I got scammed from a gpu and am now down $250, what should I do?

[Kelp-O]

Essentially this just happened today, and I'll just add the screenshots of the chat logs, but it was very promising and seemed to hold ground at not being a scam, and sure enough when it was time to meet he didn't show. To be honest Im not really sure what to do and was wondering if I can get some advice on where to go from here.

 

I'm not able to message him on Facebook,he's blocked me on cashapp as well and cashapp support can't do anything.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Edited January 4, 2022 by Spotty
Removed personal information

[tkitch]

That's the downside to apps that have no guarantee.  

 

If you can't ask the app for a refund, you're kinda SoL.

 

[Kelp-O]

Just now, tkitch said:

That's the downside to apps that have no guarantee.  

 

If you can't ask the app for a refund, you're kinda SoL.

 

so do you think their is any point in filing a police report?

[CommanderAlex]

Sounds like Jack is a Jackass. 

 

1 minute ago, Kelp-O said:

so do you think their is any point in filing a police report?

Most likely won't go anywhere as it appears Jackass deleted their account. 

[tkitch]

can't hurt?  But they're not going to give a damn.  

[tkitch]

BTW:  Nobody's gonna drive 4 hours round trip for 100 bucks.  Sorry.

[OhioYJ]

So you paid through a cash app before having anything in your hands or being able to see the product? Clark Howard was actually just talking about all these various cash payment apps recently actually (Venmo and the like).  His recommendation was basically not to use them at all, unless you are paying a family memeber, or had something in hand.  I don't need any more payment apps, if that's all they take, it already concerns me.

[Kelp-O]

Just now, OhioYJ said:

So you paid through a cash app before having anything in your hands or being able to see the product? Clark Howard was actually just talking about all these various cash payment apps recently actually (Venmo and the like).  His recommendation was basically not to use them at all, unless you are paying a family memeber, or had something in hand.  I don't need any more payment apps, if that's all they take, it already concerns me.

ok ill keep that in mind, just never had anything like this happen to me

[dizmo]

While it's unfortunate that you got scammed, you have to ask yourself; are the police really going to work that hard to help you recover $250? Think of how many man hours would go into the investigation; it simply doesn't make sense when they could be handling much more important cases.

 

What did you think getting his licence plate would do? It's very easy to simply go take a picture of some random licence plate.

 

You did get scammed, but, hate to say it, unfortunately it's all on you. Never, ever send payment ahead of time, and if someone comes up with a story like his, it's a clear red flag. I've flagged your post, as you've listed (potentially) personal information of another, which shouldn't be done online.

[OhioYJ]

1 minute ago, Kelp-O said:

ok ill keep that in mind, just never had anything like this happen to me

Paypal is the only one I use. Perhaps you can still file a dispute with your credit or bank since you did not get what you "purchased"?

[Kelp-O]

3 minutes ago, OhioYJ said:

Paypal is the only one I use. Perhaps you can still file a dispute with your credit or bank since you did not get what you "purchased"?

ok thank you ill keep that in mind

 

[TetraSky]

Report their account for scam

https://cash.app/help/ca/en-us/6482-recognize-scams

Spoiler

Q: What can I do if I get scammed on Cash App?

A: Report a potential scam payment by following these steps:

1. Tap the profile icon in the top right corner
2. Tap Support
3. Select Report a Payment Issue
4. Select the payment and follow the prompts

If the scam is associated with a potential scam account instead of a specific payment, report and block a potential scam account by following these steps:

1. Launch the Cash App and tap on a Customer Avatar to view a profile. You can also search for a profile by entering a Name, $Cashtag, Phone Number or Email
2. Scroll to the bottom of the profile and tap on ‘Report’ or ‘Block’
3. Select one of the options and follow next steps

Additionally, you can reach out to our Cash Support team through https://cash.app/contact.

 

You're unlikely to ever be refunded, but you could indeed try to get refunded through your bank or possibly through cashapp's support.

 

But hey, lesson learned right? Don't send money over the internet to random people, especially the kind who make up excuses like that. You should've just said you'd meet them at their place to pick it up the moment they started asking for money, even if it was far.

[Falkentyne]

As soon as I saw "selling it to buy a tire..." I Instantly knew what was coming.

Never give anyone any payment over anything without buyer protection (meaning: dont even use family and friends on paypal!), and meet in a police station and exchange money and goods there.  If they act weird when you mention police station then you know they're crooks.

[Arika]

10 hours ago, TetraSky said:

but you could indeed try to get refunded through your bank

10 hours ago, OhioYJ said:

Perhaps you can still file a dispute with your credit or bank since you did not get what you "purchased"?

 

---The following is applicable in Australia and is based on my knowledge and experience of working in a bank for 11 years---

 

 

Generally in these cases a bank isn't really going to be able to help, since the transaction was with cashapp, which was a valid transaction. A bank does not have chargeback rights against a valid transaction. Where the funds go after they are received by cashapp is no longer the bank's concern.

 

All the chargeback with the bank would do, is send a notification to cashapp, who simply just have to prove that they received the funds, show the authorisation that the funds be drawn from their client's bank account and that they completed the OPs request on their end.

 

remember there is 2 transactions here, the only way the bank could dispute it is if cashapp took the funds from OPs account without authorisation or was fraudulent linked to someone else's cashapp. And especially with this being a private sale (no e-commerce middleman) there's not a whole lot that can really be done.

 

[Donut417]

On 1/3/2022 at 3:39 PM, Kelp-O said:

'm not able to message him on Facebook,he's blocked me on cashapp as well and cashapp support can't do anything.

First of all, you dont do cash app in this type of instance. You do cold hard cash. You pass them the cash as they pass you the GPU. 

[GamerDude]

Gosh, makes me glad that I live in a small country where meeting the seller/buyer personally is easily arranged, and I usually insist on COD . IF meeting personally is inconvenient, the app I use allows for refund, or can be made a police matter (cheating). For those times I'd made money transfer and await delivery, I'd check their reviews/feedback to ascertain their credibility and trustworthiness. So far, I've not had any issue with the deals I'd made. As for the OP's current dilemma, it sux the big one.

 

This reminds me of the time I'd paid a 'trusted' fellow forum member (not this forum) for a pair of Klipsch PM2.1, he'd promised to send it to me as soon as I'd made payment. Naively, I chose to believe him and sent the money, well, he'd stopped answering my queries about shipment after a short while. Fortunately, a few fellow members of the same forum heard of my problem, and they knew the seller personally as well as where he was staying. They contacted him and told him, in no uncertain term, to make good on the refund. And he did shortly after. Man, this takes me back....

[Zodiark1593]

If the name is legit (many criminals aren't especially bright, so there's a possibility), you could attempt to pursue the money in Small Claims. Though even in the best case, the time spent is likely to result in a Pyrrhic Victory.

[Heliian]

Just file a report online with your local police, they'll use it for crime stats. 

[bcredeur97]

OP @Kelp-O, I kinda want to just share some of the lessons I learned here reading through this. I'm really sorry this happened to you, but I do actually like reading stories like this as it helps ME avoid things. I also hope you share this with others and teach them how to avoid scams and such. It's a great life lesson and conversation piece. 

The biggest thing I see here was the cash app offer. You should of stood fast on the transaction being handled completely in person. You could of told him cash app is fine but you'll pay him when we meet in person. He probably would of killed the deal then because of this because he may not have actually had any product. It would of been dissappointing but you would of avoided a scam (even if you didn't know it!)

Second red flag I see is the excuses about this and that and how every single time there was something in his way to prevent him from selling it to you. If it can't be a straightforward deal (you give money he give GPU) then something is up. For something like a GPU to be honest, I would have backed out early on because of this. Just said something like "I actually found another one but thanks". If his inability to travel was too big of an issue for him he would of told you to drive the full distance or that the deal couldn't be done. 

Valuing your time more than the product will usually help you avoid scams, because you're not gonna sit around and wait. You need to have the attitude of finding the deal, getting the product and being done with it and if you can't do that, then it's prob best to walk away and find another source that gives this to you.

 

The last thing I want to say is if you're ever shopping for big ticket items like used cars from private sellers for example. You make darn sure the paperwork is straight and ready to go before you hand over a single dollar. Get things notarized, have someone handle the deal. It's worth the money, trust me. Losing out on $250 sucks, but losing out on thousands is another story, that can be pretty life ruining if you're young (think of the investment opportunity cost you lose)

[dilpickle]

On 1/3/2022 at 2:43 PM, Kelp-O said:

so do you think their is any point in filing a police report?

None whatsoever. Police don't do anything after a crime has happened unless it is a high profile case or it involves one of their own. They certainly don't care at all about petty theft that is happening a 1000 times a day.

 

 

All you can do now is learn from this experience. No offense but there were so many red flags that should have alerted you even before he mentioned cashapp which is the biggest red flag of all.