Last night, a person who I know and I am close to on Facebook asked me, via messenger, to receive some money for them into my Paypal account from an ebay buyer, as theirs wasn't working. I did this, as they were extremely convincing, knowing things only this person would know. I sent the initial payment to a bank account, details provided, and all seemed fine. The penny dropped when she asked again if she could send more, and I Googled if this might be a scam. Turns out it is, so I quickly refunded the 'buyer' his money back, and contacted my bank fraud squad immediately.
The 'buyer' has now tried to reclaim the money from my PayPal account, so I am -£350 in the red. Paypal say that it is completely out of their hands but I just don't see how this can be the case. Surely they know who sent that money, and can see that it's fraudulent?
I have reported to police, and opened a case with my bank. I feel so duped and stupid, but this person who hacked my friend's account clearly did their research and knew so much about them that they could hold a conversation with me.
Does anyone know if there's any way I can get PayPal to investigate the senders of this money from their end? I feel like there's got to be something they can do. It's put me off using PayPal ever again.
