I was selling an iPhone 4S on eBay for 600 pounds. Someone purchased it using a PayPal account, but the person who used the account was actually a fraudster. He hacked into the PayPal account, purchased the phone and asked me to send it to Lithuania. I received payment, which cleared in my PayPal account. I then transferred the money from PayPal to my bank account, which took up to 5 working days. The money cleared, and I then posted the phone to the Lithuania address. I was in email communication with the buyer, who agreed he was pleased with the item when he received it.
Sadly, a month later I received an email from PayPal saying they had done a reversal payment on my account. PayPal had a call from the legitimate PayPal account holder saying that his account had been used without his authorization. The legitimate person's account is registered in Austria, which is why PayPal immediately gave his money back to him (the phone was posted to Lithuania).
PayPal told me I am not seller protected because the fraudster put the payment through as a service rather than an item. PayPal said they will not accept responsibility for it and will not protect me under their policies.
I have been in touch with the police and have a crime reference number, but they are unable to help me. I also contacted my bank's fraud team, who said they cannot help me with this case.
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