Does payment request - pending mean that money hasn't been paid?

[Timmy1940]

I agreed to sell an item to a lady in another country. She instructed me how to proceed via Paypal. I sent a payment request and she insists that she has paid and the money has been taken out of her account, but it doesn't seem right to me. I haven't received any payment notification and the status remains Request - Pending. Is this right or am I being conned?

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@Timmy1940 

SCAM.

They encourage you to accept a direct Paypal payment and may ask you to send the item internationally.

They ask for a money request or invoice and tell you that pending means they have paid........they haven't.
No funds or activity of the transaction shows in your Paypal account and any emails may go into your junk/spam folders.

You will get/got a "fake" email that looks as though it is from paypal.....it isn't because they don't have a Paypal account and have no intention of paying you.
It will say the buyer has paid ...you won't have been paid.
They will tell you that the payment is released when you provide paypal with a tracking/shipping number......this won't happen.

Paypal NEVER tell you to send an item before the payment is showing in your paypal account.
Paypal do not tell you to send trackable, they advise it for selling protection but it is not compulsory.
Delete any emails and ignore the scammers.

[Timmy1940]

Thank you very much. It smelt bad from the start, this person was giving me precise instruction and expected me to follow. Your description matches the situation perfectly. But I managed to contact someone from PayPal and they advised me that no payment had been made, so I cancelled the transaction.

[BeeDoe_00]

I know I'm a little late but if like to know what ever happened with this issue?

[Timmy1940]

Hi, thank you for your interest. Yes, it's by resolved, thank you. I asked PayPal directly and it was confirmed to me that this was an attempt at fraud..

[BeeDoe_00]

Well good for u. I can't understand why/how people can be so greedy that they steal identities or do fraud. That happened to me and paypal believed the"merchant" that stole my $250. I'm upset. they want evidence of a lot of stuff. Its crazy. I hope they help me out.