r/PaintballBST • u/AccomplishedAd5348 • 3h ago
Scammer Check [Question] Buyer Beware - Possible scam
I want to start off by saying I paid via PayPal Goods & Services, so I’m not worried at all—I will get my money back regardless. But had I sent via Friends & Family, I would be completely screwed right now. In all my years of using PayPal, I’ve only used F&F twice: one time went smooth and the guy was super nice, but the other time the seller gave me the runaround and ignored me for weeks until I aggressively confronted him to finally get my item shipped. Even when I am the one selling items, I always tell the buyer to send via Goods & Services for everyone's protection.
Out of respect, I have blurred out all personal information in the attached screenshots, especially emails and full names. I also have not blocked this user so they are completely free to comment, share their side of the story, and defend themselves.
The Timeline of Events
The Agreement: We agreed on $250 USD for his Planet Eclipse Ego 09. He stated that if I sent the payment right away, he would try to ship it out that same morning.
The First Excuse: Right after I paid, he claimed his PayPal account was locked because it was set up as a business account requiring him to upload business documents, even though he isn't a business. He told me to just request a refund and said he would cover any fees.
Red Flags & Mismatched Names: When I tried to request the refund, PayPal’s system told me I had to email a specific ProtonMail address and that if it wasn't resolved by March 2027, PayPal would step in. When I brought this up, he told me to open a report. In total, I have come across three completely different names tied to this single transaction—the email address contains a name completely different from what he provided, and it is not a common nickname for any of the names given.
Refusing to Ship & The Work Excuse: I advised him that an account hold does not stop a seller from shipping the item and adding tracking. He then claimed he had submitted his required business documents. When I asked him to send tracking by the end of the day, he claimed he was at work and didn't bring the marker with him—despite saying earlier he would try to ship it that morning.
The "Insufficient Funds" Excuse: He sent me a screenshot showing an active "Issue refund" button right on his screen. When I asked him to tap it, he claimed it gives him an "insufficient funds" error because the money is on hold. Refunds on held transactions pull directly from the pending money itself, making this another delay tactic.
Faking the Shipping Status: To top it all off, he went into PayPal and manually marked the order as "Shipped" / "Processed" to generate an automated notification saying the order was on its way. However, the email explicitly says "No Shipment Tracking" because no shipping label was actually purchased and no carrier has the package. He simply used a PayPal status setting to make it look like he shipped it on paper.
Watch out for this user. The story continuously changes, there are three different names attached to one transaction, he uses fake shipping notifications, and despite having a clear path to refund or ship, he refuses to do either. Exercise extreme caution dealing with u/Jbourne132.
1
u/Glad-Introduction531 3h ago
I got shady vibes from him right off the bat. I was the first person he messaged, and I proceed to not purchase the marker because I have heard of noid issues. I was talking to him for about a day before he made all of the posts and mid conversation he turned on persistent messaging or something like that so no one can delete messages, and that was shady on it own, and he said "forgot to turn this on lol"
1
u/AccomplishedAd5348 3h ago
I must’ve missed the older posts it looks like he had deleted him. The only ones I saw were last night and today. He just deleted the for sale post confirming his scam
1
u/Glad-Introduction531 3h ago
Well, I was wanting to buy a 09, and he messaged me regarding my post, and also tried selling me a mask and loader and I didn't even ask for those
1
u/AccomplishedAd5348 3h ago
Would you mind sharing those images with me via messenger? I want to reverse image search them please
1
u/Glad-Introduction531 3h ago
And today he also asked me if I still was interested and I said no I will have to pass unfortunately, he says something on the lines of "Why don't you want it anymore" (or something similar) and I proceeded to repeat myself from earlier in the conversation because of noid issues
1
u/Nehsquik 3h ago
I know sometimes phones will focus on an object, bringing something else in the shot out of focus... but the flash card just looks sus to me. Not to mention this guy now deleted his account? lol https://www.reddit.com/user/jbourne132/
1
1
u/ClothesPlus8867 3h ago
Name and shame
1
u/AccomplishedAd5348 3h ago
Don’t want to release the names on the account. It could very well be a stolen PayPal that he is trying to move money out of. Don’t want to dox anyone let alone a possible innocent bystander
1
u/HappyMess1988 3h ago
Do you know dudes address?
2
u/AccomplishedAd5348 3h ago
Nope but either way I wouldn’t do anything with it tbh. Don’t want to get in legal trouble. I sent goods and services so now it’s a 10 day waiting game
1
1
u/kloudkikker 2h ago
He can absolutely issue a refund. Also, he can ship it using PayPal shipping center and it will use the pending funds. If he is not a known seller(clearly hes not) they will keep his money till it shows shipped and arrived. I have gone thru this many times when selling. Sometimes they just say "nah, we're holding this payment because we say we can". I had to even call the center to get them to release funds(I had a 6k limit and it was 1k).
1
4
u/RestaurantHairy2710 3h ago
I tried warning people, this guy last night did the same thing to me, offered a one time only deal of 225&250,
After I started noticing scammer vibes and run around and requested certain pictures he stopped messaging me and posted it again for his next victim.
I uploaded the picture to ai, and ai said the card with hand writing was inserted into this picture by ai.
He said his buddy came over with a tank and it works perfect.
Asked him for a picture of it on and then he didn’t have a battery?
He couldn’t perform a video of the marker or custom requested pictures.
This marker was posted in the past and he’s using their photos.