Yesterday (23/5/20), I received a Facebook message from a friend telling me he was trying to sell a Canon camera to someone who needed to pay him via PayPal. Since his PayPal wasn't working, he asked if I could provide my email address so they could pay £280 into my account, I could transfer it into my bank and then send it to him. I did this and not long after, heard from his girlfriend. She said that his Facebook had been hacked by some scammers from Jamaica and that they had been sending similar requests to everyone on his Facebook. I was concerned but failed to recognise the issue since money had come into my PayPal, then into my bank and then out again. I didn't appear to have lost anything. Either way, I tried to contact PayPal by sending them a message outlining what had happened. (I've still heard nothing back.) Later that evening, PayPal emailed me to say that they had credited the £280 back to the PayPal account it had been sent to me from as it was unauthorised and that the amount had now been debited from my PayPal account. They now want me to pay for this. I am so confused and upset by all of this and really want to know what to do. Someone's Facebook account gets hacked, someone's PayPal account gets hacked, I get used as an innocent third party and yet I appear to be held liable and am expected to pay for it. I've done nothing but try to help a friend. I've been heavily impacted financially by the Corona Virus, am self-employed and have been really struggling to find work and stay on top of things. I cannot afford to cover for a crime that I didn't commit. I contacted my bank and it appears that they can't get the money back for me. Has anyone else been through this, and if so - what was the outcome?
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