I'm required to refund 400€ to change my account to Business Account. Am I getting scammed?

[JudgeShredd]

I'm a freelance artist/illustrator from Finland. Or more of an art hobbyist, really.

Yesterday, someone on Instagram wanted to buy my art. We agreed on commision job and price of 100 euros. She wanted to make the payment in advance. She suggested PayPal, and I gave her my old PayPal email, which was a personal account. I never used PayPal for this before, this was my first time.

She said she made a payment of 100€, then I received this into my email: 

She said that because she paid from a business account, she cannot get a refund. And I cannot receive it, because my account isn't a Business Account.

Then the person asked, if she has my trust. I said yes. She sent another 400€ over. Then I received this into my email:

I wasn't even sure if I need/want a Business account, since I don't really have a business, I just do occasional illustrations for occasional clients as a small side job. This was my first job I got via Instagram.

But I didn't feel like I have choice, since she claimed she cannot get her money out. She seemed nice and genuine.

However, when I tried to refund 400€ into the PayPal email she gave, PayPal gave an error message and wouldn't make the transaction. I tried several times.  I even transfered 420€ into my PayPal from my Bank Account. Didn't work. I have a working Debit card in PayPal, which works for web stores (however it isn't verified).

I asked if there was a typo in the address, and she gave a totally different PayPal email, which consisted mostly of random numbers and letters. Both emails were similar but totally different numbers, in Chinesee webmail. Why would American woman use Chinese webmail. It started to seem suspicious. 

Am I getting scammed? 

Can't she just get her money back, after 30 days anyway? Since I never received any money. Just these messages from PayPal.

I don't want to pay 400€ to someone I don't know, especially when they were prepared to switch their PayPal email on the fly, after the first payment didn't work.

She also stressed, that I should use "Friends and Family" payment, "to avoid further complications." But it's also the one, that has no protection.

Do I need a business account anyway? I'm just an art hobbyist really. I don't want to pay extra fees, and I'd like to be able to use PayPal for private purhcases from web stores, like I have been doing so far.

Thanks.

[kernowlass]

@JudgeShredd 

You never pay any upfront fee as a seller.

Ignore scammers that send fake Paypal emails telling you that you need to pay an upfront fee to verify/upgrade/or any other reason to 'accept' a payment.

You would certainly never have to send funds via another payment processor/bitcoins/ or tokens/vouchers of any sort.

Any fee is auto deducted by Paypal at the same instant the remainder of the payment is credited to your Paypal account balance.

No funds in your balance = you have not yet been paid, even pending/held payments will still show in your Paypal account activity.

[JudgeShredd1]

Thanks, I'm the original poster.

(I had to make another account, since I accidentally deleted my old PayPal account in attempt to change it back to Personal Account)

Since I started to suspect a scam, I confronted the person in Instagram chat and she couldn't provide any proof of being who she claimed to be. I eventually blocked her. I'm glad that my 400€ never went through, I actually tried to send it... before becoming suspicious.

It's dumb of me, I easily dodged a similar scam just weeks ago, where it falsely claimed I have bought Bitcoin, and I need to confirm the transaction. Maybe I got flattered by the fact that somone tried to buy my art, her profile seemed really genuine and lot of effort had been put to make it look like a real person, who appreciates art.

It's a bit dangerous that there can be these messages, that look like official PayPal messages.

Anyway, I feel relieved and stupid at the same time... sadly I can't mark this topic as "Solved" because I can't access the account I posted originally with.

[kernowlass]

@JudgeShredd1 

Glad you didn't lose any cash. Best to always check on here first, theres normally some volunteer that has logged on to help OR the moderators occasionally.  😜

[Moonlight8]

Hello! I am currently in the same situation as you were before. I'm also an artist on instagram and this is only my second time ever being commissioned by someone. Their profile looked very innocent and all they wanted was for me to draw a picture of their dog. So the total was $40 but they insisted on paying $50 because I seemed like a nice person. However, I also got the same email from Paypal telling me that the sender had to send an additional $50 to upgrade my account to a Bussiness account! At first, I thought it was weird but then the person asked me to promise that I would refund the money they sent me as if they were scared I was going to steal it. They sent an additional &100 so now all I had to do was refund it or else Paypal was going to send me to prison or something like that.... For some reason, I was not able to refund them the money and the email they sent me was also very weird, full of numbers (the chinese email, just like you said). I got very suspicious.... They also told me I could send them the money throught other platforms such as aneba (which I never heard of before) and the email they sent me was completely different but seemed very real this time. In the end, I wasn't able to complete the refund, now I'm waiting for Paypal to confirm my identity so I can refund but I'm scared this might be a scam. The weirdest thing was how this person said they are an old lady (even the pictures looked real) but they seemed to know so much about how to use paypal and aneba (they even sent me tutorial videos). Please, tell me how you got throught this problem! I tried to contact the help center but they weren't available, I don't know what to do and at this point I don't even want to draw the dog anymore.

[PayPal_Meghan]

Hello @Moonlight8, 

Welcome to the PayPal Community! 

I'm sorry to hear about the concern caused by the suspicious emails you've received; I'm very glad to hear that you haven't started the drawing yet. I can confirm that it's not a legitimate transaction. PayPal will never require you or the buyer to pay any upfront fees to upgrade your account or receive payments. A couple of great Help Center articles you may find useful are: How do I spot and report a fake, fraudulent, spoof, or phishing emails? and What are common scams and how do I spot them? The second article is a US Help Center article, but the information applies for everyone. 

Stay safe! 

- Meghan