Question regarding chargebacks, reversals, funds being put on hold etc.

[LollyM]

I had an advert on my local papers website for an item which I was selling for £150. When I put up the ad I expected a local person to see it and pop round to see the item, and then pay me in cash or bank transfer.

However, a gentleman has responded to the ad and provided me with a postal address in Nigeria! He says he will be sending me £150+£30 P+P tonight or tomorrow.

When the money arrives in my Paypal account, how can I stop it from being taken away from me again? I am obviously a little concerned because he is so far away and I don't want the money to be put on hold, reversed, subject to chargeback etc or anything else that might cost me the money.

Can anyone give me a little more information on this?

I had previously thought that once I withdrew the funds from paypal to my bank account everything would be safe and well, but reading a few threads on here it seems your paypal can go into the negative which would obviously get me into trouble and cost me both the item and the money.

Thanks!

[minty1]

Hi LollyM

This is a scam

People in Nigeria cant have a ppal account

The money wont go into your account

You will be sent fake emails supposedly from ppal to say they have paid

Never accept ppal for an item that needs collecting, strictly cash on collection only

If they do pay and the account is hijacked you will be left with no item and no money

[LollyM]

Thanks, I wasn't aware that Nigeria didn't have Paypal, I thought it was a worldwide thing!

As soon as I saw the address I was suspicious, I just couldn't find any similar scams online. I guess I wasn't really sure how to search for it since the Paypal reversals etc mostly turn up people who have had their eBay payments reversed!

I wonder, if I make them buy the item through eBay and receive the money, plus post it signed/tracked/recorded/insured/the works (!), I'll be completely covered to keep the money if they are attempting to scam me?

[minty1]

It is worlwide but not every country has it

Google Nigerian scams if you want to see examples

Even if you make them buy it through Ebay, Nigeria doesnt have ppal so even if you receive a payment the account is probably hijacked

And no you wont be allowed to keep the money as the payment will be reversed and by then you will probably have spent a lot of money on shipping and wont be able to recover anything

[LollyM]

You know it is uncanny. As you've replied to me again, I have just received notification of a 'paypal payment' to my account. I have sold a few items on eBay todayy and received payment for them so I compared that payment email to the one I just received, and they are completely different.

It is very specific on the fact that the payment has been made, but that the money won't 'show up' in my account until I provide a tracking number. Logged onto Paypal, and whaddyaknow! No payment.

Such a shame, I was looking forward to £150 to finally clear a bit of debt. The only other thing that bothers me is the fact they said they could send me the money via bank transfer. Now I know that Paypal can always be reversed etc, but I was under the impression that a person who phoned their bank and requested to send money from one account to another couldn't ring up later on and say they wanted the money back again. My point being that had I not had a Paypal account or had decided to opt for a bank transfer as the 'safer route' would I possibly have been accused of some sort of fraud myself since the only way to recover money from a bank transfer (as far as I'm aware) is to tell your bank that your details were used by somebody else, i.e. me as it would be my account that benefitted!

[minty1]

You really wouldnt want to give these scammers your private bank details would you?

Right this one off

They could hijack a bank account and if they pay by card you will then be issued with a chargeback

Same thing

[LollyM]

No of course not, thats what I mean. If I had listed the item on eBay I wouldnt have found the address suspicious at all. The only reason that I did not give out any personal information other than my name and email was because of the address. And I told them my name and email before they sent me their address which until that point I was still assuming it was a local!

[minty1]

Right I get you now