Scammed?

[Ambernlowry]

I’m selling my laptop and the potential buyer said they wanted to use the goods and services part of PayPal? Which I have honestly never heard of but they had explained that it was for protection of both the buyer and the seller just in case of fraud. I requested the money amount from the buyer. I got an email saying it was from PayPal saying that the transaction was approved but I wouldn’t see the money in my account until I provided a tracking number for the shipment and once I provided that number the money would then be put into my account. I never got a notification in my actual PayPal account or a pending transaction. The PayPal account name was different than the person I was talking to, they had said they wanted to buy the laptop for their granddaughter in a different state. It just seems a little sketchy to me but I don’t know if I’m being dramatic. I just don’t know if I’m being scammed or not and I appreciate any help I can get. 

[sharpiemarker · Accepted solution]

@Ambernlowry 

You are being scammed. If someone REALLY paid, you will receive a record of payment fairly instantly and an official PayPal email with very basic info about the payment. Nothing about holds, this, that and the other, because if there was a hold you can just log on and see receipt of payment and marked as On Hold. In the transaction details it will also say if it is ok to ship or not.

Scammers will spoof an PayPal payment email to get you to ship without paying so always confirm with your account for the payment. If you do not see a record of payment, something is technically wrong and you'd have to call PayPal to confirm the payment or you are being scammed.

[Ambernlowry]

Thank you for getting back to me! Sad that I am being scammed but I’m glad I followed my gut and reached out to see if it was legit or not! Thank you again for letting me know.