: »

Was a visa debit card so not entirely sure if that's an option?

Chargeback works on debit cards. However, you can say goodbye to ever using PayPal again if you do that

jjmcclure

stronglikebull wrote: »

Paypal will do nothing. This type of scam has been on the Internet for years, and Paypal have never done anything about it. Friends and Family payment is for exactly that, someone you know. Paypal have no evidence that this was fraud, only your say so. For all they know, you could be lying and trying to get money back from a legitimate sale.

You can report the phone number and whatever name you have to the Gardai, but there's very little that they will do either. This is a low priority crime, and will likely never be investigated. That's just how it is.

As for Karma? It doesn't exist. This guy will be quite happy with his ill-gotten gains, as many others are. The universe does not sort out scammers and fraudsters. Only the very prolific ones ever get caught, if even they do. Petty crimes like this go largely unstopped.

I disagree. I reported a similar €65 fraud on adverts to the guards and they tracked the guy down. It turned out he was a member of the traveling community and I would have had to be identified in any prosecution, wasn't worth the grief in the end. I did have a lot of info on him already though as someone posted his full name and address on adverts

ShaneW1986

I've managed to find new tickets from a more reliable source a friend knew someone who has season tickets and heard what happened to me and are willing to let me use they're tickets at cost price for the game so at least a good bit of Karma is coming my way!

If they catch him I have no problems testifying against him as I'm not in the country most of the time so what's the worst they can do to me! Plus would hardly be worth driving the entire country to find I'm not even there for him. But thanks for the heads up.

per aspera ad astra

That's great!!

ShaneW1986

Thanks for all the help, advice and information folks.

Just a quick update when I got home from sea I went to my bank, they informed me a charge back was an option but I'd have to wait till after the event. Once the event was over I got back in touch with them and they put the charge back in motion. I also contacted PayPal as I was concerned about it affecting my account with them. They were pretty understanding and informed me that a single charge back wouldn't affect my rating with them. And as of yesterday the money is back in my account.

As for the guards they weren't interested, to be fair they did look him up on pulse using the Mobile number I provided and said that a previous complaint had been made about tickets but they had eventually arrived. It was infact the person I had tracked it back to using Facebook. Other than that they pretty much fobbed me off telling me to also come back after the event, however got the impression they really weren't interested.

But all in all got my money back which is a decent if not the best outcome, I would have like to seen the fraudster approached by the guards just to let him know they're aware of him if nothing else!

Cheers again for all the help.