Venmo Rip Off - Rant

mferrand

Inspired
Just got to get this off my chest and see if there is any help.....

So, I've been looking for an FC-6. I put up a WTB ad here and after a couple of weeks I get a message from from a guy who says he can help me with a lead. He says he's dealt with this guy 'Tony' a few times and he's been good to deal with. He includes the email address and I contact him. Tony replies back and says that he does have this pedal for sale. Decent price so I tell I'll take it. He says that he can't do Paypal as his account is messed up but can do Venmo. O.k., so I don't have a Venmo account so I set one up and send him the money. He asks for a screen shot while he's waiting for the money to show up. I send it to him and he says he'll get the pedal in the mail. All this is over email. A couple days or so goes by and he says he's not been able to get to UPS. I say o.k. but he could try USPS. He' says he'll text me the tracking number that day. A couple more days go by, nothing. I email, text, call. Nothing. Then the emails bounce back and the phone number doesn't work. Two week have gone by now. So, I contact Venmo.

They reply back, apologize for my loss and say that I should only send money to someone I know. They recommend that I call local law enforcement and have them contact Venmo. So I call the police. "O.K. so you've sent money to someone you don't know, you don't have an address, phone number or any contact info. What do you want us to do"? Boy did I feel like an idiot. So, I contact my credit card company... won't cover cash loss. Back to Venmo, sorry, nothing we can do.

So here I am. Minus $300+, scammed or ripped off. I have probably done 500 on line transactions over the years and never had this happened. It looked so legit up front.

Screwed and not Happy.....
 
I'm sorry to hear you lost your funds.

Anytime someone DMs you here and says "I know someone..." it's a scam.

You can flag suspicious DMs and moderators can review them, give you an idea if they're legit or not. Please do that with the account that messaged you now so we can ban it.
 
Anytime someone says I know someone, it's a scam.
Anytime they don't want to use payment services that offer buyer protection, it's a scam.
Anytime someone offers a product at a price that is just too good to be true it almost always is a scam.

Be glad it's only $300 you lost. It might be a lot to you, but you might have met a ripoff artist in person. Who knows what he might have done to you. Force you at gunpoint to go to an ATM machine and empty your account? There are some really disgusting human parasites out there. Unfortunately life's lessons always come at a cost, just be glad it only cost you some money and nothing else. And if you think I sound harsh, I had the same thing happening to me as well. Lessons learned. Also I've never even heard of venmo and it already sounds like Western Union's evil bastard stepchild.
 
Sorry that happened. Tough lesson for sure, but necessary. These are really common scams and this one had all the red flags. If this guy didn’t get you, someone else would have. Anytime you’re dealing with someone outside of a reputable market place, you need to be really aware. Forum scams are super common. I’ve seen many people scammed this way. Email spoofing scams have gotten much more sophisticated as well. They can make it look like PayPal or your bank sent you an important email. If you follow the link to login, the login portal is just a look-alike to collect your credentials. Craigslist. I’ve had up to 6 scam attempts from one ad!
 
I had an issue with Venmo when a bandmate gave me his incorrect Venmo name. I sent his gig $ to someone with the exact same name. The difference was a decimal between the first.last name. It was my bandmates fault so he was willing to eat the money. I followed Venmo's FAQs and requested the money back from the person I sent it to....they never responded. I called Venmo as a last ditch effort - and they said - ok, we'll pull the money from that person and put it back in your account. I was happy, but thought - wow this is a loose process. Lesson learned (thankfully at no expense).
Only use Venmo with people you know.
 
Anytime someone says I know someone, it's a scam.
Anytime they don't want to use payment services that offer buyer protection, it's a scam.
Anytime someone offers a product at a price that is just too good to be true it almost always is a scam.

Be glad it's only $300 you lost. It might be a lot to you, but you might have met a ripoff artist in person. Who knows what he might have done to you. Force you at gunpoint to go to an ATM machine and empty your account? There are some really disgusting human parasites out there. Unfortunately life's lessons always come at a cost, just be glad it only cost you some money and nothing else. And if you think I sound harsh, I had the same thing happening to me as well. Lessons learned. Also I've never even heard of venmo and it already sounds like Western Union's evil bastard stepchild.
for once, I not only think you held back , but youre right on the money man, its not as harsh as I wouldve expected from you actually bro
 
There is a problem with venmo, facebook, zelle, etc...

There's no buyer/seller protection, more important buyer.

If someone 1. can't take paypal 2. paypal is 'messed up' or 3. can only take 'friends and family' payments because their account is messed up-- there's a reason
 
It could also be, like honest buyers like myself, in the rare instance where I sell something online, I am also honest and it has happened on many occasions, not just once that I was literally scammed out of my guitar and the scammer was given a chargeback reversal, and I had no issues whatsoever with my account, especially as a buyer, I never had any issues with resolution center cases....but there was a few times where I was sold either bad/damaged goods purposely, and or the person who bought my guitar mocked up damage photos, and then because I am not a paypal regular customer/user, they protected the person who gives them constant revenue - i.e. Scammers who work solely off paypal

Furthermore, I know this as a fact, paypal accounts can be compromised as they are constantly sold and resold on the dark web, and people use these accounts to pay “legitimately” and then after the goods are sent and the person or “institution” finds there was fraud, the only person who is at a loss is the honest party

That’s my experience with PayPal and that’s why I ONLY sell on reverb OR of course, alternatives to paypal...but thats me, idk man, maybe i just have bad luck with some shitty people online
 
Back
Top Bottom