Need help with scam for goods not received but payment made as donation

[chugc]

I sent a $300 payment  through Paypal, which charged my credit card, for a concert ticket that turned out not to exist. To make the Paypal payment, I had looked up the seller on the Paypal website but didn't find an established account. Told the seller this, and the seller sent me a PayPal link (image) that had requested the $300 be a "donation" instead of a purchase. Two hrs later, I realized there was no ticket, that this was a scam.

Immediately I did all of the following:

1) told the seller that I know he was selling tickets that did not exist and to give me a full refund; he claimed his tickets were real and other sellers stole images of proofs from him; when I told him I found warnings and complaints about him on Instagram and other Twitter users, he played the victim and, then blocked me; and

2) opened a dispute with PayPal and also with my credit card company, that I had paid for goods that did not exist and also tried to cancel.

12 hours later after the payment was made (I am keeping a log), I called PayPal Help via phone and spoke to a PayPal agent who manually escalated the dispute to a claim. (I explained that the seller committed scam and there was no point in waiting 10 days for the seller to respond before I could escalate to a claim.)

One minute after PayPal agent escalated the dispute to a claim, I received an email from PayPal saying that "You’ve escalated this problem to a claim. Based on the information we have, we’ll have to deny your case."

There's no way a LIVE PayPal agent could have reviewed my case this quickly; it had to be bot.

Thus, I called Paypal for the 2nd time, to inquire why they closed the case.

IT was because the transaction went through as a "donation", not a purchase. "Donation" is not covered by the Paypal Purchase PRotection program.

I explained to the Paypal agent that I had included a note that the $300 was for a concert ticket, date of the concert, section #, row # and seat #;

that the seller wanted me to pay as a "donation".

The PayPal agent said she would try to re-open the case and send it to an "Account Specialist." IT's been about two hours since this phone call; I don't see the case as being re-opened.

I spoke to my credit card company again. They directed me to their Dispute Dept. My dispute for this $300 is open and they will investigate by contacting PayPal to get info on the seller. Then they (credit card company) will contact the seller directly, to ask for proof of ticket etc, and I will

be informed and will have to respond as needed. This will take 45days to resolve.

Back to Paypal, is there anything more I can do to have the $300 payment stopped when it's clear the seller is committing scam?

It's very disappointing that Paypal does not offer protection when the payment is made by credit card because the transaction was "tagged" as a "donation" instead of a purchase. 

Appreciate advice from those who have gone through similar experience to share and what resolution was reached in the end (aside from me, the honest buyer, losing $300 if both PayPal and my credit card company do not rule in my favor).

Thank you!

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi @chugc,

Thank you for joining the PayPal Community. I'm sorry to hear that the item you were hoping to buy was not sent to you. It sounds like the payment recipient convinced you to circumvent the protections that PayPal offers by marking the transaction as something other than what it was. That's a difficult position, because a note doesn't change the type of payment sent or the included protections. A payment that's not made for goods and services doesn't have protections associated with it because the requirements to the recipient of the payment are different. We cannot change the requirements to the recipient after the payment is made, even if the transaction has a note attached to it.

If a person ever asks you to do something out of the ordinary, it's important to ask yourself why. Are they trying to circumvent fees? Tracking requirements? Ask yourself if you want to be a party to that circumvention, especially considering that the protections for you that are afforded by the guidelines of the payment are removed by doing so.

I regret that this situation happened. I hope my information helps prevent any additional losses of this kind.

Olivia

[Mondo3019]

PayPal **bleep**!  I was ripped off and they will not do anything about it.  They continue to let the seller rip people off because they make money off of it!  It wasn’t a ton of money but it is the principle of it.  PayPal stated that I have no recourse because I paid using a Family and friends.  I am canceling my PayPal account and will let others knkw my horrible experience with PayPal.  Eventually, there will be less people working at PayPal because they don’t support or follow up on scammers.

[kernowlass]

@Mondo3019 

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), which would be automatically closed as you did authorise the initial payment.

Be careful as using that option for purchasing goods is against Paypal rules and can lead to account limitation.

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.

Paypal gave you buyer protection but you chose to not use it by sending a 'gift' of money to someone.

[Laurie336]

That's what happened to me too. I was Scammed out of $150. plus fees, but because I sent the money as Family and Friends, I'm out of my money too. PayPal needs to change their policies to protect us innocent people from these Scammers. Now this Jane Irungu will do this to someone else and get away with it. I hope Karma bites them good!!

[kernowlass]

@Laurie336 

Paypal don't need to change their policies, you need to select the correct option so you are protected.

If they were not a close mate or family member that you were sending a gift of money to then why would you select that option when it clearly states you only have buyer protection with goods/services. 

[Laurie336]

Why are you being rude? I was told to send it that way, that's why it was sent like that. I'll know better the next time, but I have never done that before. You didn't have to be so rude with your remark back!

[kernowlass]

@Laurie336 

Well of course a scammer will tell you to send it that way, does not mean you have to do that does it.

Nothing rude about stating the FACTS and nothing rude in my post, you just didn't like having it spelt out to you when you would prefer to blame Paypal for your error.

You chose to negate your own buyer protection by sending a 'gift' of money to a scammer.

Sadly you lucked out but that's your responsibility not Paypals.

I would learn from the experience and move on.