PayPal's worthless "Buyer Protection" program and how to beat it

[Doggydo]

1) Make a website like "foxgarb.com"

2) Allow people to use PayPal to make purchases on your site. The purchaser will assume the deal is legitimate if PayPal and it's worthless "Buyer Protection" program is used.

3) Send a worthless package to some address in the same zipcode as the purchaser via USPS.

4) Wait for the purchaser to file a dispute with PayPal.

5) When PayPal contacts you about the dispute, just send them the USPS confirmation that you sent a package to that zipcode (but not necessarily to the purchaser.)

6) Let PayPal notify the purchaser that the claim is denied because the seller has proof that a package was sent to your zipcode (but again, not necessarily to the your address.)

6) Shut down your scamsite and enjoy your ill-gotten gains! It's that easy!

The scammed purchaser could send PayPal tons of evidence that the package was not mailed to their address, but that will not help -- DENIED! (USPS will NOT tell you where the package was mailed to, but they will confirm is was not your address.)

The best part is how PayPal will send the purchaser and new email after they give up on PayPal after the denial and dispute the purchase with their credit card company: "We Can't Investigate or Decide This Case" because you are disputing the charge we already denied -- what a joke!

Scammers, do you need more proof that this works:

<removed>

[kernowlass]

@Doggydo 

Sadly yep, thats why you should risk assess your transactions as paypal only provide 'some' paypal protection.

Then don't buy from these.............

Chinese Web Sites or on Facebook easy to spot so buyer beware.

1. No return address on the returns policy............thats because the site will look as if its in your country (where they despatch goods from) BUT they will ask for returns to go back to China (returns depot) at a shipping cost nearly always more than the item is worth.
2. No contact telephone number............if you click on contact the most you will get is webmail or an email address.
3. No company address information.
4. Great looking items at bargain prices that turn out to be tat.

HOWEVER you may still have the option to do a charge back if you funded your paypal payment via a credit card.

 

[Doggydo]

Thanks for the comment. Yeah, the site set off a bunch alarms for all the reasons you mentioned. The only reason I decided to give it a try was because I assumed the Buyer's Protection thing would be a bit more robust. I did read everything about the program, but who could guess that the seller doesn't have to prove they sent a package to the correct address? Most of the sites I shop at will only send to the address in PayPal, which is what I was expecting.

So what's the point of having something that is so easily circumvented? It is clear that there's a fraud problem and PayPal doesn't really care. You would not believe how much documentation I submitted with my claim. It was all ignored as soon as the seller showed that they had mailed out something that was delivered somewhere. I did use a credit card and am disputing it, but what about people who use their PayPal cash balance or a bank debit -- they are totally out of luck for the most part. PayPal is falsely using the buyer protection stuff to make buyers more comfortable in their transactions. When an obvious problem with the program is pointed out to them, they just choose to ignore it.

[Doggydo]

Hi y'all,

Just replying to my own topic to laugh at the PayPal censor who deleted my link to a URL demonstrating how the scam works. It didn't violate any rules, but it was good illustration of the problem. Guess it's kinda embarrassing to PayPal. Just search the web for "foxgarb.com" to see an example of the URL I posted. Basically you'll see many people complaining about the scam and how unhelpful PayPal has been in addressing the problem. Won't be too surprised if they delete this post too.

c'est la vie...