Let Me Give You An Idea of How Many Scammers Are Out There

Exiztence

Paypal is the worst, easy to get scammed if anyone pays you, there are dedicated "forums" with Paypal login dumps. Even if someone pays you via friends and family, it might be keylogged account and paypal will refund the real owner and you are left just with debt on your account.

jmazpiazu

Yep. I was once rejected one claim with paypal because the buyer used a stolen credit card. It took paypal 2 months to discover. Lost the funds and the watch. Lesson learned the hard way.

For me, it only works using wire transfer or face to face transactions. And even with these two methods, you have to be extremely careful these days. Too many scumbags out there.

Sublime_1

I was in New Orleans a couple months back for a Cyber Security conference and sat in on a couple different seminars hosted by the Secret Service on Internet scams and such. It is quite daunting to learn that there are millions of scammers making millions of dollars with billions at play and no recourse for their actions because of extradition laws.

Another interesting take-a-way, your credit card numbers and SSN are really worth much anymore. There are websites right now selling stacks of credit cards for next to nothing and even offering a guarantee for a small fee. All with exceptional customer service. The target right now is medical records. Small medical offices are at the greatest risk because criminals know they can't afford the measures to mitigate the risk.

Exiztence

Yea, people think that Friends and Family transfer are irreversible, that is true UNLESS the account was scammed.

FreelanceWriter

Incorrect. It's also not true if there are insufficient funds to cover the transaction or if the buyer purposely drains the account right after the initial transaction is approved. Unlike Goods & Services payments, there's no backup funding source for Friends & Family. The transaction could go through and get credited to your bank account; then, a week or more later, you could get notice that the payment was refunded to the buyer and charged to your account. Zero recourse and you're SOL.

I only learned this after it happened to me innocently and that client just re-issued the payment, using Goods & Services. It's the reason I no longer allow anybody to pay me using F & F and even refund any such payments with instructions to reissue using G & S. (Anticipating the question: I suppose PayPal doesn't have to verify that the buyer's account actually has the funds because they know it's your loss, not theirs, if it doesn't. With G & S, it doesn't matter to them, either, because they have a backup funding source. That's the weak link in the system from the perspective of sellers who use F & F for payment.)

bloomy

What a shame. Unfortunately, bottom dwellers throughout society face little to no ramifications for their actions.

In my city, in US, police response time for a burglary is over two hours, we have to protect our neighbors and ourselves. Thanks for sharing.

FreelanceWriter

Incorrect. It's also not true if there are insufficient funds to cover the transaction or if the buyer purposely drains the account right after the initial transaction is approved. Unlike Goods & Services payments, there's no backup funding source for Friends & Family. The transaction could go through and get credited to your bank account; then, a week or more later, you could get notice that the payment was refunded to the buyer and charged to your account. Zero recourse and you're SOL.

I only learned this after it happened to me innocently and that client just re-issued the payment, using Goods & Services. It's the reason I no longer allow anybody to pay me using F & F and even refund any such payments with instructions to reissue using G & S. (Anticipating the question: I suppose PayPal doesn't have to verify that the buyer's account actually has the funds because they know it's your loss, not theirs, if it doesn't. With G & S, it doesn't matter to them, either, because they have a backup funding source. That's the weak link in the system from the perspective of sellers who use F & F for payment.)

Speedmasterfan88

Ebay is dropping PP btw.

https://www.google.de/amp/s/www.cnb...paypal-for-a-smaller-european-competitor.html


@WatchVaultNYC thats truly scary! Stay safe!

Perseus

That might be a good thing. I'd love for Paypal to die.

U ulackfocus

I'd love for the internet to die.

Think about it: no more chance of Skynet. 😁 😜

Seriously - the internet will be the downfall of civility and then civilization. It's already starting, with conversation out the window in favor of 140 character or less brevity, and politeness all but dead. I don't condone what the Unabomber did, but I'm starting to understand why more & more.

As great and powerful a tool that the web is, look at what we're doing on it. It's making humanity less human.

jmazpiazu

And not always is safe to sell on eBay. If the buyer claims he did not received the watch, even if he lies, Paypal will back him up 99% of the times, so the seller is screwed. He will loose both the watch and the funds.

ClarendonVintage

That is why I try to ship with tracking most of the time. That is good enough I hope?

Perseus

That might be a good thing. I'd love for Paypal to die.