PayPal scammer roaming free

This could be a long read but I'm doing this so good people here can get the a picture of what happened and to prevent same thing happening to them.

I've been scammed after I advertised an ad in a few groups on Facebook and Gumtree, where I requested interest in a pair of Celestion Greenbacks speakers to purchase.

Guy named " Matthew Schultz " contacted me through my Gumtree ad with some pics of the pair of Greenbacks speakers saying that he's keen to let it go for $200 (postage included coz he works for Star Track in West Mackay).

He sent me his mobile number and I called him to arrange packaging and the way of payment.

The only way I could pay for the speakers was using PayPal and I told him about that.

Interestingly he didn't want to deal with PayPal at first but I offered to send money to him using family-friendly option (using my savings account) with no fee for him that way.

I dealt with so many guys from all over AU and used this way of payment (either way) without any problems ever and I felt safe.

He reluctantly accepted that option even after I told him there's no fee for him.

I requested from him to send me a photo of his driving licence but he was saying that he doesn't have it and that he'll send me a photo of his Medicare card instead (and he did while we were talking).
Also he provided me with email for his PayPal account.
PayPal confirmed that my payment is going to Matthew Schultz.

This conversation and money transfer happened on Saturday 1st of February.

He told me that he works tomorrow (Sunday) and by 5pm I'll receive the photos of the packaged speakers plus the tracking number.

No photos or messages arrived by 5pm next day, after which I tried to contact him multiple times by calling, SMS and through my Gumtree ad but without any response.

I got scared thinking that I'm being scammed and that same night before midnight (Sunday 02/02/2020) I got in touch with my bank (Commonwealth). Guy there told me that money is already been taken from my account by PayPal and there's nothing that he can do for me than just block PayPal accessing my Savings account but that would for sure put me in "negative balance" with PayPal. So I left it at that without blocking PayPal, thinking that I still want to be able to use it.
This info given to me by the bank customer support seems to be incorrect as I'm going to try to explain further down the line. As I see it now this money wasn't taken out from my Savings account at all at that time.


After that I contacted one of the knowledgeable guys on the Facebook through guitar groups, who straight away confirmed my fear of being scammed.
He sent me a link to Cyber crime to report it.
I've filled out and lodged my report with acorn immediately that Sunday night before midnight.

At 1.12AM Monday I get a message through the Gumtree from "Matt" saying:
"Hey I have no credit sorry I just woke up. Posting tomorrow as didn't go work today as got the flu. I'm heading there tomorrow to do some drops"

I replied immediately asking couple of questions related to photos and posting time tomorrow but no reply again (even though I could see on Gumtree when my message was read by him).

Next day, the same process repeated (with no photos, no SMS or answering his mobile) then late Monday night he sends me another Gumtree message with this tracking number: R73927402744.
But no reference about what courier was used to send it with.

I tracked that number with AU Post, Star Track and other couriers but as you can guess that number was not existent in their systems.

Last message from him was that one with tracking number on 03/02/2020 at 9.30PM.
I haven't got any message from him not that I'm able to get through (disconnected number).

On Monday morning I called PayPal and I told them about the scam and the report that I already lodged with the police. The first guy I spoke to with PayPal (don't know his name) advised me to dispute this payment with my bank and to block PayPal from taking my money, coz PayPal only "fronted" the money for me and that money was not taken out from my Savings account yet. I told him that my bank recommended the same when I spoke to them but also they warned me about being in "negative balance" with PayPal because of that. PayPal guy assured me that I won't be in negative balance and that I do that straight away. In meanwhile he will make sure that our conversation is stored on their system for the record.

Right away I called my bank and this time the lady I spoke to looked at my balance and said to me that there's no money being taken from my Savings at all (which contradicts what the first guy from Comm bank told me on Sunday night).
I told her to block my account from PayPal and that I will unblock it in a few days.
I've done exactly what first PayPal guy advised me and now I decided to call PayPal again and inform them about what I've done.

This time I got to talk to Esther who couldn't find anything about my previous conversation and no info about it on their system.
I had to explain everything from the beginning and I told her about blocking PayPal.
She spoke to her superior and told me that someone will listen to the recording of the conversation I had with the first guy and that someone will CALL me by 9.00AM next day (Tuesday) to inform me about decision on his incorrect advice and their final action.

Instead of phone call I received message tomorrow ( Tuesday 04/02/2020) saying:

Good day!

I am writing this email as a follow up to the conversation that we had yesterday. I checked again regarding our request to have your previous phone conversation to be listened to and the officers told me that it was scheduled today. I am afraid that calling you by your preferred time will not yet be possible. Any update regarding our request will be sent to you via email. I will still try to request them to call you once they are done with it. If that will not be possible still, kindly monitor your email address.

Thanks for your patience. Have a great day ahead!

Sincerely,
Esther Mae
PayPal Customer Solutions
PayPal


From then onwards I haven't received any call or email with explanation about this apart from this email:

"A recent transaction with your bank account xx-xxxx didn't go through.

As a result, this bank account has been removed from your PayPal account.

To re-add this bank account to your PayPal account, please confirm with your bank that all information is correct. Alternatively, you can add another bank account.

If you need further assistance, please click Contact at the bottom of any PayPal page.

Sincerely,
PayPal"

Meanwhile I was checking my balance with bank and I could see that money hasn't been withdrawn out of my Savings which made me think that my conversation made sense at the end.
All good and happy until couple of days later I could see that PayPal have withdrawn money from my Credit card which was also registered with them.

I called them again and spoke to guy called Jigs, who kept on repeating the same thing, that I don't have any case here and "couldn't" even put me to talk to his Superior (who was busy) but convinced me that he will send me the email with the link where to send my written complaint after the end of our conversation.

But surprise surprise, he didn't send me no email at all.

I admit that it was MY fault being naive and honest (thinking that all the people are like that) by using Friends and family option instead of purchase option.

My problem with PayPal is that after being with them for 15-20 years without any problems, that I expected a much more when it comes to issue like this but I got a lot of arrogance and lies instead.
They're the only people that could help solve this case coz they know the scammer's details which they won't provide.
Thinking that same scammer is still in their books doing freely the same thing to many other people out there makes me very upset.
Who knows how many other people got scammed by him in the same week?

My post was spread on Facebook among the guitar groups I'm member with and I can tell you that the same scammer is very active out there.

Today he tried to scam another guy for the Orange amp and cab but this person had luckily read my post in the morning and recognized the scam and saved his money.
Here is his post about incident:

*Scammer Warning*

Almost got scammed by a guy this weekend supposedly selling an Orange head and cab. Only avoided because I saw a post this morning about a guy getting scammed over a pair of greenbacks. (Can’t find that original post.... if someone can link that would be great).

OP said his name was “Matthew Schultz”. Guy responded to my WTB ad on Gumtree, going by the name Sean... but then messaged me on a Facebook account “Nathan Schultz (Matt)”. He has since changed that again to “Nathan Joey”.

Anyway be aware of person using name Matthew Schultz (or Nathan or Harry with partner name Jess) with this email:

Mobile: +61413462861

His Medicare card photo attached.

 

It's hard to escape all the scams these days. One of the best defenses I think is to make it public when we become victims so others can watch out for scammers - like you did.

Paypal's growing disregard for customers lately caused me to seek options. Too many people I know have been hurt by that outfit.

 

I agree with you Joe 100%...and thank you for understanding.

The question is what are the options to replace PayPal?

 

There are a lot of options. I'm sure most of them have their own downsides.

I'm turning my processing needs to Stripe for now. Amazon Pays is one I'm also looking at but haven't studied it deeply enough.

It's really a matter of research.

You might check the FB pages of well-known marketers to see if they have recommendations. And maybe some other members here will chime in with their solutions.

 

I'll do some research for sure.