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by happywolf 3945 days ago
Technical this isn't fraud from the perspective of PayPal.

Let me elaborate, if your account is taken over and used, or your credit card is fraudulently associated with a PayPal account, then this is fraud (as per PayPal). However in this case, you were willingly using the account to pay someone and entered into the transaction willingly. Even though the outcome was not favourable to you, but PayPal doesn't have the information needed to mediate.

In fact to PayPal it doesn't have the necessary information to judge who is telling the truth: it is as easy to fabricate a GoDaddy letter or whatever documentations you provided, and there is no easy way to tell (yes, PayPal can call one by one to verify, but this isn't scalable and very expensive). That is one of the reasons why eBay doesn't offer buyer protection.

I doubt you will get better protection with other alternatives like credit cards or bank transfers.
2 comments
tooltrainer 3945 days ago
But my Godaddy rep provided his contact info and was happy to speak to PayPal on behalf of myself and Godaddy. PayPal actually said they didn't need to speak to Godaddy because the documents provided by the seller were authentic.

PayPal's buyer protection is supposed to protect against items that are "significantly not as described" which this clearly was. So yes, in that respect and by PayPal's own stated guidelines, it is fraud.

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hannibalhorn 3945 days ago
You definitely get better protection if you use your credit card. Maybe it depends on the bank, as I've only had to do it 3 or 4 times in my life, but they've always stood by me, even in less obvious situations than the linked post.
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happywolf 3945 days ago
You are right, it depends on the card issuer. My friend was forced to pay a large sum at knife point in China a few years ago with his CC, later the CC company told him there was nothing they could do since he personally signed it already.
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tomtang0514 3945 days ago
I have to say it's really not the CC company's problem. Your friend should call the police and ask for the proof document from the police to argue with CC company
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