09 Mar 2015

A question about : Any leg to stand on?

Hi all,
I have a quandary regarding credit cards and fraud... namely I have an item, an unused wedding dress, which I placed for sale on a relevant website.
My wife received an email from a disabled Scottish lady, who wanted to purchase, but needed us to blah blah blah, we were scammed to the tune of Ј300 approximately.
Now.
To add a layer of protection (I didn't want to complete the transaction) I insisted my wife pay on credit card rather than cash. Which we did, basically a cash payment through western union to whoever it actually was. This was completed online.
The fraud has been reported, everything (including Paypal, who the thieves had mimicked) has been changed and the credit card company informed.
They investigated the matter, as we reported it as fraud. They have ruled that they are not liable to replace the money, as it was a cash transaction.
Does that sound right?
Should we go to the ombudsman?
Currently the wife has written this money off, but I'm not happy to do so.
Any input will be gratefully received.

Best answers:

  • well it can't harm can it?
    Sadly your case had all the traditional marks of an ebay scam. Scotland, disabled, western union. Bad luck mate, just spread the words to others.
  • You start off with an item to sell and now say you were paying for it?
    S75 protection is only between the account holder and the person they pay. The issue with the likes of PayPal and co is that they are middlemen. You technically pay them to give the money to the other party and as such your protection is only about if they perform their duty or not and not if the end seller performs theirs.
    That said, a chargeback would potentially still be an option but some banks can be a pain in getting them to agree to do one (not to name and shame Barclays again).
  • You were selling the item, but you paid money to this 'disabled scottish lady'. Why?
    If I am reading it right, you paid western union with your CC, and then gave this person the code? If so then i cant see how the CC company are liable but you can always try, but i wouldnt hold out much hope of getting it back.
  • Not a chance.
  • I thought i misread this also. Your selling an item and you paid by credit card?
    What did you pay for?
    Using a card for a 3rd party money transfer service like paypal and especially western union is usually not covered.
    Whenever someone mentions a disability or illness or religion i click into its a conman/women or some form of scam.
  • I often wondered why they bother with these scams as as soon as someone mentions giving them money when you are selling it screams scam as i cant ever see a legitimate reason for doing so, but it seems they do have success
    I dragged one of these out before and sent them fake westurn union stuff (a post it with stuff scribbled on) and they were threatening me with all sorts
  • The confusion here is the OP says they "blah blah blah"'d.
    We need to know the details of what exactly "blah blah blah" entails.
  • Common scam unfortunately and I doubt you'll be able to get your money back.
    If anyone you don't know and implicitly trust (ie they're not a family member or 'offline' friend) asks for money by Western Union/MoneyGram/Ria then 99% of the time it's a scam.
  • I steered clear of explaining the full in and outs of the scam itself mainly to save myself time.
    Essentially the thief used a very, very good system of Paypal lookalike automatic emails.
    The idea was the "woman" paid us, via fake paypal, to pass on money to a "courier". The full funds would be released on standard paypal buyer/seller. We paid the "courier".
    And again, I was very reluctant to do this, however was talked round by my wife, but the proviso was we would pay by card, to western union, in order to protect us from fraud, ie, we believed we were paying for a service, online, which has turned out to be fraud.
    For those offering genuine advice, thanks, for those who want to look down their nose at us, we all make mistakes, please keep your answers on the helpful side. Telling me how we shouldn't have fallen for this scam is pretty pointless now.
  • I still dont get it and find these things easier if you use actual numbers.... you sell a dress for Ј500 and P&P is Ј20
    TP claims to have paid you the Ј520 using some form of scam.
    You pay the Ј20 for P&P by your credit card for "extra protection" but the payment is via a TP.
    Now I understand the Ј520 never really came to you but the only thing that was "lost" that you paid by CC was the Ј20 that you paid to the courier.
    Even if you had paid directly as the courier charge was under Ј100 you'd have no S75 claim anyway. As the TP is in the UK I cannot see how a courier would be more than that and certainly not over the Ј100 required.
    Did the dress ever go? Presumably it did? Does the courier report it as having been delivered? Presumably again it does. In which case you also dont have a case against them as they've done what you asked them to do. The fact the TP was a fraudster isnt the couriers fault nor liability.
    TP = buyer in case it isnt clear
  • Absolutely right, we've had hundreds of emails on the same theme... Disabled in Dublin, Scotland etc...
    The reason it was around Ј300 was"SHE " wanted special courier to carry the goods, dress is worth a few thousand pounds new, and we are didn't want to be liable for any loss etc...
    Dress is still available if there are any takers
Категория: