Help! I was scammed and scammer is turning it around on me

tweety1

Thu, Jan 09 2020, 11:29 pm

southernbubby wrote:

You can contact your state attorney general.

I watched a judge Judy case of a woman who bought an I phone on eBay and was scammed. JJ suggested she take the case to her state attorney general which she already had done. TMALSS, plaintiff wasn't the first victim, and was the fifth case by the state attorney general from this scammer.
Op, chances are you'll fall into this category. I wish you loads of hatzlucha. Hope you persue in the right manner.

amother

Smokey

Thu, Jan 09 2020, 11:43 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I paid with paypal. I contacted them also, they said to call back if I am not successful with my ebay claim.

It is a diamond . It looked off. Anyhow I wanted to appraise it for insurance purposes, so took it to be appraised and the jewelers were looking at each other and then told me its a fake.

Did the paypal payment process through your credit card? If so, you have another recourse. If for some reason, ebay and Paypal don't approve your claim, you can always contact your credit card company directly. My friend did this, and she was successful. It was also for an expensive item. She got a full refund - it was over $2000.00.

But please don't engage in any conversation directly with the seller. He will only try to scare you or manipulate you. Just follow the claims process, and do all the communication with ebay/paypal only. To help put your mind at ease, I'll reiterate what the others have said. Ebay very rarely sides with the seller.

amother

Fri, Jan 10 2020, 12:00 am

tweety1 wrote:

Thanks !

So should I call now or should I what happens with ebay first?

amother

Fri, Jan 10 2020, 12:05 am

amother [ Smokey ] wrote:

Thank you so much! That is very encouraging.

And I really appreciate the advice. He had sent me two messages, both of them belligerent and stating that he has proof that I am scamming. I have such an urge to defend myself because I wouldn't do that! But I haven't responded because I realized that defending myself to him is a joke. He knows good and well what the truth is, he's the one who sent me a piece of plastic. Yet somehow his messages do scare me , he really must have some background in the scam world

amother

Burgundy

Fri, Jan 10 2020, 12:37 am

southernbubby wrote:

You can contact your state attorney general.

Perhaps I should start a spin off of this, but how exactly does this work? I had an awful case where I was ripped off $3000 by a subscription that kept charging me although I requested to have it canceled and never used the subscription even once. I know several other people have had that issue. Would this be something the state attorney general could help with?

southernbubby

Fri, Jan 10 2020, 7:02 am

amother [ Burgundy ] wrote:

I think so but sometimes you have to involve law enforcement and I am not sure what police department or FBI agency you call for fraud and extortion.

amother

Slategray

Fri, Jan 10 2020, 7:37 am

I was once scammed about $1200 through PayPal and PayPal refused to give me back the $. Not only that but I had to pay PayPal another few hundred because they said they lay out $ in advance and then they take from our funds. This is after I canceled the payment almost right away, called PayPal immediately to stop it and was assured the $ didnt go through, called them again multiple times because they told me I have to wait a certain amount of days to see what happens with the transaction, was assured throughout that thr $ would not be lost, then spent hours and hours on the phone with supervisors etc, and in the end they wouldn't refund me.
I had also immediately put a hold on my bank funds but they charged my credit card instead. Credit card company wouldnt do anything for me.
I was furious and devastated that this could happen but eventually accepted that it's Hashem's will that I lose this $.
But I will never use PayPal again. They royally messed me up. It's not true that they are easy to work with. Multiple PayPal reps gave me wrong information and in the end I had to pay for that. I wouldnt rely on PayPal.

TzipporahN

Fri, Jan 10 2020, 7:50 am

amother [ Burgundy ] wrote:

Even though it's too late now, cancelling your card is the best way to stop something like this.

TzipporahN

Fri, Jan 10 2020, 7:59 am

amother [ Slategray ] wrote:

OP is already worried about this - posting your story may warn others, but can just stress out OP even more.

OP - follow the procedures, report to your cc company, report to your state attorney general, and ignore the scammer - he's just scared. Oh, and don't forget to leave a warning for others - but leave that until this is sorted out first. Anyway, he'll probably get shut down by eBay.

In the future, only buy expensive things like this through escrow - and research the seller extremely well first.

amother

Smokey

Fri, Jan 10 2020, 9:13 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Yes, this is how they operate. First step, rope the buyer in by being extra nice, extra helpful & promise them everything. Then once the buyer is aware of what happened, use scare tactics to try to get you to back down & get you to be on the defensive in your replies to him. Then he takes your replies, and twists them around to show you that you are in the wrong. That's why it's critical not to respond, and give him what to use against you.

If you didn't reply, you did really good. It sounds like you have a strong case, & ebay or paypal will most likely rule in your favor. And again, in not, most credit cards have a purchase protection plan as a benefit.

amother

Fri, Jan 10 2020, 9:34 am

amother [ Smokey ] wrote:

Wow . I didn't know there was a pattern for this but you literally just wrote the train of events .

He was a really helpful seller. Really nice, answering all my questions, claiming to even ask his jeweler about a question he didn't know the answer to.

When I emailed for the refund, I stated what my jeweler said - that while the band might be real platinum , the diamond is definitely a fake. So he responded that my ‘accusations are bogus’ and that one way of proof is that the ring he “sent” was 18k gold. And that he videotaped himself wrapping the box for this reason.

Once I saw that he was accusing ME of being a scammer, I felt so framed and haven't responded since. I called ebay to report his responses.

amother

Slategray

Fri, Jan 10 2020, 9:44 am

TzipporahN wrote:

OP is already worried about this - posting your story may warn others, but can just stress out OP even more.

My point was not to rely on PayPal. I used to also be under the impression that they were fair until it hit me in the face. Better chances with ebay.

Mama Bear

Fri, Jan 10 2020, 11:32 am

I'm amazed OP that you felt comfortable buying sometihng on ebay for $5000!!!
I'm an ebay seller and I'm scared of selling anything over $300 for fear that the buyer might pull a bait and switch on me and say I sent them a fake and return a fake to me, the same thing that your seller is accusing you wrongly of doing. ahhhh!!!
I always authenticate every luxury item I sell, via authenticators, so that I have a certificate on hand.