I have been a fraud investigator for more than 25 years and have worked with Police in many Countries. This is an old and classic fraud - defraud multiple people for relatively small amounts of money and make sure that the victims are in a different Country. Any victims who complain to their local Police will not have their case investigated because it is beyond the scope and resources for their local Police. The solution to this type of fraud is simple - Everyone who is a victim should start a claim with PayPal - when they get to the stage of PayPal saying send the item back (at a cost of more that the loss) for a "refund", each victim should file a complaint with the Company or Bank that issued their Credit or Debit card. Most Countries have some form of "Distance Selling Laws" which protect Credit or Debit Card payments for goods over the Internet or phone - If the goods or services are not as described or do not arrive the buyer is protected by Law. The Company/Bank that issued the Credit or Debit card will make a "charge back" against PayPal - that means that they refund the transaction to the victim and claim the money back from PayPal. This is a very standard and common banking transaction. PayPal then become the "victim" of the fraud - only once PayPal's losses increase will they take action against the scammers and reverse the transactions from the scammers bank accounts back to PayPal. If everyone who is a victim of this type of fraud does this, they will get a refund and the scammers may well end up being subject to a police complaint made by PayPal. This scam is probably operated by a small group of criminals who change their email and company names on a regular basis to attempt to avoid detection & prosecution. If we all work together we can get them prosecuted and get our money back. If you agree with what I am suggesting please re-post this advice to any other discussion about this type of scam. Good luck everybody.
... View more
