Received money as a gift, but does not show up in balance

TheDuecer
Contributor
Contributor

Yesterday I had received money as a gift($42) but the amount has not yet showed up in my balance and the Invoice was received and says that it was paid. Please help me!

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PayPal_Adrian
PayPal Employee
PayPal Employee

Hi TheDuecer,

 

This is a scam, simple as that.

 

The way it works:

 

They first send you an invoice as a seller, saying that it's proof you'll be paid.  They then mark it as paid, because only the seller can mark an invoice paid.  Since you're new to PayPal or new to just receiving money, it can be very confusing, and that's what they're coutning on - your inexperience in receiving money or using PayPal to convince you've been paid.

 

The way to tell it's not true:

 

If someone has sent you money, you will see it in your PayPal account balance.  If it's not there, they didn't send you a thing. 

 

What to do now?

 

If you have sent an item, recall the package if you can.  If the carrier cannot recall the package, you may consider contacting either/or the authorities both in your location or in the location it is being delivered in the hopes they can recover it.  If you have provided digital content, you may have options to invalidate the content.

 

Stay safe,

 

Adrian

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19 REPLIES 19

snowshoe
Frequent Advisor
Frequent Advisor

Not sure what you mean when you use the term invoice - invoices are used by sellers.  As a seller, you would send the buyer an email invoice.  The buyer clicks on a link in the email invoice, is then redirected to the PayPal Checkout Screens.  The buyer then pays, you get the money and ship the item.

 

If someone is sending you money as a gift - there's no invoices.  You get an email notification that you have money, you can then click on a link within that email to claim the funds.

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TheDuecer
Contributor
Contributor

This is hard for me to explain, but what the email tells me is that i received an invoice from the person.

 

 sent you an invoice for $42.00 USD.

 

This is a Paypal Gift. This amount will take up to 3 hours to be credited to your Paypal balance. This gift is non-refundable and no charge back.

 

Does this mean the person is asking me for money?

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Solved

PayPal_Adrian
PayPal Employee
PayPal Employee

Hi TheDuecer,

 

This is a scam, simple as that.

 

The way it works:

 

They first send you an invoice as a seller, saying that it's proof you'll be paid.  They then mark it as paid, because only the seller can mark an invoice paid.  Since you're new to PayPal or new to just receiving money, it can be very confusing, and that's what they're coutning on - your inexperience in receiving money or using PayPal to convince you've been paid.

 

The way to tell it's not true:

 

If someone has sent you money, you will see it in your PayPal account balance.  If it's not there, they didn't send you a thing. 

 

What to do now?

 

If you have sent an item, recall the package if you can.  If the carrier cannot recall the package, you may consider contacting either/or the authorities both in your location or in the location it is being delivered in the hopes they can recover it.  If you have provided digital content, you may have options to invalidate the content.

 

Stay safe,

 

Adrian

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Did my post solve the issue? If so, please accept it as a solution!
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TheDuecer
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you for solving this mystery for me. Unfortunately The trade was done through a game website called steam, so they cannot do anything for me. Is there a way I can report him with paypal so that other people can be cautious when having transactions with this person? But i appreciate you clearing all this up for me. thanks!

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PayPal_Adrian
PayPal Employee
PayPal Employee

Hi TheDuecer,

 

Depending on what the item was that was sent through Steam, they may have some ways of recalling the gift or the transferred item.  You may want to reach out to Steam support, though I can understand your reticence if you're concerned they won't be happy about the intent to trade money for goods between members.

 

As for the PayPal side, don't worry, our fraud teams keep an eye out for this. I'm certain he'll be shut down Smiley Happy

 

- Adrian

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Dzy23
New Community Member

I think i got scammed :(. can you please tell me if i did i think im out $35. :((((((((( i dont know what to do with myself now http://prntscr.com/5al2r1

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MattRobinson
Contributor
Contributor

Yes you did get scammed, I nearly did too. This scam I have not come across before and I think it's very tricky.

I got a very similiar message not the same but similiar.

 

<removed>(I don't care putting his information up if he is going to try scam me). He was betting that I would believe that it takes 24 hours for paypal to convert the currency from US dollars to pounds and in that time I would read "Non-Refundable the sender will not get their money back" and know that he sent it so I would trade my knife before that 24 hours was up. I ama very stubborn person so I did not. I called paypal support, I waited 20 minutes and no-one picked up Smiley Frustrated. I realised the part on the left which said notes, this isn't paypal notes this is notes from the sender trying to fake a message from paypal. I looked this up and found out others were victims of this scam too, sorry to hear this I hope you can try get your items back. Have a nice day.

 

~ Matt.

 

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Cameron4796
Member
Member

Same thing happened to me with steam I have opened a steam ticket but we know them, they wont do anything about it but what annoys me is the fact that the people who are doing these scams are getting away with it and we are always loosing out as we get nothing back 99% off the time...

<removed>

 

Thats the scam I got I know im stupid just that was the first time I had ever used paypal.

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Isaac1
Contributor
Contributor

Ive had a similar problem with a guy named Edward. I was supposed to recieve 89$ usd but instead i got an invoice THE INVOICE SAYS "TRANSEFERING TO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT"

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