Have I been scammed???

[CastleCrusher]

So somebody came into contact with me " QuestionxThree" who is now banned for whatever reason, about buying a graphics card. He/she said he/she had some cards lying around his/her job and that he/she could cut prices because he/she didn't really need them. Fast forward up to now, I gave him/her my address and he/she said he'd/she'd give me a 660ti  in exchange for a $25 dollar Amazon gift card because I couldn't afford to buy anything else. I was then told that...

 

I’m sending via fedex so they will send me a tracking umber when it ships tomrrow, they close at 5 and it just turned 5 so they will ship it out tommrow    Should I be concerned in anyway that this person is now banned? I can't get a tracking number because I have no way to contact them, so if the card doesn't arrive, what do I do?

[Murasaki]

a 660ti for a $25 amazon gift card? that sounds highly improbable

[Volbet]

Yes, you were definitely scammed.

Only accepting payment in gift cards is the oldest trick in the book, since it offers no buyer protection. 

 

If you already delivered the gift cards then you're shit outta luck, and the only thing you can do is to learn from your mistake. 

If I understand you correctly, did you ship the gift cards via FedEx? If so, then try intercepting shipment. I don't know if that's even possible, but it's worth a try. 

[CastleCrusher]

Well I said that I couldn't afford 60 dollars and I could buy it another time, but he/she said that he/she didn't really need it and was never going to use it again so they cut the price.

[CastleCrusher]

2 minutes ago, Volbet said:

Yes, you were definitely scammed.

Only accepting payment in gift cards is the oldest trick in the book, since it offers no buyer protection. 

 

If you already delivered the gift cards then you're shit outta luck, and the only thing you can do is to learn from your mistake. 

He/she was going to accept PayPal originaly, but that didn't work out.

[CastleCrusher]

Just now, CastleCrusher said:

He/she was going to accept PayPal originaly, but that didn't work out.

I'm a bit sad now :'(

[CastleCrusher]

7 minutes ago, Volbet said:

Yes, you were definitely scammed.

Only accepting payment in gift cards is the oldest trick in the book, since it offers no buyer protection. 

 

If you already delivered the gift cards then you're shit outta luck, and the only thing you can do is to learn from your mistake. 

If I understand you correctly, did you ship the gift cards via FedEx? If so, then try intercepting shipment. I don't know if that's even possible, but it's worth a try. 

No, they were supposedly shipping via FedEx, I gave them the code and its already been used.:(

[CastleCrusher]

Just now, asus killer said:

i guess he/she is not the 1st to be scammed

I feel crushed now, I think I might now have trust issues because of this. I'm very disappointed because now I can't play Fortnite with smoother performance on my PC.

[Murasaki]

Rip then, lesson learned. What you need to know is of something is too good to be true, it is a scam.

[Volbet]

4 minutes ago, CastleCrusher said:

No, they were supposedly shipping via FedEx, I gave them the code and its already been used.:(

In that case you're absolutly shit outta luck. 

 

I guess you could report it to the police, but good luck actually proving anything. 

Honestly, the best thing you can do is to learn from the experience. 

 

10 minutes ago, CastleCrusher said:

He/she was going to accept PayPal originaly, but that didn't work out.

And why didn't it work out?

[CastleCrusher]

1 minute ago, Volbet said:

In that case you're absolutly shit outta luck. 

 

I guess you could report it to the police, but good luck actually proving anything. 

 

And why didn't it work out?

Didn't work out because my parents didn't want me to buy a visa gift card  with their name on it.

[CastleCrusher]

I feel like I need to scam someone now, but that's not very nice. I just can't believe I fell for all this. If I had saved my money, I could buy a 660ti or whatever and be able to Fortnite smoother. Unless the card magically appears on my doorstep, I guess there's not going to be a GTX 660ti Jeffs Tech review. I'm just glad I didn't give up $60 dollars but I still lost my money. Anyway, thanks for responding to my question guys, and I guess I learned my lesson.

[AshleyAshes]

This scam is not unheard of and I keep asking myself 'Who would be dumb enough to pay for something online with gift cards, when gift cards as a form of payment are not only just silly but would offer zero consumer protections in the transsaction?' but maybe the real queston is 'Why am I not convincing dumb people on the internet to give me Amazon gift cards for nothing and bulking up my anime bluray collection that way???'  Cause clearly this scam works on LOTS of people.

[CastleCrusher]

1 hour ago, AshleyAshes said:

This scam is not unheard of and I keep asking myself 'Who would be dumb enough to pay for something online with gift cards, when gift cards as a form of payment are not only just silly but would offer zero consumer protections in the transsaction?' but maybe the real queston is 'Why am I not convincing dumb people on the internet to give me Amazon gift cards for nothing and bulking up my anime bluray collection that way???'  Cause clearly this scam works on LOTS of people.

Unfortunately

[TechyBen]

4 hours ago, CastleCrusher said:

Didn't work out because my parents didn't want me to buy a visa gift card  with their name on it.

Listen to your parents more.

[colonel_mortis]

I'm afraid this is why we restrict purchases to the Classifieds section of the forum, which is only accessible to members with 100+ posts, and strongly advise that you use PayPal in goods and services mode, which allows you to open a dispute if you don't receive the product.

You may not have been scammed, but unfortunately it looks quite possible at this stage.

[dalekphalm]

8 hours ago, CastleCrusher said:

Didn't work out because my parents didn't want me to buy a visa gift card  with their name on it.

I’m a little confused. Your original plan was to buy a visa gift card using PayPal?

 

Thats still a gift card, my friend, and really wouldn’t have saved you. 

 

Let me give you some advice:

when buying something used online, only ONLY pay with PayPal, as an invoiced sale. 

 

Do not pay with gift cards, crypto currency, or anything like that. Don’t pay with PayPal if they request it to be sent as a money transfer or gift. 

 

ONLY pay with PayPal as an invoiced sale.

 

As @AshleyAshes said, it’s the only way to ensure buyer protection covers the transaction. 

[AshleyAshes]

6 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

As @AshleyAshes said, it’s the only way to ensure buyer protection covers the transaction. 

Also never pay for something on PayPal and mark it as a GIFT.  If you GIFT money via PayPal there are less fees but ALSO no consumer protections.  You can't go to PayPal and say 'I paid for this and never got it from the other person, please help!' cause, suprise, PayPal will say 'No, you didn't buy anything, see, you CLEARLY marked the money as a GIFT.  Go away.'

[dalekphalm]

3 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

Also never pay for something on PayPal and mark it as a GIFT.  If you GIFT money via PayPal there are less fees but ALSO no consumer protections.  You can't go to PayPal and say 'I paid for this and never got it from the other person, please help!' cause, suprise, PayPal will say 'No, you didn't buy anything, see, you CLEARLY marked the money as a GIFT.  Go away.'

Exactly, yes. I mentioned that, but you explained it better for those who are uninitiated. 

 

Buyer protection only kicks in when an invoice is generated, that clearly lists what you are buying. 

 

And seriously the fees are quite small. People who want to avoid them are usually poor - and thus most vulnerable in cases where they get scammed. 

 

Kind of ironic, if you ask me. 

[dizmo]

What are you currently using for a graphics card?

[CastleCrusher]

52 minutes ago, dizmo said:

What are you currently using for a graphics card?

Integreated Vega 8 graphics on the 2200g

[dizmo]

14 minutes ago, CastleCrusher said:

Integreated Vega 8 graphics on the 2200g

Ahhh I was going to say my dad probably has a 560Ti laying around you could have, but your integrated graphics are likely as-good-as, if not better that card

[CastleCrusher]

35 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Ahhh I was going to say my dad probably has a 560Ti laying around you could have, but your integrated graphics are likely as-good-as, if not better that card

That may or may not be true, id still take it off your hands if you didnt need it. I have a secondary Dell machine that needs a new card. Optiplex 740 mini tower.

 

I also found this:http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-560-Ti-vs-AMD-RX-Vega-8-Ryzen-iGPU/2180vsm441833

[dizmo]

55 minutes ago, CastleCrusher said:

That may or may not be true, id still take it off your hands if you didnt need it. I have a secondary Dell machine that needs a new card. Optiplex 740 mini tower.

 

I also found this:http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-560-Ti-vs-AMD-RX-Vega-8-Ryzen-iGPU/2180vsm441833

I don't put any weight whatsoever behind those sites. I checked out a few benchmarks and it looks like it's about the same.

Since you're not left without a PC to play on, and since the card wouldn't actually improve the rig I'll just have to wish you luck.

Just take the aforementioned advice from others seriously!

[CastleCrusher]

50 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I don't put any weight whatsoever behind those sites. I checked out a few benchmarks and it looks like it's about the same.

Since you're not left without a PC to play on, and since the card wouldn't actually improve the rig I'll just have to wish you luck.

Just take the aforementioned advice from others seriously!

Id still be intrested in the card if you plan on selling but yeah, I've learned my lesson.