I got scammed. What should I do?

Question

I got scammed for $1400. What can I do?

glorybells · Answer

If this was for a vehicle shown on another site, and the person on the other end told you to pay with gift cards, and you gave them the code from the cards, thereâ€™s very little you can do.

You can report it to the police and the site you found the ad on, but you wonâ€™t be able to get your money back. Itâ€™s gone. These scammers are anonymous people in miscellaneous countries.

eburtonlab · Answer

Beware scammers who advertise on other sites and tell you that the transaction will be handled through eBay.

That is not how eBay works. eBay does not rely on users finding ads on Facebook or other sites and sending contact information to a seller. Likely the seller will send a phony "invoice" that appears to be from eBay but is not, asking you to pay with gift cards to have the vehicle shipped to you for a free evaluation period.

eBay has no warehouse and does not ship vehicles. eBay does not handle such transactions or provide "vehicle protection orders". Scammers often promise those things, though. Any phone number you may receive on such an "invoice" does not connect to eBay, but to the scammer.

Anyone that asks you to purchase gift cards or to send card codes to them to complete a transaction is trying to take advantage of you. Anyone asking for a gift card is looking for a gift at your expense. Once anyone else knows the code, your money will be gone and you will have no recourse.

See here for some info about avoiding such scams (US links):

https://pages.motors.ebay.com/buy/security/index.html

https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-fraud-schemes/online-vehicle-sale-fraud

The only way to purchase a vehicle on eBay is to sign in to eBay, find the vehicle on eBay and complete the checkout process on eBay, so that the item appears in your Purchase History. Then you typically meet the seller to inspect the vehicle, pay the seller, and collect the keys, title and vehicle.

If you encountered an ad on another site, contact that site to have the ad removed. eBay is not involved with any ads listed on sites other than eBay itself.

disneyshopper · Answer

@lyec_0

Not enough information.

Did you NOT receive the item you paid for?

Did you receive the item but it is Not as Described or damaged?

We can explain what steps you can take depending on your reply.