Very disappointed with PayPal. Surely what has happened shouldn't have happened?

[Ed_1962]

I have been a user, albeit not a very active one, of Paypal for many years and I have always considered it to be the safest way of moving money in an online world that has become increasingly attractive to the criminal element that has always dogged it.

Last week I was caught out by a scam artist who seemed to exploit flaws in PayPal security framework - a fact that PayPal seemed rather unconcerned about.

Using a well know "car boot sale" app called "Shpock" which promotes buying and selling items to people who live near, I sold an item to a user who called himself "Jamie".

Prior to the payment being made to me Jamie explained that the item was a birthday present for his father, who also used his PayPal account, so wanted any receipt from me to omit the items description.

After having to constantly wait and chase for money I was not surprised when Jamie informed me that his brother "Danny" would be sending over the cash - which "he" did at about 1230am the following morning. Jamie explained that he wanted the gift for his dads birthday which was on that day so asked if his friend, who I will call "A" who lived locally to me could come and pick the item up.

Not being wholly unaware of the risks involved I proceeded with caution and took measures that I thought would protect me.

Firstly I checked PayPals own section on "..common scams and what I do to spot them.", I also asked Jamie for his friends name and asked that he bring ID and also that we meet at a petrol station nearby so I knew the transaction would be captured on the forecourts CCTV.

When A collected the item, I asked him to sign a "Bill of Sale" which described the item and the price paid as well as some other legal elements.

As far as I was concerned the transaction had now been concluded.

Later on that day I received a rather abusive email from a PayPal customer, who I will call "D" accusing me of scamming them.

I immediately rang the team at PayPal when, after explaining the chain of events, which PayPal seemed fairly less than interested in, a staff member at PayPal explained to me that I had been the victim of a "three way scam" and after outlining D's involvement, also innocent of the deception, would be refunding the payment to them.

Unbeknownst to me at the time of the call this refund was being debited to my account which now sees my PayPal account £330 in debit.

After some investigation and time to reflect the following questions remain unanswered:-

i) Even though PayPals website explains eligibility criteria for Sellers Protection why does it not highlight the risks to the Seller, in this case me, by the Buyer, in this case D, in sending money through PayPal using an email address other than that of the person they're dealing with - although this is intimated in PayPals "common scams" page. 

ii) By sending the money at 1230am and then arranging collection later that morning, Jamie knew that it was highly unlikely that I (and other unsuspecting victims) would have read the confirmation email from PayPal with the true details of where the funds originated from. This is unlikely to be a coincidence so why was Jamie able to exploit this gap in PayPals safeguards?

iii) As the scam was quickly identified by the staff member at PayPal when I explained what had happened why was this scam not included in your "common scams" page of your website as it was clearly known to PayPal?

It feels to me that if PayPal compelled all their customers who buy and sell items to ensure that goods were sent and received by a recorded method and payments were made to recognised sources and PayPal had greater safeguards in place ie visible warnings during the transaction process as oppose to behind a rarely viewed page on the website, Paypal could protect more of their customers from scams.

I imagine the reason these things won't happen is because the Fintech industry recognises that consumers require flexibility and if the FinTech industry creates barriers, it will never win the "war against cash" as CEO Dan Shulman described on CNBC in January earlier in the year.

On a personal note, I'm disappointed that PayPal were aware of this scam but didn't think it worthy of mention on the website under "common scams". I'm disappointed that when I proactively spoke to your collections team on the day I was scammed about coming to an arrangement I was told that if I didn't "restore my account" within 7 days I ran the risk of collections calls and "debt recovery" but most of all I'm disappointed that despite taking reasonable steps to protect myself (although I appreciate the warnings given on your website about delivery items by recorded delivery) I am the only one out of PayPal, D and Jamie and I to be detrimented financially in any way.  

Although I have reported the deception to the police I am surprised that PayPal did not, at least, take more of an interest in  the scam itself with a view to preventing recurrences - in fact I received a message from someone called "R " through "Shpock" several days later to say he had been scammed by the same person in the same way - even though I had reported it to both PayPal and Shpock the day it happened to me.

Having spoken to someone who is currently studying Cyber Crime in the UK, he finds it difficult to understand how PayPal can deny any accountability, even a small part, given the clear exploitation of their processes by someone who is clearly aware of its shortcomings.

I am receiving collections calls now from PayPal and although I offered to restore my account at the end of the month when I get paid, (which apparantly was not good enough) I'm struggling to see how PayPal can accept no liability whatsoever. Surely a "3 way scam" can't be this easy and if it is surely PayPal must be at least partly responsible.

I feel that PayPal's lack of interest in the scam itself stems from their desire to not scare and therefore alienate customers. Arguably understandable but why should I be the one to pay for this? If PayPal had at least updated the "common scams" page this may have at least prevented my loss of £330 and  potentially other losses of other loyal and faithful PayPal customers.

Has anyone else been caught out? And found PayPal to be less than sympathetic? As PayPal "common scams" page still doesn't include this scam I post this also in the hope of preventing further comsumer lossess. I wonder if this was a PayPal loss they would be so slow to update their "common scams" page and processes making it impossible or at least more difficult for this scam (and others) to succeed?