91
votes
A guy scammed me, but he gave me a bank account number & routing number. Can I use that to take out what he owes me?
You're potentially in very deep water here.
You don't know who this person is that you're dealing with. Before you'd even met him, he just gave you his banking info, seemingly without a second ...
- 10.1k
90
votes
Accepted
Selling online - Is private transportation indicative of a scam? Does PayPal make it safe?
The way this one works is interesting, and there's a variant of it in the 'states as well:
You receive more money than you're asking for with this item. They ask you to pay their private transport ...
- 2,755
80
votes
How can I deal with what I think is an eBay scam?
I've sold a limited number of times on eBay (not for profit, just cleaning out basement).
Any time a buyer offers anything that's not 100% 'normal', i.e. needing anything at all outside the terms of ...
69
votes
Accepted
How can I deal with what I think is an eBay scam?
With eBay, what's important to always keep front and center is how to protect yourself via eBay's policies, because diverging from them can easily result in all monetary burdens resting on you, ...
- 882
63
votes
Paid a scammer money via PayPal. What can I do?
There's absolutely no need to be embarrassed. This happens constantly, hundreds of times a day. The people you speak to at PayPal and other companies won't even notice or remember you it is so common. ...
- 13.8k
63
votes
Accepted
Ordered bike parts, paid with Paypal, received face masks. How do I get my money back from this scam?
PayPal has a couple of articles that discuss the dispute process. One is addressed to the buyer, and the other is addressed to the seller. The seller’s article is perhaps more informative: it ...
- 116k
61
votes
Did I discover an easy way to make money via PayPal and cashback credit card? If so, is it legal and is the money taxable?
Update (2022): It may be possible to earn double cash back for new accounts in the first year. I cannot find anything in the terms or conditions that would exclude this. If that's the case and you ...
- 47.3k
59
votes
Selling online - Is private transportation indicative of a scam? Does PayPal make it safe?
Yes, the scam is PayPal is going to reverse on you eventually. Either they are going to reverse the charge, (a buyer can reverse a PayPal payment if they claim fraud), or they used a hacked account ...
53
votes
A guy scammed me, but he gave me a bank account number & routing number. Can I use that to take out what he owes me?
TL;DR - Do not attempt to take money from someone's bank account based on a verbal agreement, even if you feel you're entitled to it.
OK, reading between the lines here it looks like the services ...
- 1,770
46
votes
Every month I make money from Patreon. I want to split my income with a partner. How do I avoid paying taxes on 100% of the income?
Let me first say that I am not an accountant. I recommend that you do meet with an accountant; he or she will be able to tell you the best way to handle this. That having been said, I'm going to ...
- 116k
46
votes
Accepted
Why would scammers use PayPal?
I’m guessing that the scammers have figured out a way to create new PayPal accounts, make a few bogus sales, and extract the money quickly from PayPal before the PayPal disputes start coming in. ...
- 116k
46
votes
What's the purpose of PayPal?
PayPal, initially, was designed to allow easy online transfers between people who are not established merchants (hence the name).
It very quickly became a payment processor of choice for eBay, which ...
- 181k
45
votes
Why would scammers use PayPal?
Ben Miller's answer is excellent, but there's an additional possibility here, that they'll fulfill something - a rock in a box, a broken PC/GPU, etc. - with full tracking as evidence that they ...
- 2,564
38
votes
What's the purpose of PayPal?
When Paypal launched over 20 years ago, it wasn't easy to set up a merchant account as a small seller. You'd need to set up full business banking, then get a credit/debit card machine. Card fees were ...
- 2,555
37
votes
Selling online - Is private transportation indicative of a scam? Does PayPal make it safe?
When you get an email like this, try searching for some of the text of the email. In this case I searched for "because it is an Instant payment and secure for online purchases" (with the quotes to ...
- 471
34
votes
How can I deal with what I think is an eBay scam?
I think JTP's answer is a good one, you will want to cancel this order. Their reasoning is maybe a little more zealous than I would handle it, but in this case, I agree with your assessment - this is ...
- 592
27
votes
Every month I make money from Patreon. I want to split my income with a partner. How do I avoid paying taxes on 100% of the income?
I'd form an LLC, with the partner (or not). (I used Legal Zoom to do this, a few years ago. Today it costs $79. (There may be some minor state fees, no capital requirements in my state.))
Get a ...
- 371
25
votes
Accepted
How can I send money on Paypal without revealing my real name or address?
I have 2 PayPal accounts for this purpose (with different email addresses).
The first account is tied to my real email address, and has my real name, phone and home address associated with it. This ...
- 1,857
25
votes
Accepted
Every month I make money from Patreon. I want to split my income with a partner. How do I avoid paying taxes on 100% of the income?
What you have there is a General Partnership.
You already have a General Partnership. You didn't need to do anything to create it, it just arose when you agreed to share revenue. In this situation ...
25
votes
How to make sure a payment is actually received and will not bounce, using Paypal, Stripe or online banking respectively?
You can't. That's what these scams hinge on. The whole point is that transactions that are fraudulent can be reversed. The way these scams are set up is that the victim sends their money willingly, ...
- 181k
24
votes
Paid a scammer money via PayPal. What can I do?
This is a large-scale scam operation
This is not a local, inside-the-USA "sugar daddy" who loves you but is a jerk with money.
This is an international scam operation that is working scams ...
24
votes
What's the purpose of PayPal?
While other answers focused on the merchant and historic perspectives, I wanted to answer this also from a consumer perspective.
Paypal allows me to:
Avoid giving my card number out to a large number ...
- 342
23
votes
Ordered bike parts, paid with Paypal, received face masks. How do I get my money back from this scam?
+1 to @Ben Miller for explaining how to file a dispute with PayPal.
Last year I ordered a FlashFish Power station. The price was suspiciously low but the web site appeared legitimate. They provided ...
- 76.9k
17
votes
Can PayPal transfer money automatically from my bank account if I link it in PayPal?
I have a PayPal account that I have linked to my bank account. My PayPal balance is always $0. When I make a purchase with PayPal, PayPal will automatically withdraw the funds from my bank account ...
- 7,556
17
votes
Accepted
Can I paypal myself to get free money?
According to the Discover promotion page, in the fine print, money transfers are included in the promotion:
PayPal eligible purchases are made through the PayPal wallet online, money transfers via ...
- 35.9k
16
votes
Why would scammers use PayPal?
The scammers may be using PayPal but they may not using their own PayPal accounts. Skim the scams tag and you'll see many of the scams or fraud are trying to get access to accounts to act as mules or ...
- 8,772
15
votes
Sugar daddy asked me to send $29 to his account manager's PayPal
You said that this individual was going to test you, and then...
asked me to start by sending $29 to his account managers payapl so he would have my information, am right to think this is a scam?
...
- 17.1k
15
votes
Paid a scammer money via PayPal. What can I do?
Honestly, it seems like your best course of action is the police. Save everything you have from this man (literally everything), and turn it over to law enforcement. In general, it's possible to get ...
- 151
14
votes
Accepted
Accept a check on my behalf in USA, and then transfer the money to me in Europe
Some suggestions.
First ask your bank if it is possible to accept a cheque in US dollars. Some won't but some will, possibly for a fee.
Second ask your bank if there is an account you can open ...
- 34k
14
votes
Why would scammers use PayPal?
One possibility is that this is a type of triangulation fraud. This is a kind of fraud where the fraudster uses a stolen credit card to purchase goods at full price and them ship them to you. The scam ...
- 141
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