Can I report the account of someone who scammed me via friends and family?

[dollop_of_clay]

I just got scammed by someone posing as a person I follow on Instagram. If I had been in a better way today, it wouldn't have happened, but thankfully, it was an amount of money I was able to let go of. I know the money is gone-- I blindly handed it over via "Friends and family." What I'd like to do is prevent this person from scamming someone in the future, though. is there a way to report the account or flag it? Having sent the money, I can see the name of the person who scammed me. 

[Dmnumen]

I need the same thing for [removed] who scammed me! Beware!!

[PayPal_Bindu]

Hey @dollop_of_clay and @Dmnumen,

Welcome to our community forum and thanks for posting here!

I certainly understand how concerning this can be for you. Personal payments are no covered under our protection policy. When there's a problem with friends and family payment, we strongly encourage the sender and recipient to work together toward a resolution. If a resolution can't be met and you paid via card or bank, you may want to reach out to your financial institution to seek other dispute options. 

To avoid such issues in the future and to avail of PayPal's purchase protection, always send your payment as Goods & Service (instead of friends & Family). So if you have any issue with the transaction, you can dispute it with us and we can help you with a refund if eligible. Our internal system will always reviews every account and if there's any issue found, we will take necessary actions towards the account.

I hope this information helps!

Bindu

[dollop_of_clay]

I appreciate your desire to help, @PayPal_Bindu; I do think it overlooks what kind of help I'm actually seeking. I want platforms to have ways to protect their users from future scams. This is my first time being scammed and I can see, in retrospect, all the red flags and the personal factors in my life which led me to overlook them. Am I bummed? yes. Is it an amount of money that will endanger my life to note have? fortunately, no. But I know that there are other people being targeted who are more vulnerable than I am and I feel like Paypal has left me without any way to alert, warn or protect them. Getting my money back is far less a priority to me than helping protect others. How can I do that? 

[kernowlass]

@dollop_of_clay 

You chose to send a 'gift' of money to someone, so they accepted the gift and didn't send you anything.

They don't have to send anything as you didn't pay for anything, if you had you would have sent it using goods/services.

If they were not a close mate OR family member why would you select that option?

Also why would you report someone for receiving a 'gift' of money you sent them?

[dollop_of_clay]

I don't remember asking for anyone to give me judgment for being scammed thinly veiled as life advice. I've unpacked what factors in my life allowed that to happen, and I allow for the fact that people are sometimes not perfect in their judgment. I also want to prevent people who make their money off of taking advantage of people in vulnerable states from doing so. thanks. 

[kernowlass]

@dollop_of_clay 

Not sure giving you the facts constitutes judgement but I guess they were facts you did not want to hear?

I have saved thousands on here from scammers but the best way for you to get the message across is to tell folks not to break Paypal rules and use the friends/family option to pay for goods/services !