PayPal Sides with Scammer Despite Overwhelming Evidence in My Favor

[Conosure]

Hello everyone,

I hope you're all doing well. I wanted to share my recent experience with an online transaction that turned out to be a scam. I believe it's crucial to share such experiences to raise awareness and help others avoid similar situations.

The Situation:
Recently, I engaged in a PayPal to Bitcoin exchange with a user who goes by the username "cjcode" on discord which later changed their discord handle to "mp60". The exchange seemed straightforward and was conducted with what I believed to be proper precautions. However, after a few days, the user initiated a chargeback which was supposed to be impossible since the transaction was through friends & family. The total amounted to around $100

Provided Evidence:
I provided PayPal with extensive evidence, including communication screenshots, transaction details, cryptocurrency transfer records, and even proof that the recipient's Bitcoin address showed the successful receipt of the cryptocurrency.

PayPal's Decision:

Despite the compelling evidence in my favor, PayPal closed the case in favor of the scammer. This outcome is incredibly disappointing and frustrating, as it feels like a clear injustice.

Community Discussion:

I wanted to share this experience with our community to caution others about the risks involved in online transactions, especially those involving cryptocurrency. I'm still hoping that there is someone out there from paypal that could help me out since I'm currently looking at my PayPal which has a negative balance and it irks me that PayPal sided with the scammer.

[kernowlass]

@Conosure 

Its against Paypal rules to accept a family / friends payment for selling goods OR services and you risk your Paypal account being limited if you do so.

The sender would not be able to open a Paypal dispute for non-receipt of item or item not as described as they would have no Paypal buyer protection.
However they can still open a dispute for an unauthorised transaction OR do a chargeback (via their card issuer) and you may well lose as you would have no Paypal seller protection.

[Carolpassini01]

They did the same to me. I ordered something from one of these scam companies in China. I can’t write on the case and I keep letting Pay Pal know what was going on. He asked for some extra information I said so now they’re saying they cited with scammer because I didn’t produce the extra information just makes me sick

[PayPal_Meghan]

Hello @Carolpassini01, 

Thanks for joining the PayPal Community! 

I'm sorry to hear your case closed because you were unable to provide additional information. I recommend reaching out to Customer Support to request an appeal with the information you could not provide. When asking to appeal, please let them know that you couldn't provide the information within the case online when you attempted. You can review the options for contacting Customer Support here. 

I hope this helps and you receive a refund!

- Meghan

[Carolpassini01]

It is not that I didn’t send them or didn’t have the information to send. I took a screenshot of every single piece of correspondence between the seller, myself and Pay Pal and showed them. I was on top of this 24 seven the problem was they scammed Pay Pal the scammers sent me a tracking number for the product, and when I tracked it, a screen came up with a tracking company and it said it was still in customs, but it was on its way now. They sent the exact same tracking number for the exact same product to PayPal but when Pay Pal looked at it. It was a completely different tracking company And when Pay Pal looked at it, it said delivered. They scammed Pay Pal and I showed Pay Pal this with a screenshot of both shipping companies that were different from each other yet they both had the identical tracking number in the identical product being tracked so I thought mine was still in transit , Pay Pal thought it was delivered so Pay Pal got scammed and fooled at my expense. Let me tell you I am not happy.

[kernowlass]

@Carolpassini01 

Paypal is just a payment processor that gives you 'some' buyer and 'some' seller protection.
So disputes for non receipt of item are mostly automated. Seller provides tracking that shows delivery = seller wins.
So then its your turn to do some work to assist Paypal in recovering your purchase price from your seller.

Firstly ring Paypal customer services and tell them that the number is fake or that the item was shown as shipped before you purchased it. With that information they may well just issue you a refund.

Secondly if they don't then... APPEAL
To submit an appeal on the dispute that was closed, PayPal asks that you obtain a detailed report from the shipper/courier (on their letterhead or some other form of official stationary) that includes the address the seller gave them for the shipment. Or one that includes a statement mentioning your address and saying the item was delivered to a different address. THEY DON'T HAVE TO SAY WHICH ADDRESS IT WAS SENT TO, JUST THAT IT WAS NOT DELIVERED TO YOUR ADDRESS.

Check tracking in below link to see where it went.
https://www.17track.net/en

When you have that, contact PayPal via phone (log on to your account and click contact at the bottom of the page, or via Facebook (send a Private Message to PayPal) or via Twitter (send a Direct Message to @AskPayPal) and say you want to appeal the denial of the dispute based on the shipper saying the item was delivered to a different address. Once it's submitted (you will be provided with directions on how to do that), the dispute will be reviewed further and a determination will be made.

You also have the option to contact your card issuer if you funded your Paypal payment that way and see if they will do a chargeback for you?

[SMed95]

 Same thing happened to me.  I provide tons of proof and correspondence.  PayPal payment is of no use now.  I am closing my account, it's better to pay with a credit card.   

In my proof I submitted an email where scammers themselves admitted they can't issue refunds due to technical difficulties and I can request PayPal.  PayPal totally ignored almost 6-8 hours I prepared documents not because of my 18 USD, but to make sure these scammers do not cheat others.   

I purchased AutoMailX where they said you can send unlimited Emails, the software is not able to send 1 email.  I also enclosed over a week their support responses and they are just for record purposes saying working to correct it.   But PayPal is not listening so why do we use their services? It's useless.   

Moreover when complaining I found an unusual individual name for the seller, it's not a website which I missed at the time of payment and seller is not verified with them, so how PayPal can listen to them and side with them unless a set of people are involved.