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Paypal buyer calls my local police FBI involved
 

About 4 months ago I sold a Twilight Zone DVD box-set on eBay. The buyer used BUY IT NOW and paid immediately. I later received an e-mail from the guy asking me to ship to a specific address that is in a different state other than the one associated with his Paypal account. I was a newbie then so I figured if that will make him happy fine. I did not anticipate any problems. I shipped the box set PRIORITY mail and of course got a delivery confirmation so we could track the progress of the package. A few days later the item shows up as delivered on the USPS website. So I figure everything is great. About a week or two later I begin receiving e-mails from the buyer. The buyer claims to have not gotten the DVD set. (keep in mind he provided me with a different address other than his PP) I got suspicious and told him I would ship a replacement. I of course never shipped out another one because I have the delivery confirmation. By this time I was frustrated with Paypal for some other reasons and decided not to deal with them anymore so I closed this account completely. Today I get a call from a local police detective about internet fraud. I was basically told by said detective that I would need to pay this guy his $165.00 via money order to "resolute" this situation. Apparently he filed a claim against me after I had already closed my account and of course Paypal would not give him his money back. Thing is I KNOW he is scamming me because I have proof his item was delivered but now I am worried because the detective told me the FBI is involved too. So I am going to be getting a money order after work today and mailing it to him signature required. I will not be selling anything online for a VERY long time! :(

uh, why are u doing this. why didnt u just print out the emails where he told you where to send it and show them the delivery confirmation??? You did nothing wrong. I would not pay it!

yea, they usually wont get involved over $165. It was prolly the guy trying to get the money out of you. You would be surprized what people will do for a lil change. SMH.

Well it is a local police detective. I looked it up and called him back/spoke with him 3 times. It is all completely legit. So I'm not sure why this happened either. He also left a notice at my front door which scared me because this all is a little too extreme for $165.00. The phone number and fax number of the police detective check out but still this all so extreme. Who the hell has the time these days to do this?

i wouldnt pay it. YOU HAVE PROOF! unless you did something wrong that you aren't telling us or the DVD box set was a ⊗⊗⊗⊗.

Yes I am 100% sure! He told me that the report was filed with local police, Internet Fraud and FBI. The buyer is in Wisconsin I am in Illinois and the phone number for the detective is from my local police department! This isn't a joke or anything so that is I am so freaked! I mean I mailed the item to where he requested. I haven't had that Paypal account for 3 months so I do not understand why Paypal didn't just refund him under Buyer protection!

if you sent the package to where he said to send it, and you copied and faxed him the proof that it was delivered to the address he wanted. It is out of your hands. If it was delivered and maybe stolen, he can take it up with paypal and they will refund him. But since you're no long registered, I dont know if they can track it. (maybe they can maybe not, not real sure)

I do not have proof because I do not have the e-mail where the buyer requested Florida delivery. Only the delivery confirmation to Florida. The item itself is not in dispute, the buyer claims he did not receive anything!

Thats what I don't understand about Paypal. I nolonger have the account so I closed it out without anything left unresolved and he waited a long time before filing a Paypal dispute/claim so why wouldn't Paypal just refund him? How was all of this police detective FBI stuff even possible?

Paypal may just dismiss the dispute. In my experience usually when people wait like 3 months to file a dispute on an item they dismiss it. I agree with the dismissal, why wouldnt you dispute it as soon as you noticed something wrong, why wait months later?

LoL, the FBI involved for an item purchased off the internet not being received. That makes me laugh.

I remember shortly before I closed my account I had a buyer who filed a non-receipt claim two days after ordering the item and because of a glitch the buyer got his money back that day. Before that week was out the item was delivered to the PP address and the buyer had the item and the money. So I just let it go because PP told me that once the buyer is refunded they cannot just take the money from the buyer's account. So I ended up eating that one and closed the account shortly after. The point there is PP advised me to contact the police and FBI about internet fraud as well. So I wouldn't be surprised if PP told this guy the same thing and gave him all the information he needed to nail me to the wall. This all just so nuts! It just doesn't pay to be a seller today.

I mean if you have to get the police/internet fraud/FBI involved because of non-receipt it is almost laughable but this is what happened and I don't know what else I can do besides send him the money order. I even have the police detective's fax number to send the mail order receipt. This is so crazy!

Exactly. It would cost me more in time and maybe contacting a lawyer than to just send the money order and eat the transaction. So thats why I am caving. I am just freaked out at the extremeness of this!

The only question is why would the FBI be involved over 165.00 do you think the detective was just telling me all of this as a scare tactic to get me to pay immediately?

WHAT?? I can almost bet you that call you got was from the buyer and not the FBI. the FBI will not get involved on anything that small ,especially $165. you've been dupped. and if you have delivery confirmation why would you even send the money order?? Seems like your not telling the whole story there.

And yes even if that was the detective he was just trying to scare you. Dont mail and tell him to press charges if he wants. you have all the evidence you need. Trust me. I had my run ins with detectives and they like to scare you. tell them NO

Phone number from your local police department? You sure he didnt spoof the number and trick you. i wouldnt give the buyer anything.

i got an email from the local police department once about an item that wasnt delivered. the buyer made a complaint on whatever the fbis website is for fraud. the email came about 6-8 months after the complaint was filed. a $40 item i think. by this time the buyer had been suspended on ebay and i just told them that and gave the delivery confirmation number that showed it as being delivered.

i dont know much about laws but i would imagine you would have to go to court over this and they would have to find in favor of the buyer. the cops arent just going to call you and be like "you have to pay" cause that isnt what they do. they would turn the case over to the legal system.

assuming youre telling the truth the thing on your door would indeed freak me out a little. even if its some big ruse i wouldnt want anyone like that near me haha.

Well I got the money order and plan to mail it tomorrow signature required delivery. Also, I will be faxing a copy of the money order receipt to the police detective. I truly hope that none of you skeptics have to go through anything like this. It is a terrible feeling and it proves that the internet is just not a safe place for sellers anymore.

Raul4510, did you put your real info in your paypal and/or ebay account? Or did the police track you down despite it? Basically explain to the detective the buyer frauded you and prove it.

yes it is my real info. I don't know how to prove it.

Couple of points : Keep every email you exchange when a request is out of the usual, in this case, shipping to a different address. Make sure you are prepared for any fight you may have to keep hold of your own money. No use to say months later, 'I do not have that email'.
As for FBI being involved, I strongly suspect that your local detective is not telling you the truth, pay the money BUT to cover yourself, get the FBI file number for this matter as well. Always keep your back covered.I have
the impression that you are in fact being bullied.