Can I get a refund from a scam?

[Jlee3]

I used my PayPal account to pay for an item I had seen on Depop. Stupidly I didn’t go through the Depop app as the seller asked if I could process the payment externally through PayPal. They also asked if I would do it through ‘friends and family’. 3 hours later I get a message from the same account, and it’s the real seller explaining her account had been hacked, and I wasn’t the only one to have sent money. Now I don’t know whether I’ll get a refund from PayPal or whether my Bank would be able to cancel the transaction. Unfortunately this has happened out of office hours so I won’t hear back from customer services until hopefully tomorrow, but I was wondering if anyone knows what kind of outcome I’d get from this case. I’ve got an awful feeling I’ll lose the money and never get it refunded.

[kernowlass]

@Jlee3 

A friends / family (or gift payment) is intended as a transfer of funds from family or friends to one another. For this reason, there is no processing fee when payment is made with bank or PayPal balance.
However as it is a gift payment, there is also no Buyer protection as no goods or services should have been exchanged.

If he was not a close mate or family member you should never use that option as it enables the seller to evade paying his paypal fees and negates your buyer protection at the same time. You would also not be able to open a dispute apart from one citing an unauthorised transaction but that would be automatically closed as you did authorise the initial payment.

You also 'risk' having your account limited as using that option for purchasing goods is against Paypal rules.

If you funded your paypal payment via a credit card then contact your card issuer and see if they will help you but unfortunately they may decline as well as it was a gift payment.

[Jlee3]

Thank you for your response, I did have a gut feeling that there would basically be no way to get the money back. It’s my own fault and I feel so stupid. The payment was funded via my bank account, do you happen to know if they would be able to do anything on their end?

[kernowlass]

@Jlee3 

You can try your bank but normally you are only covered by credit cards, banks sometimes help on a goodwill basis though.

Secondly are they in the same country as you? If so small claims court if you have enough info on them?