Law-Forums.org

[lalla3]

I'm from Finland and am selling my violin on a Finnish online internet auction. A few days ago a British man contacted me saying that he would be interested in buying my "item" and he would pay me 2,500 euros for it (I'm asking for 2,200) because he needs the violin asap.
He asked for my PayPal email where he could send the money to. In the he said in one of his emails that he sent 3,300 euros on my PayPal account because of an 800€ transaction fee.

Now the situation is this. I don't have the money in my account because i cannot raise my PayPal receiving limit from 2,500 to 3,300. This is because i haven't verified the account with a credit card because i unfortunately don't have one. This means that i have not received the money or accepted the payment from him. However he is telling me that he cannot cancel the payment and now i have to pay the 800€ transaction money out of my own pockets in order for me to get the 3,300 euros on my account.
Now i have been starting to get a bunch of emails about Paypal taking legal actions against me if i don't pay the 800 euros. All of the emails come from [email protected] <[email protected] >

Here's a part of the latest email i got from them

"It has come to our understanding that you have no intention of transferring the
Funds for verification of the transaction between you and James xxx xxxxx.

PayPal heartily advise you to complete the transaction within the next
24hours, as failure to do so will result to the limiting of your account
access and Legal Action(s) against you personally, as we have already
retrieved all your personal details from our database and we are ready to
take appropriate Legal Action(s) against you. We have informed the FBI and
Interpol for the violating PayPal's instructions and users agreement in act
of the 1999 Law in collaboration with the World Law Enforcement Agency.

You are expected to respond to this dispute before the next 48hours with
the required Western Union Details for proper verification"

[michelangelo]

So you are engaged in an email exchange with a scammer.

Why? Stop all emails NOW.

You know it's a scam. Just delete all the emails and get on with your life.

The scammer can throw around all the legal phrases they like. These are all hot air. The real Paypal, the real FBI, the real Interpol aren't going to be contacted. The "World Law Enforcement Agency" doesn't exist, so they can't contact them either.

Clearly you must know this is a scam.

He’s not likely British, but Nigerian.

He’s pulling the standard, I’m sending you more-than-you-asked-could-you-send-the-e… scam. He’s aiming high with his 800 Euros claim.

He sent you elaborate scam emails claiming to be from Paypal, but aren’t. While Paypal has a hold policy on sales, it always shows the money as pending in your account. If you can’t see it, it’s not there. This is true even if you have a ‘receiving limit.’

Paypal doesn’t charge transaction fees that can’t be refunded. Period. Any money that is unclaimed by the receiver is AUTOMATICALLY refunded at 60 days. This includes ALL FEES. Real buyers would not be out a dime.

[rushford79]

Very simple, call Paypal and explain the situation to them. They will help because if it is a scam they want to catch him.

[cumhea]

That is NOT from Paypal - that is a Nigerian scam email. Forward it ASAP to [email protected]

If you do not transfer the funds, the buyer files a dispute with Paypal and gets their money back. It has nothing to do with you

Paypal has a refunds policy so there could be NO legal action taken. If someone sends you money and you don't send the item, they file a chargeback with Paypal and get their money back. The FBI is involved in preventing terrorism attacks against the US - they do not get involved in Paypal disputes for any reason, especially one between someone in Finland and the UK. Interpol deals with wanted criminals who have escaped their home country - they do not get involved with Paypal. There is NO such thing as the "World Law Enforcement Agency"

Paypal IS a payment system so there is NO way you would ever be asked to use Western Union

Again forward to [email protected] and DO NOT reply to the buyer for any reason - they are trying to steal your money