Hello, I know some people here can help me with this problem. I bought a Mustang from a guy and I think he scammed me. I paid with paypal but they dont want to check the fraud really now, they told me to open a case. They told me I have to contact the seller. But I think he is only trying to gain more time to do some more fraud. He advertised the car again this night and maybe he wants to make more money. I have 2 phone numbers now, his paypal account, maybe his wells fargo account, an adress. Who can help me with this, maybe somebody knows a person who work for paypal, wells fargo, who can check his adress and phone number that I can check if everything is ok or not?I want to make sure that he really exists and lives at the adress. I dont want that more people get scammed from these person and I would like to get my money back. Please help.
Open a paypal case. Also contact the CC company or bank you have linked to the paypal account.
Don't wait. All the methods to solve this that are available to you have short windows of opportunity.
If he produces the car, you can always cancel your actions with the bank and PayPal.
Might even want to contact the police in his town.
Ditto, I would call the local police to see if they can help. Don't wait!
did it all they said I should contact my police in germany what absolutely makes no sense. Paypal say open a case yes but then I have to wait. At the moment I would like to find out if the guy really lives at the adress he claimed and so on like is his phone number longer registered or only a throw away number, etc. Maybe he is only not a good business man or an idiot. I just wait for my shipper who will call him for the pick up of the car if he then say not yet bla bla there is a problem. I think the most important thing is to clarify/ verify his identy. Maybe someone can help with that.
Quote from: Kent on January 12, 2021, 10:37:49 AM
did it all they said I should contact my police in germany what absolutely makes no sense. Paypal say open a case yes but then I have to wait and he knows what is going on and maybe delete all files, phone numbers and thats not good. At the moment I would like to find out if the guy really lives at the adress he claimed and so on like is his phone number longer registered or only a throw away number, etc. Maybe he is only not a good business man or an idiot. I just wait for my shipper who will call him for the pick up of the car if he then say not yet bla bla there is a problem. I think the most important thing is to clarify/ verify his identy. Maybe someone can help with that.
sorry double posted again, I missed the button with qoute and modify
Somebody here in the Forum said that he knows somebody working for paypal who can get back the money quick? Who was it? It was in one of those pookie threads I think
It really starts to become interesting he posted pretty much the same car again but now in another area with another phone number. Guys believe me this really starts to become a thriller.
You should immediately open a paypal case, contact the credit card company and tell them that to put a hold on payment.
Next time you need to inspect the purchase or have someone else inspect.
Good luck
The damn lockdown dont let me do this. The best would be to track this guy and find out where he is really located in the states. At the moment he is using 2 phones.
Is the seller in the United States?
If so, Make contact with his local Police department.
yes he is in the US, I called them in the morning but they didnt want to verify his adress they told me I have to contact the german police here in my town in germany which makes no sense. I just want to see if the adress is right or not. If its right then I can send him the cops everytime I want but if the adress is not correct then I have a big problem.
If somebody can see the owner behind a phone number that would be also good because we now have 2 numbers. And he is using both.
Kent ,
BE CAREFUL with PayPal. IF you call it fraud , Paypal will investigate it as a stolen credit card or unauthorized access to your card , which it isn't and CLOSE the case!!! They did this to me ( for a much smaller amount) . They close the case and then you go to the resolution center. They tell you to contact the seller ( I have done this ten times now) as IF the seller is going to ''magically " return your money. Paypal "could" pull the money but WON'T because no "fraud" was found relating to the "payment". I have complained to Customer service AND their feedback area. NOTHING has happened and I am STILL out the money!!
GOOD LUCK!
Randy
Ok very good advice, good to know. Yes Paypal sucks and we all know who owns paypal the same guy that building these horrible cars.
In these times its harder and harder to find people you can work and deal with, I miss the times 10-15 years ago when I bought cars from real car guys and not all these gas monkeys wannabe´s and scam guys. Its all going down.
IMPORTANT: He still scams people with the new ad, a friend of mine is texting with him and now he is doing the same. We try to get more infos. But its hard. Best would be to track his phones.
Warning : ::)
I think that motor vehicles are not covered by PayPal purchase protection. >:(
then it was for car parts ;D as I said paypal sucks
Where is he listing the car and where does he claim to be located? If nothing else, hopefully you can avoid having him scam anyone else.
the ad is deleted, we are still doing some research any help would be good for the research on the phone numbers etc.
Where was the listing? Craigslist, ebay, ?? What state does the seller claim to be in?
If you wired the funds (or deducted from checking/savings) :-\
If it is on a credit card, Now is the time to enlist their help. They aren't as crappy as PayPal.
I would now see if your local police can light a fire under his local police.
As others have said, contact your local police. Once they verify who you are, and what information you have, they can contact the police where the seller is located, as well as enlist the help of any other agencies that may be able to help.
Quote from: 2112 on January 12, 2021, 05:04:26 PM
If you wired the funds (or deducted from checking/savings) :-\
If it is on a credit card, Now is the time to enlist their help. They aren't as crappy as PayPal.
I would now see if your local police can light a fire under his local police.
+1
Lets hope you did a credit card transaction and did not use a bank account. Whenever I use pay pal I always use a credit card and eat the 4% transaction fee for the credit card protection.
Quote from: 427hunter on January 16, 2021, 11:38:30 PM
Quote from: 2112 on January 12, 2021, 05:04:26 PM
If you wired the funds (or deducted from checking/savings) :-\
If it is on a credit card, Now is the time to enlist their help. They aren't as crappy as PayPal.
I would now see if your local police can light a fire under his local police.
+1
Lets hope you did a credit card transaction and did not use a bank account. Whenever I use pay pal I always use a credit card and eat the 4% transaction fee for the credit card protection.
I thought it was 3%, but I agree, that 4% sounds cheap right now.
Share the potential scammers name and location and see if anyone on here knows him or can help. I say potential because some people are just plain lazy and he still has the car but he is jacked up on meth from his new found wealth which would be your best case at this point.
Quote from: 2112 on January 16, 2021, 11:56:30 PM
Quote from: 427hunter on January 16, 2021, 11:38:30 PM
Quote from: 2112 on January 12, 2021, 05:04:26 PM
If you wired the funds (or deducted from checking/savings) :-\
If it is on a credit card, Now is the time to enlist their help. They aren't as crappy as PayPal.
I would now see if your local police can light a fire under his local police.
+1
Lets hope you did a credit card transaction and did not use a bank account. Whenever I use pay pal I always use a credit card and eat the 4% transaction fee for the credit card protection.
I thought it was 3%, but I agree, that 4% sounds cheap right now.
Either way it's worth the cost!
Give us the address and info of the seller, I bet people on this forum live in whatever area needs to be checked.
PayPal only can get back money that is able to be gotten. I.E. if at the time the theft the offender closed his account or had no money in the account, you get no money
Ebay guarantee. Does not apply with Cars purchased in another country
Credit card company will do nothing as it's a third party transaction
I lost a small but not insignificant amount and the Guarantees and promises are useless
And even in my case of being swindled out of a very significant amount of money, knowing the person, having phone numbers, addresses and contacts for that person, having them admit to your lawyer
They owe the money and using a lawyer. You still get nothing
I sure hope you get sorted but unfortunately you will probably
Have to accept the loss
Was the car advertised in Colorado Springs?
Old school problem solving: Round-up the townspeople with pitchforks and torches and go pay the monster a visit.
If somebody can see the people behind a phone number that would help as I said I have 2 phone numbers. And he dont know that I have the 2nd one.
Is somebody in the houston area (stafford)
Does somebody has whitepages premium? That I can verify the adress and phone numbers
Kent, I've had some luck with MyLife.com
They have more info on a person than about any place I've located, on line.
I called paypal and I hope they help now, they also will check the account as I think he did more fraud to other people.
I paid it all with credit card yes do you guys think I can get the money back over my credit card?
Good move on the credit card. Get them involved now.
Quote from: Kent on January 21, 2021, 05:47:31 AM
I called paypal and I hope they help now, they also will check the account as I think he did more fraud to other people.
I paid it all with credit card yes do you guys think I can get the money back over my credit card?
I've found my credit card company to be pretty good. Anytime I've had a fraudulent charge they have refunded my money with little difficulty.
I think you stand a good chance getting your money back, mainly because your cc company is involved.
QSS
Ok I will have you guys updated and later I will tell you how this guy tricked me. I can tell you guys it was a new dimension of very professional scam.
Ok here an update I recieved the big amount back from paypal but I still miss 1500$ because I did send it first as a deposit with family/friends from my tablet and that get used by my girlfriend always and the paypal is set up for family/friends on that one. I dont know if it makes sense now to take the money back over my cc company. Or I will send the guy some messages that he still owe me 1500$ and I want it back. I have no idea at this point.
Pretty happy I recieved back the big amount. But I will be more careful than before, I had a lot of scam attacks etc. craigslist is really worse also some other but I always had luck. This time not.
What is the best I can do now? He is still active with his phone numbers.
Good news you got money back !!!! And please can you tell us what kind of professionnal Scam it was ?
Quote from: chris NOS on January 30, 2021, 08:20:24 AM
Good news you got money back !!!! And please can you tell us what kind of professionnal Scam it was ?
+1Please post a link to his ad.
That is amazing!
I wonder if it is because certain transactions are now held for a while before the money transfers
I was told to pound sand a while back when I was defrauded. Both PayPal (well I "Won" but was awarded 8 pence) and my credit card said they couldn't help more
Congrats on getting a large amount back
I am Happy to be proven wrong here
Call it a day, $1,500 lessons learned
Good luck on your other ventures
I dont stop now, I have to many infos about the guy.
BTW I bought over 300-350 cars maybe more in the last 20 years so I really know all the bells and whistles of scam, spam, hacks etc. I had a lot of bad days with hacked pc´s, accounts etc. Guys that want to sell me something and so on. The most people want deposits, some the whole amount. And it really becomes more worse, I know one guy he paid over 35.000$ for a car in the US, he had seen it on video call, all papers were there, they arranged a truck and a shipment for overseas and yes there were real shipping documents but the car was never shipped to germany. And the guy who sold it gone.I can fill books with these horror storys but It never happend to me oh wonder ;D I´m really careful and I know a lot of tricks how to stay away from trouble and solve problems (like the one with paypal)
The scam was really good I know the nigeria stuff etc. and believe me they try it every week with new stuff but this one was very good and he definetly is a us citizen what will be his problem in the future when I send him what I can get, police, lawyer etc.
He advertised at craigslist, I called him, 20 minutes later video call he showed me the car, he did send me the title and the bos. I paid deposit and later the rest.
Then he was struggeling arround that he is in holidays, we tried 3 pick up dates in 2 weeks nothing happend, then he advertised a 99% similar car (but it was another one) with another phone number, my friend called and it was him again. When I saw the ad, I only thought that must be this guy. Car was now 300 miles more south in another big town than before. So again he showed him the car in the garage and now oh wonder It was the same car he showed me. That was when I knew big trouble is coming up, he advertised 2 times a pretty much the same car in 2 different locations with different pictures, ok something is wrong. I called him several times but he always told me that he is in holidays bla bla then the last time when the 3rd truck tried to pick up the car and he told me he will be at home he didnt took calls from the trucker or me. After that I open up the paypal case.
I dont know if he ever want to sell this car and if this car is the one he sold me or he advertised later again which was not to 100% the gar in the garage, or maybe if the house is owned by another guy who knows. But I definetly can tell he is a cheater. How he is cheating no idea at the end but I think he use the car in the garage as the bait and so he recieves a ot of payments etc. But I had to laugh when I saw a 3rd ad with a mustang for exact the same amount he owe´s paypal now because they took the money from his account when I started the case.
I definetly will follow it, I grew up with really no money when I was a kid, I´m from east germany so I really know what hard working, real honesty, handshake business and to be a straight sincere man. I know the older generation and also some younger people are like me but its shrinking from day to day which is really sad.
And for the other 1500$ I will hunt him, and if I visit him personally with the cops when I can fly to the states again.
Maybe somebody has a good advice how I get the rest back now. Lawyer. Agency. Police.
If someone wants to earn some money I can give him the adress of the guy, when its correct. ;D (its in Texas)
Why don't you want to post the listing?? It could help someone else avoid the same scam. Am I missing something??
yes , please post the listing , because it can be somebody from France too who can get scammed , i would put it on french forum too.
The listings are all deleted he deleted them after some hours. And it was always late at night when he posted so very early in the morning here in germany.
If they would be online I would post them.
Do you have a contact to the guy in france? Maybe we do something if its the same guy. As I said I´m not finished yet with this guy. He picked the wrong guy.
You need to post all the information, car photo's, vin, address, phone number and name / names used for the scam - all of it. Then at least the information is on line and searchable for the next victim.
I think he is so clever that he change the infos all the time, at the moment I investigate and some other people also so I dont want to post to much. If I can get a contact to the guy in france that would help maybe he got scammed by the same guy.
Kent , i don't know anybody that got scammed, i just wanted to warn on french forum about the crook ... sorry for misunderstanding .Chris.
Here we go he is "working" again
https://houston.craigslist.org/cto/d/houston-1965-mustang/7318377867.html
new phone number, same bullsh.....
He still owe me 1500$ from paypal
If somebody can get his real name and adress that would be awesome
he deleted the 2 other phone numbers already this is the actual one now in the ad.
Maybe someone can find out his paypal adress he is using now so I can send an alert to paypal