Dan,
You indicated that paid via PayPal. How was the PayPal account backed? Credit Card? Traditional bank account? Debit Card? If it was through your regular bank account or a debit card attached to the account, call your bank and ask for the department that deals with "Reg E" claims (Reg E deals with "protection of individual consumers engaging in electronic fund transfers. "). Explain the circumstance to them and see if you can submit a Reg E claim for this transaction. If it was a credit card, then call the credit card company and explain the charges.
In either case, you should be able to get a credit back to your account from the bank or credit card company for the amount of the transaction. However, if the pickups do ship and arrive, you'll be on the hook to pay the bank/CC back to avoid being involved in a fraud case.
Banks and CC companies are very limited by the government in regards to holding you accountable for stolen money (which in your case is what this amounts to). However, they are very active in chasing down those that committed the fraud since they are very attached to the money.
After that, my best guess is legal action, but someone else with more knowledge would need to chime in on that.
I hope this helps and that you can get it resolved.
Matt
You indicated that paid via PayPal. How was the PayPal account backed? Credit Card? Traditional bank account? Debit Card? If it was through your regular bank account or a debit card attached to the account, call your bank and ask for the department that deals with "Reg E" claims (Reg E deals with "protection of individual consumers engaging in electronic fund transfers. "). Explain the circumstance to them and see if you can submit a Reg E claim for this transaction. If it was a credit card, then call the credit card company and explain the charges.
In either case, you should be able to get a credit back to your account from the bank or credit card company for the amount of the transaction. However, if the pickups do ship and arrive, you'll be on the hook to pay the bank/CC back to avoid being involved in a fraud case.
Banks and CC companies are very limited by the government in regards to holding you accountable for stolen money (which in your case is what this amounts to). However, they are very active in chasing down those that committed the fraud since they are very attached to the money.
After that, my best guess is legal action, but someone else with more knowledge would need to chime in on that.
I hope this helps and that you can get it resolved.
Matt
