Account blocked due to scammers

[VitalyNem]

Greetings, PayPal employees.

I have a history of using a PayPal wallet for about 1.5 years. And there were no problems with my account.

But I fell into a scam scheme.

I sell software, a person contacted me and offered to help with the sale.

That is, he will find clients, they will transfer money to a PayPal wallet, and I will transfer his commission from another payment service. The first payment was made on December 31, 2023.

I would like to note that I completed all sales according to the rules - the buyer confirmed that he had received the goods and sent confirmation by email. I am attaching screenshots of the correspondence.

From each sale, I sent 40% to the intermediary, who offered me cooperation. I have saved the telegram correspondence; if necessary, I can attach it to the investigation.

Now the fraudulent intermediary is not responding to my messages.

I repeat, I sell software called Night Hunter, the buyer indicated this name and the number of licenses when sending the payment. He also indicated the trading account number, which I later wrote in the code.

Now the buyers still have my software, the scammer has a commission on the payment of 40%, and now the buyer wants to return the funds that he paid for the product and received it.

I am left without the goods, without paying for it and having also paid almost half the cost to the scammer (intermediary).

What is the seller’s protection if I did everything according to the rules and now I have three open claims and my account is blocked?

Please answer after a thorough check. Because I only receive standard answers from the support service, but there is no verification result.

I really hope that you will understand my difficult situation and understand it in detail. Because I'm not a scammer, but an honest seller. You can understand this if you start to understand it.

Thank you in advance!

[Grimreepr]

Your question is a little hard to understand.  If I am correct in this:

You sold the goods, the buyer paid for the software, and received it as well as acknowledged that he had received the software?

Did you offer any money back guarantee if not satisfied with the product?

Is he now seeking a refund for the software? (This is unusual as software refunds from a non digital platform are very rare) 

What form was the software delivered?  Digital download? Cd ? DVD?

Was this a disputed charge back? (seems likely)  If yes, What was the charge back reason? ( there are several allowable reasons for initiating a dispute)

Do you have proof of the buyer confirming he received the software?

[VitalyNem]

Grimreepr, thank you for the fact that my situation has aroused your interest.

Let me answer your correct clarifying questions.

You sold the goods, the buyer paid for the software, and received it as well as acknowledged that he had received the software? I sent it in an archive to the client's email. He confirmed this by email. After submitting, I selected "sent" from the payment menu in Activity.

Did you offer any money back guarantee if not satisfied with the product? No, we did not discuss such a guarantee. But the buyer indicates in the application that he did not make this payment.

Is he now seeking a refund for the software? (This is unusual as software refunds from a non digital platform are very rare) He has a digital product. I repeat that he indicates that he did not make the payment. It should be noted that the software is not mentioned in the return application. Although when making a payment, the message for the payment indicated the name of the digital product, the number of licenses and the trading account number, which I wrote in the code for its further verification and operation.

What form was the software delivered?  Digital download? Cd ? DVD? Digital product files (ex4 extension) with archived instructions were sent to the client’s email.

Was this a disputed charge back? (seems likely)  If yes, What was the charge back reason? ( there are several allowable reasons for initiating a dispute) It should be noted here that there are currently 3 such disputes. The first is from one client who purchased on December 31, 2023, and two purchases from another client in early January. The first client indicates that he did not make this purchase. The second client has the status "unauthorized". All these clients were brought by this same scammer.

Do you have proof of the buyer confirming he received the software? Upon receipt of all these purchases, there is a response from the e-mail of the clients whose payment was made. Also, regarding the second client, there is his response to the message in the PayPal correspondence as part of the payment. As far as I understand, this can be easily checked by the support service.

Once again I want to express my gratitude to you for trying to help understand this unpleasant situation.

[Grimreepr]

Ok, I got what you have run into.  This intermediary appears to be making "fake" sales, getting paid then disputing the purchase fee as an unknown or invalid charge.  Paypal permits this, as sometimes peoples accounts are hacked, and unlawful charges are made.  BUT, from what I see you have run into a very shady person that KNOWS how Paypal works and is using their dispute mechanic to rip you off.

They make a sale, you pay them their 40%, once they get paid, they dispute the sale as an invalid one. (Saying they never made it) Paypal then refunds the original purchase price.  Leaving you out 40% of the purchase price of the software..... Is this the correct version?

Couple of things, the payments you sent to this intermediary, were they made through Paypal?  If they were, contact PayPal, tell them what is going on and dispute those payments.  As a General rule, for agreements such as this, I would put a 30 or 60 day waiting period before I would send an intermediary any funds for purchases he has "brought in"  That way, his chance to dispute those charges is negated as they are old charges.  (hind sight is always better than foresight)

What is the general purpose of the "Night hunter" Software?

In ANY case, I would be getting hold of PayPal customer support, telling them what is going on and explaining that you are being scammed by this individual and that he is using their Terms of service to do it.  This is going to be a tough hill to climb, present them with ALL the documentation and proof you can, this means screen shots, emails, any other form of proof you can get your hands on.  The more information you can give them, the better your chances are. 

Big hint here, If you can, contact their office by phone.  It is a lot harder to brush someone off when you are talking to them one on one.  Barring that, next choice would be their online service chat. Last and very least desirable, is to email them.  When you DO contact them, be ready to send any and all information you have at the drop of a hat.  Be prepared and above all, be courteous. 

Be prepared to realize you were scammed and Paypal may not believe you or your proof.  First things first, identify ANY new sales that claim to be generated from this "intermediary" and ignore them.  OR, contact Paypal, let them know what is going on, they may advise you to let another "sale" go through, watch it and when it gets flagged as "invalid" they will have their proof that the crook is using PayPal's TOS to rip off their customers.  Paypal will NOT take kindly to that and will take action.

I wish you the best, and I hope you get this mess sorted out.  It is sometimes the good guys that take the hit.  I am sorry you ran into a disreputable person like this, they are everywhere and always looking for someone to rip off.

[VitalyNem]

Yes, what you wrote is a complete coincidence with what is happening.

Night Hunter EA is a trading algorithm written in the MQL4 programming language to automate the trading process in the Meta Trader 4 trading terminal.

Once again I want to express my gratitude to you for such a qualified and complete answer.

We don't even get this from support.

We wish you good luck and all the best for your kindness and help!

[VitalyNem]

Guys, hello everyone!

I ask those who have had legal claims against the PayPal service to respond.
The fact is that I fell into a scam scheme. And now my account is blocked, the funds are frozen, plus there are 4 claims against me from scammers.
These cases are still under consideration, but judging by the way the PayPal support service responds to the blocking of my account - typical phrases “sorry”, “sorry”, “thank you”, even after considering the claims, you should not expect a positive response from the scammer.

Therefore, I am seriously considering filing a lawsuit against PayPal.