So i was looking for a belt on depop RRP £320. A guy was selling one for £120. I messaged him about sizes etc and all was good so i said i would buy the belt. He asked me to pay through family and friends on pay pal to avoid the depop fees etc.. he seemed like he was a decent guy, people had bought off him on his account and i was happy to pay through family and friends. Paid the money to him and sent over my address etc, he said he would post the item either that day or the day after. Messaged him the day after to see if he posted and he didn't respond. Messaged him again later that day and after messaging, checked his profile and it was no longer existing! I have no way of contacting the seller now, he has my money and i have no belt. I also received a text message from pay pal after sending the money saying "PayPal A -£120.00 GBP transaction with Ethan Brown on 8 October 2018 was marked suspicious. Please reply "1" if authorised or "2" if not authorised" and i received that message twice. I replied with 2 and i got a reply back saying "PayPal: Payment not completed. Invalid phone number or email. Try again. Only UK numbers are supported. No country code." but the money has still been taken from my account. I raised a claim with paypal and they came back to me saying it was denied as the transaction was not unauthorised, yet i replied to the text message with 2 and it said the payment wasn't complete? The whole thing is confusing for me if im honest and its stressing me out. Firstly because the guy has scammed me, but secondly even though i replied to the text saying 2 and the payment wasn't completed but my money still has gone???? I have read on other peoples posts that if you don't buy through the depop app you aren't protected with seller protection which i understand i haven't paid through depop, I've paid through family and friends, but I have all the messages screenshotted and i also have the screenshot of the account deleted.
