Getting Scammed in the Marketplace

[boo516]

I want to post this here because I need advice as well as the attention to watch out for scammers in the Marketplace. A couple days ago my HTC One M8 was "purchased" in the marketplace by user Sman234. He agreed to pay me $360 on Venmo and promptly did so. As soon as I saw the initial payment, I shipped the device and insured it for the full purchase amount (I have the reciept). Upon trying to cash out after I shipped the device, I noticed the money was no longer in my venmo account. I began to notice inconsistencies and upon looking on the profile under activity, saw that he had purchased another item from the marketplace. I contacted the other seller who told me the exact same story. I promptly contacted Venmo who provided a response that I have screenshot below. Thus I felt the red flags had gone off and I told the seller that he had till the end of the week to pay both me and the other seller or I would take this to court. My father, being a lawyer, said that this could be settled very easily and I would almost be guaranteed a victory as Venmo had a direct link to the user's bank account and thus other information such as SSN, etc.. and could be retrieved with a court order, to which Venmo confirmed. So my question is, am I doing the right thing? Should I take this to court? Is there a simpler, better way to get my and the other seller's money back? I also have screenshots of all of our chat conversations if you guys need/want/think it'll help my case. Thanks in advance!

 

[boo516]

Here's a photo of my venmo balance showing that i'm not lying.

 

[James Falconer]

@boo516,

So sorry you've had such a bad experience in our Marketplace. Unfortunately scammers do rear their ugly heads from time to time, and it's something we absolutely hate to see.

Our policy in the Marketplace is, and always has been:

Purchasing, selling, swapping or giving items away via our marketplace is done so at your own risk. Mobile Nations offers no guarantee, warranty, and will assume no liability on any transaction. Buyer and seller beware.

You can view our whole Marketplace Rules & Guidelines policy right here.

That said... we want to do all we can to help you out. Please contact me direct (my email address is below) and if you need any assistance I'm more than happy to help. If there is a way for you to reach out to Venmo, I would suggest that is a great first step.

Side note: Any users found to be scamming other users are always immediately banned and blocked from our communities. They serve no purpose to our members and are not welcome at any time.

 

[dpham00]

Fyi, assuming that the phone was not yet delivered, UPS delivery intercept can return the phone to the sender for a fee.



A win is easy, getting the money could be difficult... You would need a court order to garnish his wages or otherwise get him to pay, if he chooses not to pay.

Good luck though and your dad would certainly be a good source of information
Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 4

 

[boo516]

The phone has been signed for. I couldn't intercept it cause it was out for delivery monday.