By Sheila Mckenzie-
A health and social care worker has been duped of £1600, just two weeks after she was refunded just over £5,000 after being scammed by fraudsters.
Vera Ajoku, 29, sent £1600 to an American for some painting, but never received the painting. She is now seeking a refund from her Nation Wide Bank.
AD: Capeesh Restaurant
Only last month, Ms Ajoku was refunded £5,138 by Barclays Bank, after she carelessly paid the money to fraudsters posing as HMRC officials who told her she would lose her property, and also be jailed, unless she coughed up the cash.
At the time, Ms Ajoku, who claimed to have she suffered extreme anxiety that made her think she had lost everything. She received counselling and support, only to again find herself the victim of another online scam, this time by a phony who has now completely disappeared from paypal.
Duped
AD: Oysterian Sea Food Restaurant And Bar
The man duped her of the cash without providing any goods. Paypal distanced themselves from the scam because of her choice in sending the money via the avenue of ‘family and friends’.
She had ordered an expensive £1600 painting in an attempt to woo her ex fiancee, who dumped her at the last minute, walking out of their planned wedding last August.
In denial of the finality of the relationship, she pursued the man after he left with some of her belongings, including things he bought for her. She was suffering from her own delusions, shocked at the embarrassment of being dumped, after her family members had flown into Ireland for the low key wedding, during Covid -19 times.
Painting
Thrust into another panic, she told The Eye Of Media.Com that the man called Jonathan, said he could create some water works painting collections which she wanted to use to decorate her new home. She communicated with the man via whats app and what’s app calls.
Goods And Services Option
According to the woman, who works two jobs, she initially sent the first payment of £800 through paypal via goods and services options. It was a collection of paintings she was purchasing in a last ditch attempt to win back her former fiancee who walked out on her, two weeks before their scheduled wedding.
The man, who told her is called Jonathan, told her that because she had selected goods/services paypal would seize the money, and that he would apparently be charged too .
”The man requested that he return the money to my bank account and send it again this way that I will need to send the money again to him via friends/family option. He sent back the money , meaning he had received the equivalent amount of $1,135 dollars”, she said.
He then showed Ms Ajoku the completed painting, but said he needed more money the following week, claiming to need to purchase more paint , stating that because he would be sending at least 8 canvas , the lady needed to pay him another £800.
”Johnathan began shouting at me on the phone saying he hadn’t received the money. I said to him I didn’t understand what he meant.
She sent him a screen shot of the second payment, but the man insisted she must have made an error.
”He was being verbally abusive through texts messages, I was so confused. He claimed his account had been frozen by pay pal and he could not access the money I sent him. When I asked him for the tracking details, and he said DHL didn’t give him any, alarm bells started ringing.
Immediately I contacted PayPal and opened a dispute case with them and then asked them to close the account and that Johnathan is a fraudster”.
Compensation
Paypal refused to compensate Ms Ajoku because she had sent the money through the route of friends and family. The angry health worker said: ”I think it is ridiculous that paypal would not compensate me just because I sent the money via friends and family. Are they suggesting that friends cannot defraud somebody? Paypal really need to reconsider their policies, they are not doing a good job of protecting customers.
Struggle
Paypal customers often struggle to get their money back when they have been tricked into sending money to fraudsters or targeted by hackers who have taken control of their account.
PayPal ‘s policy on its handling of reimbursement claims when you’ve been tricked into authorising a transaction is unclear, and the way it has no consistent way of dealing with complex complaints.
‘PayPal claims to only cover unauthorised transactions. I tried to make a claim with my bank, but they said because I authorised the payment using PayPal, that they couldn’t help.’ Charlie told us. PayPal says: ‘PayPal Buyer Protection covers customers for various instances of ‘scams.’
Nationwide has assured Ms Ajoku that the situation will be resolved through communication with pay pal. The situation exposes gaps in pay pal’s system.
Pay Pal was contacted for comment.
AD: Heritage And Restaurant Lounge Bar