I've been scammed!

[JqBence]

I've been tricked into sending money to the scammer through the family option, I can't get my money back. What do I do?

I still have the whole conversation every single photo and him telling me that I should send him the money through that option since the other didn't work... I should've known it was a scam.

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@JqBence 

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.

[jcbush]

I have been scammed too!

I was scammed.  I sent $ via Friends and Family.  I called PP IMMEDIATELY when I realized it.  They couldn't help.  Because I sent it from my bank acct  - my bank says there is nothing they can do.  PP says there is nothing they can do.  Meanwhile the $ sits showing as "pending".

Is PP Scamming people too?  I admit I messed up but when you try to stop it within an hour of the transaction with no result.

I've alerted PP that the person I authorized the $ to is not who he says he is. They state they can do nothing.

[kernowlass]

@jcbush 

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.

[Tilly20]

I know - it seems odd that yes we both made a mistake - but PayPal have details of these scammers so should be able to help us try and locate them

[kernowlass]

@Tilly20 

Paypal can't give you information on another paypal account holder, only the police can require them to do so.

Anyway if you sent a friends/family payment you were sending a 'gift' of money to someone so gifts are not required to be returned and you were not purchasing anything. If you were then you would have used goods/services.