Sunday, April 5, 2009

PayPal users beware!!!!

As I have posted before my husband has a site on Etsy as well, (www.anangryamerican.etsy.com) and he has not had a lot of luck with it. He has gotten more views than most of my stuff but no sales. :-( Until last week. He was contacted by some guy in Nigeria that wanted 15 of his GWMA shirts. he wanted them quickly and was willing to pay for express shipping ($250.00 with the USPS) beacause he was opening a new store After many convos back and forth, my husband finally told him they were ready to ship but he had to have the money first. Normal, right? Well, then he got an email from (supposedly) Paypal saying that the funds had been deducted from the guys account and as soon as my husband sent them the tracking number they would deposit it into his account. Thinking that sounded reasonable since that would stop people from scamming overseas sales, he went to the post office and mailed the shirts then came back and gave Paypal what they asked for. Then he receives an email from the customer saying that paypal contacted him because they couldn't verify the tracking number. Anyway, to make a long story short, after numerous emails and a lot of frustration and confusion, I finally called Paypal security. Told them what he had and they quickly told me it was not an authorized email and to call the Post office and stop delivery. It was a SCAM.
So I called the post office and stopped delivery, but to get the shirts back it would cost an additional $200.00. Needless to say we didn't pay for that but I wanted to make sure the guy didn't get them at least!!! Then we got the authorities involved and hopefully this guy will be spending some time in the slammer!!
My point in this blog is that if you are doing business through paypal, they NEvER hold up funds, for any reason!!! So if you are doing business with someone make sure you have recieved the money first!!! No matter how reasonable an email sounds!!!
Amazingly the customer is still sending us emails saying we will get the money on monday and even got another one from the fake Paypal account saying they would deposit the money on Monday as they were going on Holiday till then!!! I wrote them back saying "Holiday Hell, you're to going to jail!!!"
I couldn't figure out why someone would go through this for a lousy 15 Tshirts!!! Then I thought that the poor customer may of been the one that was scammed as he was the one that (supposedly) transferred $520.00 into an account. I don't know for sure as i don't want to contact him in case he is part of it and I don't want to tip him off.
My poor husband is devasted needless to say, no sales and now out $250.00 to a scam!!
So all of you out there, BEWARE!!!!

6 comments:

  1. This is just a terrible situation. And most of us are so trusting...I know, I'd probably go along with a plan like that too...Thanks for the warning. Good luck on getting this resolved and take care ~Natalie

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  2. Oh, no Jane--he fell for that crap!!

    Only upper is when incometax comes along nexct year, he can file it as a loss--

    I wish he would have put a post in the forums, 90% would have warned him to turn that guy down!!

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  3. The word "Nigeria" should automatically raise a red flag. So sorry you had to go through that, it stinks.

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  4. Sadly, I see the same thing all the time when I list fine jewelry on Craigslist. My best advice, is always go directly to your PayPal account (NOT through the supposed email from PayPal) and make sure your own PayPal account shows a record of the deposit. If it doesn't, then the "notification of payment" email is a fake.

    Despicable. Sorry you learned the hard way.

    Xanadu2You/Erin

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  5. Too bad. Thanks for the warning, for sure.

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  6. Hi,

    Have I mentioned that I've received millions of dollars from Nigeria ? :-)
    Be it from Nigeria or whatever country, first the money and then the merchandise.
    Careful with international checks because they may seem to be cleared but may not be for real.
    The best things are Paypal (or something similar); and even so it's not 100% guarantee and bank transfer (using IBAN and SWIFT).
    Your husband should NEVER sign any papers concerning banking activity.
    It's the buyer who has to deal with everything concerning the transfer.

    Best regards,

    José

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