Facebook / Messenger / PayPal SCAM

[Yetiman]

I was browsing the marketplace for items I am interested in and come accross YETI 20 coolers and asked the seller what they wanted for them and the were like 130 bucks, so I asked for pictures and how many they had and why so cheap? They replied just 3 colors, sent pictures that looked like they were of theirs not from a Yeti website or anything and that her boyfriend and her had broken up and were distributors of them and these were the last of what they had and she was selling to get money to move away from where they lived. I told her I'd think about it and asked later if she would do any better cost for all 3, we haggled back and forth a lil and finally come to agree on 260 for all three and she said that she was on PayPal through Messenger / Facebook. I googled the info because I was unfamiliar with Facebook / Messenger doing any teaming up with PayPal but it looked like it was legit, I googled the persons name, Alex Pritchett and scams on YETI coolers and did not see anything, thinking I'm being smart by checking into this first hand so I thought, PayPal has always been pretty secure for me so even if these show up damaged or something I will be ok. I went ahead and did the payment on Saturday and she said she would ship them Monday and get me tracking as soon as possible. Monday came and I jumped on Messenger to ask if she had the tracking yet and the user-profile and their side of the Messenger chat was all gone! I jumped immediately onto PayPal trying to cancel the payment and/or find guidelines on how to protect myself and get my funds back and sent a email to both Facebook Messenger help and PayPal help and this morning I see a email that says PayPal declined my case because it was a valid transaction and was not "un-authorized".......of course it was not un-authorized but when a person says they are going to take funds for product and does not ship them and disappears, Id say that is grounds on getting my money back and going after this scam! I am very bummed that in this day and age we do not have a better "risk & fraud' management plan to protect against this kind of nonsense! I should have known better but I assumed that if it did not pan out, Id have both Facebook and PayPal on my side to hammer the seller. 

[kernowlass]

@Yetiman 

Instead of posting all that, all we need to know is that you didn't get an item and how you sent the payment + how you funded the payment.

So was it.

1. Friends / family.

2. Goods / services.

3. Invoice or money request.

Secondly did you fund your paypal payment.

1. Paypal balance.

2. Bank account.

3. Card.

[Yetiman]

Sorry, first time using this and did not know....

So it was:

1. Seller on Facebook Market Place

2. Goods

3. money request

Secondly did you fund your paypal payment.

2. Bank account was used 

[kernowlass]

@Yetiman 

OK if you opened a dispute for 'unauthorised' then you were telling paypal that your paypal account had been hacked and used without your consent.

If paypal checked IP addresses and devices and saw you did make the transaction then they would close that dispute.

Why did you not file for non receipt of item as you paid for an item and did not receive it?

[Yetiman]

partially my own fault......trying to deal with it while at work and not truly being able to find exactly what to file it under, but yes it is a non receipt of item paid for but did not know how to word other than the seller profile was gone all together so I freaked out! 

[kernowlass]

@Yetiman 

Normally you are only allowed to open x1 dispute per transaction, so as you have already opened one and had it closed, you may now be out of luck.

However try phoning paypal and explaining that you opened the wrong one by mistake and they 'may' open one for non receipt of item for you..........no guarantees though, sometimes they will and sometimes they won't.

Click on the words "Help / Contact" at the bottom of paypals pages and use the phone option in the blue band at the top OR very bottom of page dependent on what country you are in. Scroll down past the list of help questions and click on 'Call us' bottom of that page. Log in and get the code.

[Yetiman]

Appreciate all the help, I did call PayPal and they had me get with my bank to process the refuse payment and within a couple days they had it resolved......sorry to bother anyone with my headaches on here, just was unsure what to do first or the steps but now I know and hope I will never have to again, but maybe this will help someone else in the same jam.