Art Commission Scam?

[Mj0608]

Hello! Someone commissioned me for $200. They asked me for my paypal real name and I gave them, they said they have sent the full payment even without me creating the commission for them, which I got sus. Paypal emailed me (which can be seen below) that my account still not on business account (which I know I already made it into one). They asked me in order to turn it into a business account I need to pay $200, and the one who commissioned me paid the $200 (they said) to turn my account into a business account. Now, I need to refund them with $200 dollars but I don't have that much money to give. Is this a clear scam? Or is this true? If it is true, please help me return their money. I still haven't received their money yet since it is still pending. I'm getting stress, because they keep bugging me, I want to block them but if it's true I need to get in touch with them. If this has a similar situation to others please let me know too about this 'coz I'm crying now. I just want to draw 😭

[NiyaShy]

This sounds like a very likely scam. If the money they "sent" you is still pending you haven't received anything yet, so DO NOT try to send them anything back. If you do, it's very likely that they'll appeal the pending transaction and vanish with the money you sent them, making you lose the money.

I've heard about similar scam attempts involving paypal through r/scams (reddit), so you're not alone with this.

As long as that transaction stays pending, you don't have to do anything, no matter how much they pester you. If they want that (most likely non-existent) money back THEY have to do something, not you.

[PayPal_Shradha]

Hello @Mj0608,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the community! 

We are sorry to hear that you have received a email notification mentioning that you may need to pay a fee to upgrade your account to receive a payment. What you describe receiving is a common ploy that fraudsters use to trick people using email. 

Whenever you receive this type of notifications and email, then always check your resolution centre by log in to your PayPal account. If you didn't find any related details in the resolution centre means it's a fraud. 

Here's a great Help Center article on How to spot fake, fraudulent, or phishing PayPal emails or websites. There's also some information here that may be helpful, and this article as well. 

You can also reach out to our customer support team to get an understanding of the possible solution. Please reach out to the Support Team during business hours by clicking the Contact option at the bottom of PayPal page. If your unable to login into your PayPal account do reach us via phone and kindly select "Call us as Guest".

I hope that helps!

warm Regards,

Shradha