I got scammed, but used F&F payment. Can I do anything?

[2000000bees]

I was desperate for some help with an issue abroad and running out of time, and foolishly enlisted the help of a stranger on reddit who scammed me out of about $100 which is a lot to me. Is there anything I can do about it? The only info I have on this person is their paypal email.

What happened is that I was on holiday to Thailand after saving up for years to get aboad. I realised my bag would be a bit overweight for a flight, so sent myself a parcel. I was told it would take two months, but instead it took two weeks and arrived at my house while I was still out of the country, and it was returned to Thailand. The Thai post office wouldn't repost it without someone physically going to the office and doing it, and I don't know anyone there. I had 6 months to get it sorted which is nearly at it's end and in my desperation asked for help on a tourist subreddit.

I know I should have asked the guy for some id, and I shouldn't have used the F&F payment, but I was stressed and not thinking clearly and I am clearly a bit of an idiot sometimes. Is there anything I can do to get my money back, or at least report the guy as a scammer so he at least can't use that account to scam more people? I don't seem to be able to raise a dispute on the payment, presumably because I used that method.

[kernowlass]

@2000000bees 

A friends / family (or gift payment) is 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), which would be automatically closed as you did authorise the initial payment.

Be careful as using that option for purchasing goods is against Paypal rules and can lead to account limitation.

If you funded your Paypal payment via a credit card then contact your card issuer and see if they will help you but unfortunately they may decline as well as it was a gift payment.

[2000000bees]

Thanks, that's as I suspected. Serves me right for being a dumbass and doing what a stranger on the internet told me. I realised as soon as I'd done it that I shouldn't have used the f&f payment option.

[bunbun1118]

hey I was scammed too but through instagram, don't be so hard on yourself I lost 200$ through the f&f payment option and another 200$ on apple pay. People suck so just think of this as a 100$ lesson to not trust strangers on the internet that ask you to send them money. 😭🩷