Scammed on Facebook, anything I can do?
August 5, 2023 1:54 PM Subscribe
Yes, I should have been smarter, but I wasn’t. Anyway, I was trying to buy tickets to a minor league baseball game. My friend was in town, really wanted to go, but all the games have been sold out for months.
Tried to buy the tickets from a Facebook group that purported to be a reseller. I did not do my due diligence about the group and that’s on me, there were several small signs that should have been noticed.
Per the instructions in the group, I contacted the admin via FB Messenger. Let’s call them Hank, who recommended a moderator, (let’s call them Kelly) who was a “verified seller”.
I talked to Kelly via FB Messenger and was asked to send money via Paypal, at a slightly higher price than the base tickets. I knew I was dealing with a third party, so agreed. My friend, a baseball fan, really wanted to go and I wanted to make them happy.
I sent the money via PayPal (via Friends and Family, which wasn’t bright). Then slightly more was requested to cover fees. Yes, this sounded fishy, but it was reseller, so I was ok with them getting a bit of extra funds if it would make my friend happy.
I tried to send the "fees", but the 2nd payment was denied by PayPal. The seller asked that I send the fee money via Venmo, which I did, and it went through.
Once all of that was done, all communication with the sellers stopped. I reached out to "Hank" but got no reply.
This is my fault for not doing due diligence and that’s a lesson learned for sure. But is there any recourse or other action I could take to either recover the money or report the account/group? I’ve been removed from the group, so I can’t see it, but the (probably fake) Hank Facebook account is still visible to me, while the “Kelly” account is not.
I reported the “Hank” account to Facebook, but they got back to me within 20 minutes, saying there was nothing untoward going on with the account. I can not recover the money from PayPal because I used the “Friend and Family” option, which does not offer protection. Venmo sends immediately, so there’s no recovery possible.
Can you think of any options I could do to try and recover these funds?
And is there anything I need to worry about in terms of the scammers pulling more money out of my Paypal or Venmo account?
Tried to buy the tickets from a Facebook group that purported to be a reseller. I did not do my due diligence about the group and that’s on me, there were several small signs that should have been noticed.
Per the instructions in the group, I contacted the admin via FB Messenger. Let’s call them Hank, who recommended a moderator, (let’s call them Kelly) who was a “verified seller”.
I talked to Kelly via FB Messenger and was asked to send money via Paypal, at a slightly higher price than the base tickets. I knew I was dealing with a third party, so agreed. My friend, a baseball fan, really wanted to go and I wanted to make them happy.
I sent the money via PayPal (via Friends and Family, which wasn’t bright). Then slightly more was requested to cover fees. Yes, this sounded fishy, but it was reseller, so I was ok with them getting a bit of extra funds if it would make my friend happy.
I tried to send the "fees", but the 2nd payment was denied by PayPal. The seller asked that I send the fee money via Venmo, which I did, and it went through.
Once all of that was done, all communication with the sellers stopped. I reached out to "Hank" but got no reply.
This is my fault for not doing due diligence and that’s a lesson learned for sure. But is there any recourse or other action I could take to either recover the money or report the account/group? I’ve been removed from the group, so I can’t see it, but the (probably fake) Hank Facebook account is still visible to me, while the “Kelly” account is not.
I reported the “Hank” account to Facebook, but they got back to me within 20 minutes, saying there was nothing untoward going on with the account. I can not recover the money from PayPal because I used the “Friend and Family” option, which does not offer protection. Venmo sends immediately, so there’s no recovery possible.
Can you think of any options I could do to try and recover these funds?
And is there anything I need to worry about in terms of the scammers pulling more money out of my Paypal or Venmo account?
Venmo won't promise to reverse a transaction as a matter of policy but in my experience they sometimes do if you contact customer service and explain the situation.
posted by Wretch729 at 2:51 PM on August 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Wretch729 at 2:51 PM on August 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
Unless there’s something you haven’t mentioned, you don’t need to worry about Venmo, or PayPal. If simply making a payment was enough to open you to thieves there would be no end to them.
You can try with the credit card company but I wouldn’t hold out much hope.
“Experience is the absolute worst teacher. It explains the lesson immediately after you need it."
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 2:52 PM on August 5, 2023
You can try with the credit card company but I wouldn’t hold out much hope.
“Experience is the absolute worst teacher. It explains the lesson immediately after you need it."
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 2:52 PM on August 5, 2023
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posted by drezdn at 2:08 PM on August 5, 2023