eBay seller lost £850 after buyer had his account hacked – and here’s how it could happen to you
Justin McKie was left £850 out of pocket after selling a camera lens on eBay
An eBay seller has been left £850 out of pocket after falling victim to an elaborate scam.
Thanks to eBay and PayPal's strict buyer protection rules, the unwitting buyer was reimbursed the full amount he paid for a Canon camera lens, while Justin McKie, the seller, was left with nothing.
It all started when McKie, a keen photographer who works in finance, decided to clear out his cupboards and get rid of some of his unused camera equipment.
The 41-year-old Londoner spent one morning listing a number of items on eBay, one of which included an £850 Canon camera lens in good condition.
Shortly after the listing went live, a buyer contacted Justin on the auction site to say he was interested in buying the lens. He proceeded to purchase the camera via the "buy it now" option, and paid the £850 through his PayPal account.
After the purchase was made and the money appeared in McKie's own PayPal account, he and the buyer agreed to meet up so that the lens could change hands.
A man named Steven called Justin to say he was in the area and asked if he could pick up the lens just half an hour after the purchase was made.
But shortly after the pair met and the lens was handed over, McKie received a message on eBay from the buyer who said his account had been hacked, and that he had contacted the police.
PayPal, too, was contacted by the buyer, and it quickly froze the funds in McKie's account.
After investigating, PayPal refunded the buyer, leaving McKie £850 short and without his expensive camera lens.
Crucially, if McKie had been able to prove he had posted the item to the seller - instead of handing it over in person - PayPal would have refunded him the cash too.
Its strict rules mean that if an item bought through eBay or another website doesn’t arrive, or doesn’t match the seller’s description, the buyer will be reimbursed the full amount plus postage and packaging costs.
A seller must be able to prove that the items were received by the buyer, otherwise they will lose out too.
After protesting to both PayPal and eBay, McKie tried the cops but was told they couldn't help.
He also contacted Action Fraud, which didn't respond at all, he said. Action Fraud, which is the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, told The Sun Online that the case is currently being assessed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB).
It said: "Action Fraud does not have investigation powers. The reports taken by Action Fraud are sent to the NFIB who collate and analyse intelligence on fraud, and makes the decision to send crimes to law enforcement agencies for investigation, disruption and prevention purposes."
How to stay safe when selling on eBay
- Don’t be fooled by buyers who say they need you to make payments into their account prior to them sending money – this approach is often associated with untrustworthy payments made through Western Union or MoneyGram
- Always confirm you’ve received a PayPal payment before sending an item – check your PayPal account and ensure the payment icon in your My eBay is highlighted
- Cancel suspicious bids if you need to – but remember that you have to have a valid reason for doing so
- Use a delivery service that provides online trackable proof of delivery
McKie said: "I was really shocked that this had happened to me, honestly I thought that I was pretty savvy when it came to scams and that sort of thing.
"Of course £850 is a lot of money, but equally upsetting was how the eBay system seemed to work against me and that I could do absolutely nothing about it.
"When I got the email saying that they weren't going to give me my money back I was absolutely fuming!
"The PayPal policy of automatically refunding a buyer is not just unfair to the seller, it creates an environment which encourages fraud, with very little risk to a fraudulent buyer."
A spokesman for eBay confirmed to The Sun Online that the account owned by McKie's buyer was taken over by a fraudster, likely a result of the account owner clicking on a link in a "phishing" email.
The spokesman said: "We notified Mr McKie that his buyer’s account had been compromised less than two hours after the payment was made on 15 January, and credited the final value fees for the lens (£87.47) back to Mr McKie immediately.
"Unfortunately he had already delivered the lens to the fraudster by this point. As there were no indications of fraudulent intentions on the part of the account owner, the PayPal payment was reversed that evening."
They added: "This is now a police matter and we will do whatever we can to assist the police with their enquiries."
A PayPal spokesman said: "Unfortunately Mr McKie appears to have fallen victim to a scam, whereby an unauthorised payment was sent to him to purchase his camera lens.
"Our Seller Protection policy can cover the cost of an unauthorised payment if the seller can provide us with proof of postage and delivery.
"Mr. McKie’s claim did not qualify for Seller Protection as his camera lens was collected in person, however we have refunded him the full cost as a goodwill gesture.”
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