Is this a PayPal scam? (not obvious)...

[TonyHetherington]

Hi all

I set up for my band a PayPal link that, when clicked, takes you to a page where you can order a copy of my band's album and then pay either using credit card or your pay pal log in. I then nested that link into a banner that is on our myspace.

This is the link; (link removed so it doesn't look like I'm just trying to plug our album

Now, barely a couple of days after putting that link on our MySpace page I received an order for 3 albums from Spain (Madrid).

We've never advertised or done anything there at all, we've not promoted this link in the slightest (yet) and none of us known who the person is.

The cost is only £15 and the cost to us even less, of course, however it just doesn't seem right? I wondered if anyone knew of a scam looking for said paypal links and then getting the product, whatever that may be, and questoining it's arrival?

Or am I just part of an ace band and we're lucky to have international recognition!?

As they say, if it seems too good to be true, it usually is...?!

Edited by TonyHetherington on Monday 1st March 13:29

[rhinochopig]

What a shameless plug Tony. As a mod I would have expected better. Like our politicians, you abuse your position of power :disappointed:

[TonyHetherington]

I had seen that coming, I admit, but the question is a genuine one

[Bill]

No need to be suspicious, they just want to join your gang

[shakotan]

TonyHetherington said:

Hi all

I set up for my band a PayPal link that, when clicked, takes you to a page where you can order a copy of my band's album and then pay either using credit card or your pay pal log in. I then nested that link into a banner that is on our myspace.

This is the link; (link removed so it doesn't look like I'm just trying to plug our album

Now, barely a couple of days after putting that link on our MySpace page I received an order for 3 albums from Spain (Madrid).

We've never advertised or done anything there at all, we've not promoted this link in the slightest (yet) and none of us known who the person is.

The cost is only £15 and the cost to us even less, of course, however it just doesn't seem right? I wondered if anyone knew of a scam looking for said paypal links and then getting the product, whatever that may be, and questoining it's arrival?

Or am I just part of an ace band and we're lucky to have international recognition!?

As they say, if it seems too good to be true, it usually is...?!

Edited by TonyHetherington on Monday 1st March 13:29

Could be they'll just pull the 'item not received' stunt and get their money refunded, but the only 'profit' they'll have is 3 of your albums?!

[TonyHetherington]

That's exactly what I thought - the only profit will be 3 albums which is a very specific steal!

I've e-mailed the person asking how they heard of us to gauge how genuine.

[davido140]

TonyHetherington said:

That's exactly what I thought - the only profit will be 3 albums which is a very specific steal!

Especially as even if its a genuine purchase he could just buy one and burn two copies of it himself

Edited by davido140 on Monday 1st March 14:19

[Mr Will]

Have they sent the money yet, or will it be a variation on the "Send too much, ask for some of it back, whole lot disappears" scam?

[TonyHetherington]

Mr Will said:

Have they sent the money yet, or will it be a variation on the "Send too much, ask for some of it back, whole lot disappears" scam?

Yep, the money gets sent when you use the link, so I'm now £15.50 better off in my PayPal.

The e-mail that confirms it says this;

"Seller Protection - Partially Eligible


Reversals:
Please be aware that your payment can still be reversed, (e.g. if it is subject to a chargeback), even after you have posted the item to your buyer. Complying with PayPal's protection programmes and following the trading guidelines, in our Safety Advice Centre helps to protect you from things like chargebacks."

which gets me wondering too.

[WorAl]

Be careful with this, I was stung by a similar thing, luckily they didn't get much money from me.....as I don't have a penny to rub together.

[TonyHetherington]

What was the sting (i.e. where did it occur)?

Total cost is £15.50 which to us is about £10, but it's the principle of the thing really - and the worry that if it's going to happen, I'll not use that method of linking to our paypal page.

[WorAl]

Pretty much the opposite to what Mr Will said, I bought an item, paid for it etc, they didn't send it, I asked for my money back and they gave it to me.

They then proceeded to remove the same amount from my account every other week until I got my bank statement (as I didn't use Paypal that often I didn't notice and I only used to get statements every quarter) and retrieved it all, nice little filtering system if they get away with it from several people, think it was £30 or so.

I think basically, they found out my details and just filtered off the money on a fortnightly basis. I don't use Paypal anymore.

Not saying don't go through with the transaction, just be careful thats all

Edited by WorAl on Monday 1st March 15:58

[TonyHetherington]

Just a little update on this. Turns out the guy is a record shop in Madrid that wants to start distributing our album, he just thought he'd buy some rather than ask (the plumb!).

Got all the details of the shop etc and it all checks out - so what do you know, it's genuine!

Thanks anyway for the advice - to be honest, I was almost certain it was a scam, just couldn't see how. Turns out people might actually like us

[Adam B]

WorAl said:

Pretty much the opposite to what Mr Will said, I bought an item, paid for it etc, they didn't send it, I asked for my money back and they gave it to me.

They then proceeded to remove the same amount from my account every other week until I got my bank statement (as I didn't use Paypal that often I didn't notice and I only used to get statements every quarter) and retrieved it all, nice little filtering system if they get away with it from several people, think it was £30 or so.

I think basically, they found out my details and just filtered off the money on a fortnightly basis. I don't use Paypal anymore.

Sorry for hijack but how does that work? Got me worried now; I use paypal to pay for various things, bought some Andy Weatherall mp3s just last week for example. I thought my cash goes to paypal and then on to retailer without my bank/cc details getting passed on. (If I need a refund I always go via the paypal issue escalation route and have never had problems.)

[Silent1]

What's the link?

[TonyHetherington]

https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow...

[Silent1]

TonyHetherington said:

https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow...

linky no worky tony

[TonyHetherington]

linky yes worky for me?

alternatively, click the banner at the very top of this page; www.thedeccas.co.uk

[Silent1]

TonyHetherington said:

linky yes worky for me?

alternatively, click the banner at the very top of this page; www.thedeccas.co.uk

Works now, thanks Tony.

[WorAl]

Adam B said:

WorAl said:

Pretty much the opposite to what Mr Will said, I bought an item, paid for it etc, they didn't send it, I asked for my money back and they gave it to me.

They then proceeded to remove the same amount from my account every other week until I got my bank statement (as I didn't use Paypal that often I didn't notice and I only used to get statements every quarter) and retrieved it all, nice little filtering system if they get away with it from several people, think it was £30 or so.

I think basically, they found out my details and just filtered off the money on a fortnightly basis. I don't use Paypal anymore.

Sorry for hijack but how does that work? Got me worried now; I use paypal to pay for various things, bought some Andy Weatherall mp3s just last week for example. I thought my cash goes to paypal and then on to retailer without my bank/cc details getting passed on. (If I need a refund I always go via the paypal issue escalation route and have never had problems.)

Have no idea, they may have got into my computer, I have no firewall, all I know is that they were filtering out the money in small amounts, hence stopped using paypal and now have monthly statements. I don't know if it would have kept on after closing paypal as first thing I done was stopped that money coming out my bank via the bank clerk.