Can PayPal scam me? or am I safe?

Internet Scam by fake paypal user. Can I get my money back?

• Hi there. This just occured yesterday. I had posted an iPhone 3G on kijiji.com. I got a reply from a user saying they were interested and that they would need it sent to Nigeria. Right off the bat, I knew this was a fake e-mail and or some sort of scam. But at the same time, I was not sure, so therefore, I told the lady that shipping to Nigeria would be very expensive. I asked her how much she was willing to pay. She told me 800, which would include the shipping cost. I told her 850 CAD, and she said okay, and even asked me to send her a paypal request right away so that she can pay for it. Her first e-mail, she told me she wanted to pay by paypal cause it was more safe, and even told me the steps on how to get paypal. Back to the story. I sent her the request, she paid me immediately, 850 CAD. Everything in the e-mail looked perfect. It said the payment was sent, and everything, and that my funds would be credited as soon as I send paypal my tracking #. Because of that one e-mail, saying I received the payment, I thought it was good to go, but at the same time, I was a little bit worried. I sent the item, and I sent the tracking # to the paypal address that was in the e-mail. 2 days later, I received another e-mail. The lady who purchased the phone, said she paid me double, and that I would need to send some money back by western union. At this point, I knew something was wrong because if I was receiving money, I could easily send money right back through paypal. Paypal then sent me an e-mail telling me the user's account has $1900 coming into my account, so therefore I would have to do a western union money transfer to that address. I saw so many spelling mistakes in that e-mail, that I had to call paypal myself. To summarize, the supervisor I talked to at paypal, told me this was a fake e-mail, and told me everything was fake. There are people out there who are so good at doing this. And I know this is not the first time it has happened to someone. I called Canadapost, to see if they could stop my package, there's nothing they can do. So I was told. Because it's against the law to stop a package. The only way I can get my money back, or phone back is if the address was written wrong, or they lose the phone, and insurance covers the cost of my phone. I hope everyone who is selling anything online, gets the chance to read this. Confirm any paypal accounts with paypal before you ship your items, and be sure you are protected by paypal before you make any sort of exchange. Because of this, and my lack of experience in the online selling field, I have lost an iphone 3G. Please be careful everyone My question is, is there anything I can do to get some money back, or is everything lost. Is there a way to catch these people? I just wish there was something I can do. Thanks for reading. Andy

• Answer:

  This is the exact same thing that happened to me... I was trying to sell and old Video Camcorder. (Really old, ran on tapes) I was selling it for $90.00. Some lady was willing to pay for her $350!!!! Apparently her grandson's birthday was coming up. She told us to open a paypal account. But when we told her to send the money, she stopped replying. She wanted it shipped to NIGERIA too! Sorry man, but you aren't gonna be able to get the money back. Unless, tell your insurance it was robbed or something...