Is this a scam?
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I sold a coat on Facebook Marketplace and the buyer sent me £12 through PayPal. It is hours later and I still can't see the money sent and I received a PayPal email saying I recieved the payment but my account is limited and the buyer needs to send me £288 to upgrade my account. I can't imagine £12 is too much to recieve in a PayPal account. Is this a scam or not? I don't know what to do. The buyer has said she's willing to send me the money as long as I refund it back but I'm still wary.
Many thanks!
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Fraud & Phishing
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100% SCAM.
You never pay any upfront fee as a seller.
Ignore scammers that send fake Paypal emails telling you that you need to pay an upfront fee to verify/upgrade to a business account/or any other reason to accept a payment.
You would certainly never have to send funds especially via another payment processor/bitcoins/ or tokens/vouchers of any sort.
Any fee is auto deducted by Paypal at the same instant the remainder of the payment is credited to your Paypal account balance.
No funds in your balance = you have not yet been paid, even pending/held payments will still show in your Paypal account activity.
Advice is voluntary.
Kudos / Solution appreciated.
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Hello @Hanisa,
Welcome to the PayPal Community Forum! This is a great question. It's hard to say if your specific situation is legitimate or not. However, while it is a bit abnormal to request your PayPal info without agreeing on a pickup date / time and having someone else pick up the item as well, these are not clear-cut signs of a fraudulent buyer.
With that in mind. I can provide a few resources you may find useful. First, make sure your are paid via Goods and Services and not Friends and Family. If you're paid via Friends and Family, you do not have any Seller Protection. Second, if it is a shippable item, you normally want to ship it to the receiver and provided tracking as well. That way, if they say they never received the item, you can show tracking delivered to their address. Third, you should never have to pay someone to receive your money. You can find a bit more information on common scams and Seller Protection here:
How do I receive money through PayPal?
What is PayPal Seller Protection?
Common Scams and how to spot them.
How do I spot a fake, fraudulent, or phishing PayPal email or website?
I hope that helps,
- Jon K
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Can I add to the moderators advice as this is an item to be collected from you and suggest you do NOT use paypal as you have 0 buyer protection for items that are personally delivered or collected. I tend to say 'cash' on collection only for those type of items.
Advice is voluntary.
Kudos / Solution appreciated.

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