I got scammed..looking for advice/tips
 

i sold my site to bs1209 on sitepoint for $6,000
he sent me the money thru paypal
i withdrew the money to my bank account
and transferred the domain to him
and gave him all the files
the next month.....i go into my paypal account
my balance says -$6,000
and my account was restricted
i called them
they told me that he reversed the payment and that i should ask him to pay them so they could clear my balance
they never checked to see what happened on my end
so at this point...he has his money and my site
and i have a debt

is there anything i can do?

that really sucks, try contacting the owners at sitepoint, usally people that are on sitepoint are good people to deal with, shitty you got the person thats low on the food chain

use escrow.com next time?

File a dispute with paypal, they review the case after some time, and eventually can try and pull the money back. If they are on your side that is. Sad thing is, if he doesn't have the money in his bank, they only pull as much as is in his account.

There are chargeback on paypal?Didnt know for that.

When I contacted Paypal and filed a dispute they pretty much told me that there's not much they can do for online goods. :(

I figure at the very least, I can try to get the domain back.
Alot of the advice i'm getting is to try to contact a lawyer.
Would there be anything that a lawyer would be able to do for me in this situation?

And yes, I know now that I should have used an escrow service.

Yep... It sucks :(

That's exactly what happened to me ... you know what I did? I told PayPal to fuck off and cancelled the direct debit on my bank.

They emailed a few times ... and if they try to do anything I'll go crazy at them. I got fucked. No one else. Me.

Fuck PayPal and their fucked up policy that allows fuckers to pull that shit.

Yes I do agree, Fuck PayPal, Epassporte is the way to go ;]

Sorry to hear about that

Take cash only next time :/ ...

Isnt Domainnames counted as virtual items? Then hes not able to do a chargeback.

Don't want to rub it in, but what were you thinking? Why would you even take 6k paypal in the first place? Anything over 1k should be wire only...

There is still hope, you can try proving to them that your transfered the domain over to him... might even be worthwhile to get a lawyer to handle this?... but also look on the bright side, you didn't really lose anything yet, it could have been much worse, you just have -6k balance in paypal...

Western Union > Paypal sometimes

delete the bank account off your paypal record , remove your personal information and close your paypal account.

Damn, Im sorry to hear this happen to
you.

Been through this twice myself :(

First time I didnt get nothing back.
2'nd time the scammer paid me back
almost 8 months later.

I hope this work out in your favor
but I doubt the scammer will ever load
that account again.

I would try to get sitepoint and the guys
register involved.

You may at least get your domain name
back.

ouch, that really sucks man.

best of luck in getting your money/site back. this is why i say "fuck paypal"

They'll fuck up your credit rating. Don't do that.

Get all your documentation together on the transfer of the domain and file a dspute with both PayPal and the registrar of the domain.

Start randomly sniping people at their home office.

Paypal does not guarantee virtual goods (including domain names). Unfortunately this was a mistake on your part to sell via paypal. I dont see this being resolved in your favor. Next time make sure you use an escrow service that secures buyers payment! Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

Justin

I laugh in the face of it ...

my credit rating is 0 anyway! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

I do everything by REAL money. I NEVER take credit and NEVER WILL.... HAHAHAHAHA!!! YESSSS! I win :)

You bought your house with cash?

why didn't you use wire transfer for 6k?

Honestly, inexperience. I'd never sold a website or conducted business for that amount of money. Not to mention that I never thought that Paypal would not even consider "my side" of the dispute because it was virtual goods.

Does anyone know if there's a specific type of attorney I should be looking for in this, or would any type of attorney do?

Did you try to meet with an attorney from Paypal personally in order to discuss your metter without phone&emails ? In such cases personal contact could be better than any lawyer. 6K worths trying.

one more. Try to contact some of their bosses.Don't try to get help from a receptionist

my credit rating is HORRIBLE too....I do almost everything in cash too

Yeah this is why I'm not using paypal anymore. I told them to fuckoff when they allowed someone to chargeback on me... I had all my money out of there.

They could at least call before they make a $6000 chargeback

I contacted GoDaddy and they told me to try to contact the people at WIPO for arbitration. All the laywers i've contacted so far are telling me that they don't do cases that are worth as much as mine. Does anybody know a different route I can take in this, or know someone in the Los Angeles area that may be willing to help?

Sorry I have no advice for you...but here is a good luck bump! Hope it all works out 4 u:)

well you got the money, so just cancel your paypal account.

Much appreciated.
I understand I screwed the pooch on this one, but I can't even see straight i'm so pissed off at this situation.

Paypal is so ONE SIDED and BIASED towards the buyer it's sick.... Fuck Paypal!

So you have your money in your bank. But hae a negative paypal ballance?
So sign up for a new paypal if you still need paypal?

Cause if thats the case then yes he got away with a scam, but at least your not out anythihg.

They're sending collections people for the money. That's one hell of a mark on my credit report that I don't really want to have.

I got his information from the whois database, wondering if he's ever scammed anyone on here other than me maybe.

Herron, Mike [email protected]
6101 Hopewell Ch. Rd
Lancaster, Ohio 43130
United States
1849003211

damn that really sux,hope u find him!

I never understand this stuff.

services like paypal and epass and others are made for small amounts. These companies are not banks, there is no security for your money in reality, and the rules are very arbitrary. This can be doubly bad if you are buying and selling with people overseas or far away, that would make legal action difficult or impossible.

$6000 on paypal? Seriously, you signed up to get scammed doing that.

Escrow services are the way to go. Yes, they take some of the action, but at $6000, the buyer can pay the escrow too.

I am sorry you lost your site and your money, but geez...

Totally understand now. My opinion on Paypal was that they ran business just like any other type of big company with chargebacks which was dispute resolution. What I didn't know was about the virtual goods. If I had sold him the server that held the website, he couldn't have charged back the money, but apparently they can with the domain.

contact the buyer man ... what the hell ?!?

Won't answer e-mails, number's now disconnected.

It is six grand. Your in CA by your location so you are allowed to file one case in small claims for up to five grand, or if you have filed already this year it is limited to twenty five hundred.

File your case against the buyer. (doubt he will show and defend)
Win your case (5k).
Then proceed to locate him and his bank accounts. Place lien on bank account and suck the money out. You can get reimbursed for the lien costs.

This way you will only be out one thousand instead of six thousand.

If by some chance you can come up with financial reasons to bump your six grand loss high enough to meet the superior court minimums do so. Then just do the same again. A paralegal can get all the paperwork done for you and you can represent yourself in court, unless he does fight it (again in CA).

Awesome. Thanks for the advice.

fucked up don't see too much open options..

BTW, you could get law enforcement envolved as well. It was fraud, over 500.00 and over state lines.

I asked a lawyer about that and the guy told me that they'd start running away the second they heard internet crime.

Good point. Getting a default judgment on his ass can fuck his credit up and cause his ass some pain down the road. While it's not the same as getting the $6K back, the satisfaction that you contributed to that scumbag's eventual downfall does give some measure of relief and satisfaction.