Dispute Facebook ticket scam

[JackMerry94]

I was scammed yesterday for £120 for concert tickets that a guy on Facebook was selling. He gave me no reason not to trust, even providing screenshots of the order number, how many tickets he had etc... I think it's a little ridiculous that if it's sent under friends and family nothing at all can be done.

[kernowlass]

@JackMerry94 

I think the clue is in the name, was he a personal mate? was he a family member? No, so why would you even think of using that option instead of goods / services?

A friends / family is a GIFT of money intended as a transfer of funds from family or friends to one another. For this reason, there is no processing fee when payment is made with bank or PayPal balance.
However as it is a “gift” payment, there is also no Buyer protection as no goods or services should have been exchanged.

If he was not a close mate or family member you should never use that option as it enables the seller to evade paying his paypal fees and negates your buyer protection at the same time. You would also not be able to open a dispute apart from one citing an unauthorised transaction (when your Paypal account has been used to make the transaction without your consent which you would lose as that is not the case).

[JackMerry94]

I'm sorry, this is the first time I've used PayPal in around 3-4 years and I didn't even think twice, and during the process of sending it nothing popped up to warn me about that. I find your response very demeaning and incredibly rude. Hopefully my bank can be a touch more helpful that PayPal as they can actually do something about it. Hard to believe that the F&F option isn't covered at all for situations exactly like this. Seems like a major flaw to me, there should be something at least.

[kernowlass]

@JackMerry94 

Really or you just don't like taking responsibility for your own mistake?

I wasn't rude, I was telling you the truth, which you don't appear to want to accept.

You don't get a 'warning' when you click to pay and choose send money there are 2 options, and on only 1 of them does it state 'buyer protection available'.

That is on top of the fact that 'friends and family' are just that and not 'sellers or merchants'.

Its only a major flaw if you don't bother to read when you go to pay. Again the clue is in the title and no way would I consider a Facebook seller a friend or mine or a personal relative !!!

As i said by all means try your card issuer but as you sent a 'gift' of money to someone they may not cover you either.

[JackMerry94]

So what would happen if someone is scammed by a friend or family member? I just think it's ridiculous there's no cover at all for that option. I accept full responsibility for my own mistake. I just think in this day and age, it should all be covered 🤷🏼‍♂️ As for my card issuer, I rang them and they've said if I can prove I was scammed (I can, I have all the screenshots) and explain the situation to the fraud team then they can do a chargeback once the money has fully left my account. Hopefully I can get this sorted.

[LauraTP]

Hi Jack!

The same thing happened to me yesterday :(.  I wondered if your case was ever resolved and how you went about claiming your money back? I've been on the phone to PayPal and they've not offered any guidance. Oh and in response to that other guy, I think you're right in criticising PayPal. Victims of this kind of action should be protected and NOT scammers. It's unethical that PayPal offer no support in these kinds of situations.

Thanks 🙂 

Laura

[JackMerry94]

Heya! I'm very sorry to hear that happened to you too! PayPal were pretty much useless and point blank refused to help at all. I rang my bank (Lloyds) and explained, they were able to raise a dispute with PayPal, and in the meantime Lloyds paid me the money I lost (to help in the short term). The only catch was that if PayPal refused to settle my dispute, I had to pay Lloyds back. They definitely refused, so unfortunately, my case was never resolved successfully! I just think the way PayPal handle the friends and family scammers is disgusting, I was basically told tough **bleep** 🤷🏼‍♂️ abhorrent behaviour from a big company and I am no longer doing any purchases or payments through them because of the disgusting loophole scammers can easily take advantage of. My advice would be to talk to your bank, see what they can offer you, they may be able to raise a dispute for you. Good luck!

[LauraTP]

That's so annoying that it was never resolved. I called my bank and they said they couldn't do anything because it was a PayPal transaction. I agree, they should at least issue a warning before you click the family and friends option. I just clicked it absentmindedly. I'm trying to look at the bright side, as it was £35 and could've been much worse if I had paid for both tickets at once. At least I've learnt a lesson from this whole ordeal and I will NEVER buy anything from anyone I don't know on Facebook again! Take care! 🙂 

[PayPal_Siobhan2]

Hi Guys, 

Thank you for contacting the PayPal Community Forum. 

We appreciate all your feedback and the send money options have been updated on the PayPal website. When you go to make a payment, the tabs for Goods/Services and Friends/Family have been changed to show that Buyer Protection will be applied to one specific payment type and this is the Goods/Services option. 

- Siobhan 

[JackMerry94]

Thank you, but it should absolutely be buyer protection on both options - friends and family are still capable of scamming, and ticket scammers will still absolutely use this way and catch people it. Thank you for supporting the scammers, and not the victims.