Scammers on eBay and Facebook

Scammers on eBay and Facebook

She found the ring online. A simple gold ring that caught her eye on Facebook Marketplace £100. It looked perfect. Not flashy, just something she wanted to wear every day. The price was good, and the seller seemed trustworthy enough. She clicked the buy button and paid. Then she waited.

Three weeks passed. Then a small package arrived. She went to sign for it without thinking much. When she opened it, she was confused. Inside was not the ring she ordered. Instead, it was a little camera film cartridge. Something she did not ask for and had no use for. The package was tiny, nothing like the ring box she expected.

She checked everything again. The address was hers. The sender was the same as the seller she bought from. She felt something was wrong. She contacted the seller right away. She told them what happened and asked where her ring was. The seller did not seem surprised. Instead, they sent her a copy of a delivery receipt. It said the package was delivered and signed for by her.

She knew she had signed for the camera cartridge but thought it was her £100 ring. The signature on the receipt was hers but it was for the wrong item. It felt like a trick to avoid responsibility. She was being pushed away with paper.

She contacted her bank next. She sent them photos of the package she got and the film cartridge inside. She explained everything clearly. She paid for a gold ring and got something else. She wanted her money back or the ring delivered. The bank said they would look into it.

Days turned into weeks and then months. She followed up but the bank kept asking for more proof. She gave them everything she had. Then, almost a year after she first ordered the ring, she got a letter from the bank. The letter said she could not claim a refund. The reason was that the package showed as signed for on the delivery receipt. That was enough proof for the bank that she received the order she paid for.

She felt crushed. The proof was a lie. The receipt had her signature but it was for a package she did not want and did not order. She never got the ring. The seller had left her without the ring she paid for. The scam was clever and she was left with nothing but a useless piece of film.

This story is a warning to everyone who buys online. It shows how easy it is to get caught in a scam. The scammer sends a cheap item instead of what was ordered. Then they get a delivery receipt with a signature. They use that to avoid paying back or sending the real item. The buyer is stuck with the wrong thing and no way to get justice.

She learned that trusting an online seller is risky. You must be careful and always check what you get the moment it arrives. If something is wrong, act fast. Keep photos and messages as proof. But even then, sometimes the system is on the side of the scammers. Signed delivery receipts can become the final word even if they are wrong.

In her case, the signed receipt was the end of the road. It closed the case for the bank and left her without the ring she paid for. It was not just money lost. It was the frustration of being ignored and dismissed.

This is not just a story about a missing ring. It is a story about how easy it is to get caught in a trap that takes time, money, and hope away from you. It shows how the system can fail people who try to do the right thing. She tells her story as a warning. Be careful, check everything, and never let a signed receipt be the last word. This is a true Story it actually happened to me. A few years ago now it was so horrible.