Got scammed by a Facebook ad selling Golden curling 2 in 1 hair iron.

Stellaluna1970
Contributor
Contributor

Hello everyone,

I got scammed out of approximately 45.00$ from a Chinese company working (apparently) from the UK. Their name is summer_eye CO., Ltd but they go by many, many names on social media ads mainly on Facebook. They have scammed many women including myself. They state they sell the MESTAR IRON PRO - GOLD but in reality they don't send anything. The very few on Facebook that actually have been lucky to receive anything, have receive a plain black hair straightener that is worth about 10$ and some are damaged goods. 
I have discovered, unfortunately after the fact, that they NEVER respond to the email they provided on their website. Additionally, the phone number they posted on their site does not work either. The first time I called, a man speaking Chinese answered and he didn't speak English nor French.  He hung up on me.  All additionally calls went to voice mail.  

After some investigating on my part, I have discovered who owns the company, where they are located in the UK and how many company they have registered (I even have their date of birth).  
I was under the impression that PayPal kept people's funds secure for a few days and only released it after a certain amount of days but it seems PayPal redeemed my funds immediately to the fraudulent vendor.

I have since opened a case file with PayPal and await to see what on earth will come of it. 
Since this is my first time getting scammed, my question is, What should I expect from PayPal ? Will this process be an easy one considering these scammers are still up and running on Facebook.

I have opened up a file with Shopify since these scammers are powered by them and with Facebook. I have also opened up a criminal police report since I am a victim of online internet fraud.
Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you  

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128 REPLIES 128

sharpiemarker
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@Stellaluna1970

 

PayPal holds funds up to 21 days and issues a hold on transactions depending on the history of the recipient account so it may not hold funds every time for every account.

 

Within the first 20 days of opening dispute, you communicate with seller, or you escalate to a claim to have PayPal step in and communicate with both parties, asking for information to help them decide and make a ruling. They will try to resolve the issue within 30 days.

 

You can find the buyer protection policy eligibility and more on the dispute process from this page: https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/ua/legalhub-full


Kudos & Solved are greatly appreciated. 🙂
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Stellaluna1970
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you for your feed back. I appreciate your response.

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gmaffatt
Contributor
Contributor

They never responded to my email ...it took forever to deliver the product and is not what they advertised ....is just a simple hair straightener.  This is not what I wanted .... I will contact them again if not PayPal doesn't protect us?

 

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tcappis
New Community Member

that's great, but the item took longer than 21 days to get to my house 😞 

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Rlarivee
Member
Member
If paypal knows about this scam, why aren’t they stopping it? Why are they letting the payments go through. Shouldn’t it be flagged by now? The origin of the seller is a furniture store? Paypal do something
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Bwasham75
Contributor
Contributor
A week ago I finally received mine it was just as described. It took almost 2 months to get here, but it's here and I'm happy with it. So case closed for me! Betty
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RoxyDad
Contributor
Contributor
They aren’t stopping it because they are getting kickbacks in the form of “foreign currency charges.” Works for the scammers and for PayPal!
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NEEECEY53
Contributor
Contributor
4/19/2020 i purchased a Silky Salon Smooth Hair Professional Hair Straightner for 19.99 total 23.98 , it says 12 -20 days for delivery its now 5/27/2020 still havent received it, try contacting seller email twice, no response, called phone number in Hong Kong the number is not working.. Sarita Vaughan order #72788
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RoxyDad
Contributor
Contributor
Here’s the deal folks. PayPal is complicit it this scam. My charge for goods not received was for $95. However, when it went through, it was $109.24. PayPal tacked on the extra $14 for a “foreign currency transaction.” So, they got the Chinese Scammer their money and PayPal got a $14 kickback. That’s why PayPal refuses to make it right! Again, if it sounds to good to be true? It is.
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