Bought Fake Tickets from Somebody on Craigslist

[meowcats]

My question involves a consumer law issue in the State of: I sent aBOUT $500 3 months ago to someone on craigslist selling concert tickets. I recently went to the concert and turn out the tickets were completely fake. Everything was altered. Since it was a gift I only have his name and email, and paypal cant do anything because it was a GIFT and past 45 days. Is there anything I can do? If I go to the police can they realistically do anything.

I guess this is my lesson learned, but realistically I think the police can't do anything. Any help would be great.

[jk]

Your claim it was a gift altered anything makes no sense. If you were the purchaser, then you were defrauded and injured to the amount of about $500. Paypal should not be denying your claim based on the fact it was a gift. I don't know about the time limitation as I have not reviewed their policies. You also have recourse through civil courts (small claims is likely but since you refused to provide your state as requested, I cannot even give you a link to information about your courts) and even the criminal courts since what happened is a crime.

call the police and at least make a report. They can do something but whether they will or not is ultimately up to them.

[meowcats]

Your claim it was a gift altered anything makes no sense. If you were the purchaser, then you were defrauded and injured to the amount of about $500. Paypal should not be denying your claim based on the fact it was a gift. I don't know about the time limitation as I have not reviewed their policies. You also have recourse through civil courts (small claims is likely but since you refused to provide your state as requested, I cannot even give you a link to information about your courts) and even the criminal courts since what happened is a crime.

call the police and at least make a report. They can do something but whether they will or not is ultimately up to them.

Well paypal policy says if you send money as a GIFT, then its not necessarily a purchase rather you are just giving people money. My main thing is the only information I have on the person is their name and e-mail address. My state is NY, the other person could be from NY or NJ, no idea.

[jk]

but you said you purchased the tickets. You did not send the money as a gift therefore, their claim of it being a gift is not proper.

whether you will have any success reclaiming your money is likely to rest either on the police' desire to take action and being successful or your ability to trace the guy such that you can determine his true address.

[Mr. Knowitall]

but you said you purchased the tickets. You did not send the money as a gift therefore, their claim of it being a gift is not proper.

He's stating that he classified the payment as a gift when he sent the money.

[jk]

He's stating that he classified the payment as a gift when he sent the money.

Hmm, I wonder why? That makes absolutely no sense, unless of course.... well, I won't go there based on what the OP posted and my suspicions.

[LawResearcherMissy]

Hmm, I wonder why? That makes absolutely no sense, unless of course.... well, I won't go there based on what the OP posted and my suspicions.

If you classify something as a gift when you send it, you pay no fees on the transaction.

OP, you are out of luck. You can try the police and small claims, but realistically, you shot yourself in the foot with an elephant gun when you declined to follow PayPal's rules about payments.

Next time, suck it up and pay the fees.

[jk]

LawResearcherMissy;700191]If you classify something as a gift when you send it, you pay no fees on the transaction.

Oh, so it was a scam on the part of the OP to avoid paying those fees. Well, I guess OP is stuck with either leaving it as is with PayPal or admitting to the crime of fraud.

[Mr. Knowitall]

I don't think PayPal would treat the matter as anything out of the ordinary. This sort of thing must happen all the time. I expect they'll simply point to their TOS and say, "When you choose to call your payment a gift, you give up all of the consumer protections that we extend when you engage in the purchase of goods or services, so we can't help you with your problem with the merchant." It's possible that they will examine both accounts for other improprieties; if they confirm that the seller is abusing their service to avoid paying transaction fees, I would expect them to take action against his account.

[Disagreeable]

As jk indicated, this appears to be a case of what goes around,comes around. To file a report based on the fraud, you must admit you also committed fraud.