Watch out for Paypal scammers asking you to gift money
Scammers trawl classifieds and Facebook pages looking for victims
Out here in Spain many expats belong to buy/sell Facebook groups, and it’s been highlighted this week that scammers are using this form of communication to target potential scam victims by advertising items for sale then scamming their victims on a Paypal payments system.
Paypal is generally a safe way to pay for goods, but in these cases the scammers are asking users to use the GIFT MONEY function rather than using the normal payment option.
There’s normally a good excuse proffered as to why this form of payment should be used, but remember, if you GIFT the money then you cannot make a claim on Paypal when your goods don´t turn up because you have GIFTED the money rather than sending it as a PAYMENT for something.
There is no protection on Paypal for “GIFT” transactions, so Paypal are unable to mediate should you try to open a dispute on the payment as you gave a gift and didn´t pay for something.
To protect yourself never agree to GIFT money on Paypal if you’re paying for something as by doing so you lose the protection offered to you by the service and run the risk of being scammed.
For other info to help you deal with common issues in Spain go to the index of Ex-pat fact sheets