I was recently the victim of a paypal scam when transferring a domain name and website. I received payment for the site, and after that I transferred the domain and website over to the new owner. I thought everthing went great, until the next day when paypal tell me that the credit card use was unauthorized, thus taking back all the money that was in my account. So now I am left with no domain name, no website, and no money. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do? I've contacted both godaddy (my domain name registart) and paypal and they both say it's out of their hands. They told me to go to local law officials. Any suggestions would be very helpful. Thanks! Tom
I have also been the victim of Paypal in this regard. I would sell an item on eBay, ship it, and then 4 days later get an email from Paypal saying that the payment was under investigation and they would take back the payment. Unfortunately, Paypal will do nothing to help you. The good news is that if you do get your local law enforcement involved and have all of the documentation from Paypal, they may be able to help you to convince godaddy that the current 'owner' of the website/domain name obtained it illegally.
I would suggest going to ICANN with your issue. They have a consumer forum, and can cause your scammer a lot of problems if you present your case to them nicely. (Let me look for the URL to the page where you can launch a complaint)
http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-06mar07.htm Cases like this is one reason why it might be worth looking into using a kind of escrow service. In the meantime, good luck trying to resolve this issue with all other available means, especially since this isn't always necessarily simple.
Your choices are limited to small claims in the country the alleged offender is in or "forgetting it"... it sucks but that is the way it is. For future transactions where you can't easily get back the assets of the sale gone foul use "wire transfers" to your bank (without giving the purchaser your account number). This way "unauthorized use" is not a factor.
Usually the domain name where you were registered gives you a certain time period to claim your site back because of these things. Talk to them and tell them. They allow you to get it back this way.
Hey Tom, Sorry that this happened to you. I had a similar situation with a domain I sold to an unscrupulous person. Fortunately after the PayPal dispute I was able to keep the money. After that experience I never sold a domain using Paypal again. I started using Escrow.com exclusively and it had been smooth sailing.
Well, do you still have his information? If you do, I highly suggest you use this to your advantage. The sad part is since its all electronic (IE, no tangible items were exchanged) it will be very difficult. If I were you, the next time you do this, tell the buyer to wait. Or better yet, use Google Checkout or another payment gateway. Also, be sure to have the person's number and/or address. While this may be a lost cause, I highly suggest you take this and other preventative measure next time. It does suck to loose what you have worked for in a scam, but trust me. Read more on this and you'll understand. Also, be sure next time not to trust the guy so willingly as scammers usually get what they want through clever social interaction. Sorry for your loss though, and I hope you are able to get your things back. Also, you can post his PayPal Email. While he could just register a new one, if he were PayPal verified or something, this could be a huge loss when your Email is known as a scammer.
From what I hear..when doing a paypal transaction, if you make the buyer do a chargeback at the beginning, and then cancel it..they are unable to do another one, so they cannot get it back once the chargeback has been canceled. I have never tried this myself, it is just what I have heard.
Hire a lawyer and sue. If the domain isn't worth much or the scammer is in some 3rd world country... then i don't know