How do I report a fraudulent seller whom I paid as "Friends and Family"?

[jamboree123]

I made a purchase from an online seller who seemed legit. He casually requested at the last second that I choose "Friends and Family" when I made the payment. Because I was naive and didn't yet really understand the difference between the types of payments, I agreed and sent him the payment as "Friends and Family." Well, it's now three months later and he never sent the product and has now blocked any messages or emails from me. Obviously he is a fraudster who just took my money and never intends to fulfill the order, and so I'd like to report the transaction and/or him as a seller in general to PayPal.

HOWEVER, PayPal doesn't seem to have any way to report fraud if it was done as a "Friends and Family" payment. When you go to the Resolution Center and "Report a Problem," Friends and Family transactions are not displayed. When you go to the main Dashboard and select the transaction and try to report it that way, it says that it cannot be reported because it was "Friends and Family."

I realize now that I was stupid and I'll never be tricked into paying with Friends and Family ever again, but as regards to this already-made payment: What should  do? PayPal encourages us to report fraudulent sellers, but I see no way to do that for this transaction. Even if I don't care about getting my own money back, I'd want to warn others against this guy to protect other potential future victims. Is there any way to report a fraudulent seller in general, even if I'm not trying to recover my own money?

[kernowlass]

@jamboree123 

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.