Scamming seller used fake tracking number, PayPal automatically sides with scammer, twice.

[Dimeron]

Here is what happened. eBay seller sends out a fake package with speedpak tracking number. The item is send to my city in Canada, but not to my address on file. I have confirmed this with Canada Post. I open up a claim, and after few days, I was informed PayPal ruled in favor of the seller. Apparently, according to PayPal agent, as long as there is a tracking number that shows something has been delivered to the same Canadian city, PayPal will automatically side with the seller. Actual address is NOT checked, item is considered delivered as long as it is the same city. So I appeal, and provide my communications with Canada post, along with explicit request to get proof from seller that the item is shipped to my PayPal address on file. 12 hours later, I got the exact same message again, PayPal ruled in sellers favor because tracking shows the item has been delivered to my city. There are no new seller response in the case, and apparently none of my messages or evidence is even looked at. Now I need to spend even more time to call up paypal tommorow, and possibly just have the same thing happen again. (I.e have my evidence ignored and case automatically dismissed). How do I deal with this? Can I get someone at PayPal to actually look at my evidence and get proof of correct delivery from the seller, or should I just go do a credit card charge back. Thanks.

[jusdrummin]

I am going through a similar situation. In mine, the seller provided me the SpeedPAK shipping number associated with my eBay purchase which I tracked to my mailbox. They also told me due to COVID19 they would send a free gift for the shipping delay. The tracking number was for the "free gift". I contacted the seller about it and they said that they intended to send two parcels but there was a mix up at there warehouse. They claim the purchase is processed and ready to ship (they've had a month to send it). I told them I want a refund and they keep saying it is ready to ship. I posted on the eBay forum about it and this is the reply I received:

fa_8305

in reply to jusdrummin 07-17-2020 01:37:13 AM

@jusdrummin wrote:

They told me that because of the pandemic they would send me a small gift. Okay, whatever. I followed my purchase tracking number as it arrived in-country and all through customs, all the way to my door on 7/14/20.

But tracking showed that it had been delivered. It was the "gift". The tracking number that they assigned to my purchase was on the gift.

I have already told them that I am not going to cancel my INR claim and they have until 7/21/20 before I can ask eBay to step in.

I have all correspondence to prove my claim. Thank you.

You will lose; your seller was counting on it. According to tracking, something was delivered, so you cannot win the Item Not Received claim: eBay will not look at your correspondence to make this decision.

Instead, cancel you INR claim now (or wait until eBay closes it for you), then click Return this item (or More Actions then Return this item) in your Purchase History. You are allowed to start a return request after you lose an Item Not Received claim -- use the reason Wrong item sent:

If your seller didn't already Accept the return, then clicked I cannot send a label, wait the 3 business days, then click Ask eBay to step in.

eBay will put the case on hold for 5 days for the seller to either send cash for return shipping with tracking back to China, or simply refund, no return needed. If your seller does neither, after 5 days, eBay will force a refund, no return needed.

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Hope this helps anyone else in this boat...

jusdrummin

[jusdrummin]

@jusdrummin wrote:

They told me that because of the pandemic they would send me a small gift. Okay, whatever. I followed my purchase tracking number as it arrived in-country and all through customs, all the way to my door on 7/14/20.

But tracking showed that it had been delivered. It was the "gift". The tracking number that they assigned to my purchase was on the gift.

I have already told them that I am not going to cancel my INR claim and they have until 7/21/20 before I can ask eBay to step in.

I have all correspondence to prove my claim. Thank you.

You will lose; your seller was counting on it. According to tracking, something was delivered, so you cannot win the Item Not Received claim: eBay will not look at your correspondence to make this decision.

Instead, cancel you INR claim now (or wait until eBay closes it for you), then click Return this item (or More Actions then Return this item) in your Purchase History. You are allowed to start a return request after you lose an Item Not Received claim -- use the reason Wrong item sent:

If your seller didn't already Accept the return, then clicked I cannot send a label, wait the 3 business days, then click Ask eBay to step in.

eBay will put the case on hold for 5 days for the seller to either send cash for return shipping with tracking back to China, or simply refund, no return needed. If your seller does neither, after 5 days, eBay will force a refund, no return needed.

[fronty]

It happened to me as well. I purchased something from a scam post on facebook. The seller updated a tracking number that shows the item was delivered 5 days before I placed the order. I can't get through to anyone on the phone. Can anyone offer any advice?

[lintrada]

I've had this happened to me twice. Both times I ordered from ads seen on Google shopping. When I did not get the items, I disputed it with PayPal. The seller provides PayPal with a tracking number with my city. PayPal rejects my claim. When I called USPS they said the name and the address of the delivery did not match up. I complain to PayPal that the seller is providing bogus tracking numbers and can be easily verified with a call to the Post Office. They still denied my claim. I have had to take both cases up with my credit card company. Now I just assume any company that uses PayPal are fraudulent companies. 

[kernowlass]

@lintrada 

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.
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, however that may not be an option at the moment due to covid), 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.

[jwhangen]

This company is using the fake shipment Paypal scam, avoid at all cost.  I opened a dispute and within 24 hours Paypal had sided with the seller and I'm out $46.    Of course, I have NEVER received my order, despite being provided a (bogus) USPS tracking number saying otherwise.

https://www.olkowiczcvk.com/

Because of this I will no longer be using Paypal, they do not stand by the buyer.    Plenty of other ways to pay for transactions.

[Stacydeanne]

Yes. This is happening to me right now. I ordered something on 17 July at 6 PM, and that night at 10 PM the seller had already out of the tracking number saying that the item has been delivered that day at 2 PM. That’s four hours before I even ordered it. The entire tracking number showed that I had been shipped out three days before. I screenshot it everything and submitted it to PayPal but still there’s siding with the seller. The seller has now updated the tracking info to say that it’s on the way but I still have screenshots with the old tracking info. PayPal isn’t doing anything about it! I won’t be using PayPal EVER AGAIN! This is the 4th time I’ve been scammed these last two months on PayPal!

[Stow]

I have been going back and forth with Paypal messaging for weeks now to no avail.  Scammer provided a valid UPS tracking # that was delivered to the same city.  I have no way of contacting the seller (phone doesn't work, email gets no response).  I never received the package obviously but because the city is the same (and UPS will not provide me the address of where it was delivered because I am not the recipient) Paypal sides with the seller.  I have spoken with UPS 6 times and can't get any help.  I finally received an auto generated UPS email about the claim I opened and the email states the name of the Company that received the shipment but no address.  I sent that to Paypal but no luck.  Yes it doesn't include the address but a simple google lookup and you will see the address is not my house, it is a business in the same city.  Unfortunately I use my bank account (ACH) and not my debit card as the payment method through Paypal and my bank can't help.  So word of advice.  1) Don't use Paypal anymore as they will not do any legwork for their customers and 2) if you do, use your debit card as the payment method and not your bank account (Wells Fargo anyways) so you have more protection and they will reverse the charge since Paypal will not.

I have shared my experience with my circle and advised them of my experience and I can say they too will no longer use Paypal.  Just a shame since this appears to be a common scam practice that Paypal has not addressed yet nor implemented any process to protect their customers.

[musicstudioman]

Yep, USPS on the phone said this is happening a lot now.

No more buying unless it requires a signature which needs a person to person hand off of course.

[Stow]

UPDATE

I randomly got an automated email from UPS about my claim that happened to state the name of the Company that the shipment went to.  I knew where it was in my city (remember, they use the same city for the fake tracking #).  I called UPS, acted like the recipient and requested a confirmation of delivery to said address.  Looked up the address on the Google, provided it to UPS and received an email confirmation with the full address.  I sent that email to Paypal via the chat to prove it was not delivered to me and they refunded the order a few days later.

What a pain in the **bleep** to get this resolved.

[michaelye168]

I think that UPS now loosens up the information request. UPS provided me the detailed tracking info even the tracking number is not shipped to me. I just told UPS that it is a scam and I need to know what is the package destination and I told the agent where is the package supposed to go. The UPS agent then sent me an email with the info, then I sent the info to paypal and paypal reversed the claim next day in my favor.

The loophole lies in the tracking info has no detailed destination address. I think that package recipients should have the right to see the package destination.