 Theft
Someone who I thought was a friend scammed me and I'm not sure what my options are. This was a work colleague, a few of us clubbed together to pay for tickets to go on holiday for a week abroad, the colleague asked me to pay using Paypal's F&F feature which is the friends and family option. At the time they were a friend so that's why it was used.
I gave them £600 and they refuse to refund me as the holiday is no longer happening, the other day I approached them to discuss it and they said they didn't need to return it, when i said this was theft and I would report to the Police he said go on then, there's nothing they can do.
I've investigated extensively starting with Paypal, they say the person I sent the money too were not obligated to send me anything as the F&F feature is 'GIFT' only, giving someone money just for sending money, I contacted action fraud who said my local police station wouldn't take note of this crime and would just refer me to them but I've seen from online posts action fraud do not get involved unless there's a huge amount of complaints on an individual. Problem is all the correspondence was on Facebook but my colleague got me to send the funds to his mates Paypal account so there's a second issue there.
Legally what are my options, The funds came direct from my Paypal not a credit card so chargeback isn't an option, I have the Facebook messages but the colleague blocked me and deleted his FB account. In a court of law with me bypassing Paypal rules and sending the payment this way can this look bad say in a small claims court?
The colleague has even turned around to me this morning to say he will report me to the Police for harassment as I keep approaching them at work....
Need help....
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