craigslist rip off

[Anonymous]

i got ripped off on a craigslist transaction. i bought tickets and it turned out they did not exsist. I paid $600. The guy is a 20-something from a different city, i dont think he a professional bc we have emailed exchanged from his cell phone and i know his name. he promised to repay me, and he did, with a check that bounced in my paypal account. but that was enough (the deposit) to make craigslist and paypal consider it rectified. I went back to craigslist and he is banned (but I am sure able to post as another anonymous person).
Obviously, lesson learned. but my dh texted him recently and he texted back saying it would be soon.
at this point now, i just feel mad. i want to send his facebook friends messages telling them what he did.
if he wont pay us back, i want to at least embarass him.

[Anonymous]

p here- its been 7-8 months now.

[Anonymous]

I got ripped off online and the police got involved- i got our money back. I documented everything and provided as much proof as possible.

[Anonymous]

That really stinks and I'm sorry you lost out on that much money. I don't think I'd buy something that expensive on Craigslist, and especially not from someone out of town. In cash, in person. At least you were able to protect yourself somewhat with Paypal.

[Anonymous]

never ever accept check or anything but cash from craigslist and always try to meet in person in a very public place!

[Anonymous]

can you take him to small claims court?

[Anonymous]

OP, have you notified paypal that the check bounced? It seems like this is the sort of thing they are supposed to take care of. We have had issues with things bought on ebay and pp has always fixed it.

[Anonymous]

PayPal has also always fixed our stuff as well. You can also sue him in small claims court. You actually don't have to know exactly where he is, get a process server. It may cost you $100 but they're very good at this sort of thing and you can add that to your claim. Once you get a judgment against him and he doesn't pay, you can file again - either to have his wages garnished or collection costs. As the damage awards keep increasing, you can then "sell" the debt to a collector. By this time, the amount of your award is high enough you can get a lot if not all of the money you're out and the guy will be hounded by debt collectors and it will go against his credit rating.

[Anonymous]

OP again-paypal considered it resolevd when he put the money into our account. When it bounced, he promised and he (naively) beleived he would pay it so we did not pursue it on paypal, and the time is up. Now the only action they will take is to limit/cancel his account, but we cannot use them to get our money.
He is on chicago and w ehave his address. I looked at the DC small claims court info and it looks as if we cannot file it here. has anyone dealt with filing out of state, and not having a lawyer? The cost to file is close to $200- which I know he would end up being responsible for, but we are not travelling to chicago for any kind of hearing. I am confident we have the documentation which would rule in our favor (he has apologized, promised the money, begged for more time, etc etc, plus the paypal resolution process shows that he "paid" us but then it bounced).

[Anonymous]

I could be wrong but think people usually don't have lawyers for small claims court. Why can't you file it here? If you had to go to Chicago, can you ask for the costs to go there?

[Anonymous]

I think you can make a case for filing it in DC even though he's in a different city - and even if your tickets were for a Chicago event. You purchased them from your home and payment was made from your home. If the defendant doesn't think DC is the proper venue, he has to petition the court to change it. I doubt he'll do that given that he didn't have the tickets and his check bounced. It's a lot less than $200 to file all of this stuff, even using a process server in Chicago. The professional process servers are also accustomed to the paperwork the courts required be completed. My organization uses process servers all over the country and if you need a name, I can get you one. I'd be really pissed that you've bent over backwards to give him a chance to make you whole and you not only got screwed out of the tickets, you got screwed out of your refund because you were nice. This is exactly what small claims court is about. You could also submit this to Judge Judy after you file......they actually called us when we did ours.

[Anonymous]

Op again- okay thanks, I will deal with it in DC small claims court. That makes much more sense. What a mess1

[Anonymous]

Yes, deal with it in court and not by sending messages to his facebook friends.

[Anonymous]

I have to admit that the hassle going to small claims court would not be worth to me for $600.

[Anonymous]

I think it's not only about the money but about teaching the guy a lesson and to document his fraudulent and irresponsible behavior. He probably did this before and will keep doing this if he isn't made to face real consequences.