Invoice Scam

zjohnson2462
New Community Member

Hello. About a month ago a man contacted me wanting to purchase Adidas Yeezy 350 Boost V2 Blue Tint Size 11.5 US from me, and asked that I send him an invoice for $650. I did so, and received a string of emails saying that payment had been sent, and that I need to ship the package and submit a tracking number. I did so, and paid $120 in overnight shipping, as requested by the buyer. I received another email from PayPal saying that the payment would be available after the package arrived at the buyer's door. The package was delivered successfully, and a month later I have no funds in my account. In my re-inspection of the emails I was sent, I now see that they were sent from a fraudulent email address, albeit a very convincing one. I am prepared to file a suit in small claims court for the damages if PayPal is not able to help with the issue, but I am hopeful that there is some kind of seller protection that protects against these types of malicious scams. Especially ones that seem so realistic. I have all of the emails, as well as written proof of the man agreeing to our terms of exchange in the form of text messages. I have his address, name, and email. I also have proof via tracking number that the package was delivered successfully. There should be some way to force payment onto him. Please let me know what you can do and how I can move forward. I will gladly supply any and all evidence that you need. Thanks,

-Zac Johnson

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5 REPLIES 5

DPCreations
Frequent Advisor
Frequent Advisor

Of course this is a scam.  All I had to read was 4 lines of your text.  The remainder had no relevance.

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zjohnson2462
New Community Member

Yes, I'm aware it is a scam. I'm wondering what the options are moving forward to get the money I am owed. 

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DPCreations
Frequent Advisor
Frequent Advisor

Why are you owed any money?

Did you actually ship something without having received money?  

 

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zjohnson2462
New Community Member

Yes, I did ship the item. If you read the full post, you'll see the situation. 

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DPCreations
Frequent Advisor
Frequent Advisor

There was way too much background information that wasn't relevant.

So, you shipped without checking your PayPal account on your computer for transaction detail.  There was not payment transaction and no OK to ship.  You shipped without payment and without a PayPal transaction.   It is totally outside the PayPal system so PayPal gives you no recourse.

You could send another invoice to the other party, but there is no obligation to pay and no reason why the other party would want to pay.

Just use this as a learning experience to make sure you check your PayPal account for transactions before you ship anything else.  Certain products are extremely high risk of fraud, also.

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