SCAMMED But Not Car Parts

[roadking77]

I think my wife was scammed out of a deposit she put down for a puppy. It went through paypal and she is dealing with them right now. My question is for computer guys.

The 'seller' sent me an email, is there an easy way for me, a computer illiterate to figure out at least an area where the email originated from? The seller gave an address and I wanted to see if the email by chance originated at least in the same area.

[Zach]

I think my wife was scammed out of a deposit she put down for a puppy. It went through paypal and she is dealing with them right now. My question is for computer guys.

The 'seller' sent me an email, is there an easy way for me, a computer illiterate to figure out at least an area where the email originated from? The seller gave an address and I wanted to see if the email by chance originated at least in the same area.

Generally PayPal is pretty biased towards the buyer so I would try there first. If a chargeback fails through PayPal which is unlikely you can try charging back through your bank for fraud. As for email origination it is not accessible to my knowledge for an everyday person to do, you can try googling it and see what comes up. If it’s foreign some countries have specific emails if it’s a gmail.com then there isn’t much you can do. Emails, location, etc can easily be faked online anyways. Just tell PayPal your whole story and have proper documentation and it’s likely they will charge back.

[b_hill_86]

Yea, as Zach said, no easy way to tell the location for the average person.

[FormTA]

PayPal like stated above it pretty darn good and usually sides with the buyer. It's the reason I use them for almost everything on the net.

[5th T/A]

Unfortunately, I can't offer any good advice, it is sickening when something like this happens.

Not very likely anything will come of it, but you could report it to local law enforcement.

[stros]

We’ve been hearing about the puppy related scams around here too lately.  I think you made a good call to go thru PayPal.  As mentioned above they are your best bet for being able to get your money back vs other options.  Hope you get your money back.

[rkellerjr]

Here are some instructions that may or may not be helpful...

https://www.rightinbox.com/blog/how-to-trace-email-sender-location

Also, there are lots of links when search "how can I trace an email?" that you may try. As someone mentioned, if it came from GMAIL, from what I've read, you can't trace it because GMAIL does not give out IP addresses.

Sorry to hear bud, hope you get resolution.

[b_hill_86]

Publicly available means to trace IP addresses generally aren’t reliable anyway.

However if this turns out to be a scam, depending on how much the deposit was, it may be worthwhile to file a report with law enforcement. There’s a bit more than can be done on their end with regard to determining an individual’s location if the intent is to prosecute.

[roadking77]

My wife is going through pay pal right now. We have been super busy so I am not sure where it all stands at this point. She was looking for another puppy (something I need like another hole in my head  ). Girl contacted her -first red flag- and said she had one. When my wife looked her up on fb, she found that she was in Ocean City, about a 3 hr drive. We used to have a condo there so its very familiar territory. She figured a nice weekend drive to pick it up. After many conversations back and forth she was comfortable enough to send a deposit. Against my better judgement but she doesnt listen to me anyway! The seller gave her a place to send it to and asked for friends and family -about the 4th red flag at this point-. My wife did refuse that request. After she sent the payment (to something that had a title about being a foot lover or something to that effect?) the seller got back and said that her husband gave the wrong 'address' and the payment ($300) went to someone else. Said to re send another payment to a different address. Thats when things came to a head. She called the seller out as a scam, silence for a bit then the seller came back and apologized but did not offer any refunds. My naive wife went back and forth enough to think that she was prob. legit??? We ended up getting a puppy elsewhere for about half the average asking price so she figures if she never gets her money back she is still ahead. Personally I would like to get the money back

[5th T/A]

We ended up getting a puppy elsewhere for about half the average asking price so she figures if she never gets her money back she is still ahead. Personally I would like to get the money back

Hopefully the excitement of having a new pup around the house will distract you from thinking about the scammer. I have been a dog lover all my life, the love and companionship they give goes a long way.

[FormTA]

But hopefully not take focus away from the TATA. Not pushing but I haven't seen much progress on it  . And from what I have been putting together in my head with what I have seen Ryan doing it appears to me you are going to be even more distracted. 

[roadking77]

She got a response from paypal finding in her favor. The refund is supposed to happen within 5 days. We shall see.

Yes Luke, not much happening anywhere around my house lately. I have been very busy with personal stuff. I have dropped off the latest needed part to the builder and plan on getting in touch today to see how things are going. Once I have the motor I plan on spending all of my spare time in the shop.