Hello there!

[ga281170]

I have recently gotten people texting me to put gift cards (vanilla cards) in their packages, and for me to put money, yes they send me the money to put in the cards of course, but the thing is I can’t put money in the cards because it doesn’t let me accept the money thru PayPal. And eBay is telling me to confirm that I purchased the card is real by sending the front and back of card and the receipt, so I did of course and they have not gave me the money yet nor answered my text.I am furious

[rock.star]

It is all a Scam, ebay has nothing to do with it. 

They will never pay you anything. 

[mtgraves7984]

You have been scammed if you included vanilla cards to your 'buyers'. Breathe... and explain what has happened, please...

Edit to add: I don't see listings on this account... maybe this happened on another?

[dryophelia]

@ga281170 

Did you send this person the numbers on the card or did you add the card to your own eBay account? 

Best case scenario, you have inadvertently added this card details to your eBay account. 

Do not buy gift cards. You are being scammed. Your selling account has no access to your PayPal account. 

It is not possible for a buyer to send a seller more money. They actually want your PayPal address because that is your email address. Once they have your email address, they can send all kinds of spam to you. They also need it to send you a message  THAT LOOKS LIKE IT CAME FROM PayPal. That message will have a at and PayPal logos making it look legitimate. 

Never give your email address or phone number to your trading partner. 

Stop communicating with this thief. On the 5th day after the sale, you will be given the option to cancel because the item is unpaid. Cancel, add the nonpayer to your blocked bidder list. 

[kh-gary]

Hi everyone,

If you believe that you or someone you know was scammed into buying eBay Gift Cards, visit our gift card page to contact customer service and find additional information related to gift card scams.

Thank you.

[soh.maryl]

You have been scammed.  No way to get your money back.  

eBay is NOT telling you to confirm that you purchased the cards -- the scammer is.

They send you the money to put in the cards of course? What makes you believe that? 

I hope this did not involve too much money.  

[ckimodog]

So sorry this was your experience.  You can report fraud via this link:

https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/

[bonjourami]

You should be furious at yourself that you didnt recognize this as a scam.

[soh.maryl]

You are furious? The target of your fury really should be yourself.  

[simba6]

That is a classic scam that is making the rounds again.  As a new seller, you will be the target of many scammers.  If you gave them the numbers off the cards, your money is gone and can't be recovered. Still I suggest you call the number on the back of that card and report the theft to them.  I'm sure they already spent the card however.

That used to be called the Russian wedding scam or the over payment scam.  Like the aluminum Christmas tree, it's making a slow com back.

[dirk12955]

Tagging on:      I've posted this 1,000 times over the years.

Rule #1    Anything out of the ordinary,    Walk away.

[fab_finds4u]

These are facts.  There are no exceptions..

When a buyer pays for your  item they won they must pay for it on eBay. They do not need to know your name or email address to make a payment.  They want your email address to send you a fake payment notice. 

When a true buyer wins and pays they cannot add one dime to the eBay invoice. They can only pay exactly what their invoice is. They cannot add $300 for a gift card and $75 for your time and gas.  Thus, if you think you were paid you were not. This is an attempt to steal your item and a gift card.

I hope you did not purchase a gift card and send it with the item to the address provided by eBay because you have not been paid.  That's why it's not in your PayPal account.  No money will ever show up in your PayPal account. There will be no transaction found there.  The scammer will send you something that appears to be from PayPal  saying you've been paid but you won't  get the funds until you ship.   This is said so you'll hurry and ship the item and the gift card before you discover eBay doesn't work that way and you were scammed. 

Something else to ponder is if a buyer is sincere and honestly wants you to include a gift card and he PayPals you money for the card and the money is there you could keep the money and not send the card and he'd be SOL. Payments sent directly to your email are ineligible for protection. No sane person would send you money using a method where there's no payment protection.  And that is why it's a scammer you're dealing with. 

Forward their emails to spoof@ebay.com

[fab_finds4u]

I forgot to mention if they can send fake PayPal receipts they can send you fake eBay notices.  ANYONE asking for you to text them is a scammer. 

[titipeo]

Any time you give someone else the #'s, receipt copy, picture of card, it is the same as handing them the money to their hand. You have lost that money and will never see it again. This is an old scam that has been going around before eBay.

Just stop for a moment and think, why can't this person go out, get its own vanilla card and send it to the person in question, instead of having me do it? Ahh, because the item they bought was a gift for them and they want all to go together, they are even giving me an extra $10-$20 for my time & effort, how kind of them. They need copy of card to verify the transaction and that I followed through with their instructions.

Stop, step back and think it over. You will see. 

[nkmipgolf]

They don't care about your items just the numbers on the cards you sent them. The PayPal emails are fake that these 'text me' scammers sent you.  Never touch gift cards, never.