I am an Idiot (Did I get scammed?)

[narbeZ]

So,

Basically a couple of months ago I saw an add on Calgary Kijiji for 32gb 3GS Unlocked iPhones for 400 dollars. I immediately thought this was a great deal and sent an email over. I never got a reply until Friday around 8:00 PM.

This is how the conversation went.

Seller: Do you still need a phone?

Me: Yeah are they still available?

Seller: Yes...Brand new 400$ are you interested?

Me: Yeah sure, where abouts are tyou located? I would pay cash.

Seller: Located in Quebec, Shipping is free by fedex, If you pay today you will recieve it monday or tuesday morning, what do you say?

Me: How am I as a buyer protected? Thanks

Seller: Simple...Its pay by paypal...If I dont send....You can do a dispute and get your money back....If you recieve it and are not satisfy I offer 30 days money back, and i'll pay for shipping for you.

I then proceeded to ask him if he was on ebay and this is what he said...


Seller: No. To Many Fees, This is why im on Kijiji. Well as you know paypal protects you. What I can say is after you make the payment if you dont have a tracking number in a hour then do a dispute and that way even if I withdraw the number it will put the transaction on hold. You can see im doing eveything to make it easy and simple for you.

I then questioned why it would say at the bottom of the Kijiji email that paypal is not protected when using kijiji his reply was...


Seller: Kijiji are stupid. They say that because they only want people to make cash transactions something that they shouldnt do because of the taxes that need to be paid for the government.

He then said he has been dealing on kijiji for two years and hasnt screwed anyone over, so why would he start with little old me.

At the end of the message he asked if I was going to be paying tonight.

Anyways needless to say I payed him, and have had sparse to no contact since. He said he would mail it today and have the tracking number for me by Noon, but still no reply to any email ive sent out all day.

Have I been scammed? I felt stupid the moment after I payed him.

Any help would be appreitated, thanks guys.

[CMPunk]

Scammed...contact pay pal and stop the transaction

[ken0042]

You can file a chargeback with Paypal; that is not 100% though. (Far from it.)

But if your Paypal is funded with your Visa or M/C; wait the length of time that Paypal says and file the chargeback. Once Paypal rejects your chargeback, file with Visa for a chargeback.

This is why Paypal always wants to fund with you chequing account now.

[burn_this_city]

I would have backed out when he starts making crap up about Kijiji.

[narbeZ]

Im in a bind here guys, I have no idea what to do. Ive been on my paypal and cant find a way to stop the transaction as it appears its already went through. My bank account isnt showing yet though.... In CP I trust.

[DrPepper]

If it was me, I wouldn't have done this deal. How badly did you want the phone? I would have waited a bit longer and searched for ones in Calgary. If it doesn't come during the days hes said it would, than I'd give it another few days.

My friend almost had a similar problem as you, through he bought an HP laptop on ebay for about 1200, the guy who sold it to him said it would come in 3 weeks, but it never did. After 2 months of waiting and not getting what he asked for, he thought he got scammed but after 5 months from his original purchase he finally got the laptop.

[killer_carlson]

call your bank and tell them not to process the transaction.

[stang]

Empty your bank account?

Call Paypal customer service, and talk to them. They have pretty good customer service actually

[stang]

cONTACT NUMBER FOR PAYPAL

402-935-2050

[JFK]

File a dispute with Paypal. Unless this dickhole can prove that he sent you the phone, Paypal will refund your account.

I had this happen to me on ebay with a computer. Guy tried to steal $700 from me.

[narbeZ]

I filed a dispute. I guess we will see how this goes. I have a feeling it wont end in my favor. What an idiot I feel like....

[FlamesAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by narbeZ

I filed a dispute. I guess we will see how this goes. I have a feeling it wont end in my favor. What an idiot I feel like....

Don't worry, it happens to the best of us. I had a friend who I worked at the Car Show with. We entered in every single draw there and sure enough, I get a call a week later saying I had won a free cruise. Over the next 5 minutes I get told of all the wonderful, awesome things I would be receiving.... 7 nights, all inclusive, free rental car, blah, blah, blah..... oh but they needed a $200 dollar deposit right then over the phone for the rental car. At this point I promptly hung up the phone. Of course, the next time I see my friend from the car show he's all happy cause he won a free cruise. This was two years ago and he has yet to go....

Chalk it up to a learning experience. Could have been better, could have been a lot worse though. Heck, you may actually get what you paid for or the transaction might be voided too. I was somewhat scammed awhile back (I recieved what I payed for, but it wasn't exactly of the quality I was led to believe) and since then I generally try to avoid transactions along the lines of the conversation you posted. Probably cost me a good deal or two over the years, but I like to think I've more than made up for it by not getting scammed.

Hope it works out for ya!

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I would have backed out when he starts making crap up about Kijiji.

I would have backed out the second the conversation turned to how the buyer was protected via Paypal, period - you wouldn't have asked if you didn't feel it was fishy, and if the seller goes on about it, he's obviously trying to take you for a ride.

I don't know what kind of recourse you will have with Paypal - for all they know, you have the iPhone and are welching on paying, or have contractually obligated yourself and are now trying to back out.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by stang

Empty your bank account?

Yes, do this. And speak to your bank. And if you have a credit card attached to Paypal as well, tell them as well.

I had only quickly read the OP before. What this person is likely doing is setting up a Paypal account, taking the cash knowing the account will get closed. So you have to setup a new Paypal account every day- that's nothing to get $400 easy dollars.

[Rathji]

I have not pulled cash from paypal in a long time, but dont you need to have a verified account to pull cash from it?

[TSXCman]

I've purchased a 50$ item on kijiji paypal, it arrived, did not work.

I contacted seller, told him I contacted paypal.

pay pal refunded, I paid for shipping but wasnt too much, no harm done. I don't get where you can get screwed?

[HPLovecraft]

Take all your money from your checking account (if that's what PayPal goes through) and plop it in your savings until the process fails.

[3 Justin 3]

You got scammed. It is just like all the scam car ads which say "2006 Nissan Murano for $7600", then when you ask they reply "I am located in Nova Scotia (or Ontario, Quebec) and I just got a divorce (or some other lame answer) and I need the money right away, we can do this by paypal, etc. etc.".

So hard to trust anything on the internet anymore, but as a general rule, if it seems too good to be true IT ALWAYS IS!!


I am sure you'll get your money back, I hope anyways.

P.S. If you have his actual name and address, etc, contact local police. That helps from further incidents.

[Buzzard]

Yup...it's simple. Just empty any accounts linked to paypal.

We all do stupid $hit like that at least once, unlike some of the very helpful dudes above that are trying to tell you how smart they would have been in your shoes.

Why try and tell the guy you never would have done such a thing? I think he knows by now he f@&cked up. Probably doesnt need anyone telling him youd've never done anything so stupid. He knows he's screwed up and now wants help getting out of it.

[Byrns]

With Kijiji, I only deal locally so I can see the product straight up.

Contacting paypal was the correct thing to do.