I was scammed by this seller and his fake middleman

[Buzzer]

WARNING! Off-site contact information posted. Most scams occur off-site. Please contact members directly via EpicNPC chat. We do not investigate disputes if you communicate off-site.

Information
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Purchase Date: 11-12 March 2023
Date the problem began: 12 March 2023
Method of Contact Used (chat program): Discord
Instant Messenger username of the person you're accusing: [RobynHood (his epicnpc name), RobynHood#7777 (his discord name)]
Your Instant Messenger ID: Buzzer#3486 (my discord name)

Other information:


DISPUTE Information
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Link of transaction thread (URL, Epicnpc thread): https://www.epicnpc.com/threads/met...ce-stacked-pve-completionist-account.2451528/
Approximate value of property: $2350.00 USD (or $3254 CAD)
Was Trade Guardian used? No
If yes, what is the Trade Guardian ID?

What is the dispute about?

This seller offers his Bungie/Steam account for $2350 USD or $3254 CAD and offers to discuss the details of the deal on Discord only. Аfter all sorts of agreements he strictly insists that the deal have to be done using middleman service only.

He starts recommending a middleman that is "well known" on Discord, who has offered his middleman services for Destiny accounts and emblem codes for years and has been very reliable and proven by his friends as the best one. He'll provide many links, screenshots and texts to convince to do the deal through that middleman. He even offers to pay for middleman fees (%5 of the amount).

Next, he invites the buyer and his fellow (aka middleman) to the group chat to organize the deal.

Please, see their fraud scheme below:

Let's say you are a buyer (like me):

1) The seller sends (or says he's sent) his account access information to the middleman through DM
2) The middleman secures the account (changes access information or pretends to do it)
3) You send all the money to the seller with no chargeback scheme (one of his requirements)
4) The seller says that he gets the money from you and everything is OK.
5) The middleman sends account access information to you through DM.
6) You try to sign-in to the account using received access information.
7) The access information is fake and you fail to sign-in the account.
8) The middleman disappears and changes his Discord name. Also clears his messages.
9) The seller is trying to pretend to be a victim of fraud and offers to split the loss. Because, he "lost" his account and he will have nothing in case he sends all the money back to you.
10.1) In case you believe in this fake spectacle they both will get easy money just like that.
10.2) In case you disagree and say that they scammed you, the seller clears his messages with !purge command, disappears and finally blocks you on Discord.

I took dozens of screen records and a bunch of screenshots of the full chat and group chat from the first day to the last transaction day using capture tools. I did it because I wasn't sure of the seller's truth since the first day. Unfortunately, in the end I trusted him and lost all the my money.

Other details / notes:

I'm sure that they scammed a lot of people and did it several times before. They know what and when to do.

Proof
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You MUST provide proof or your claim will not be valid!

Chat Log Screenshots (make sure username is visible, not display username):
Payment Screenshots (make sure the accused email is visible):
Other proof:

Please, see attachments.
I will provide all the proof at your request.

Account Recalls
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Most account recalls have little proof. To get more evidence, please open a support ticket to attempt to recover the account BEFORE opening a dispute thread.

Did the seller say he's the original owner? (provide proof)
What account information did the seller provide you at the time of sale? (ID, SQA, etc)
How long did you have the account before it was recalled?
If you have a support ticket about this recall, please post screenshots of it.
(you can use the HIDE tag so the images are not publicly available to everyone)


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If you are not involved, please do not post in the thread.

Here you can find information about our Dispute rules and how we investigate disputes.
https://www.epicnpc.com/threads/90442-Dispute-FORUM-RULES

 

[SaltnVinegar]

Damn.. that's a big loss. Why didnt you use a middleman from here with such a high value trade?

 

[Buzzer]

WARNING! Off-site contact information posted. Most scams occur off-site. Please contact members directly via EpicNPC chat. We do not investigate disputes if you communicate off-site.

Damn.. that's a big loss. Why didnt you use a middleman from here with such a high value trade?

The seller persisted and believably promoted his “well known” Discord middleman called “Stars” for a couple days. He also noticed that any transfer of the money must be made by not-returnable methods like PayPal “Friends and Family” or Interac e-Transfer. He wanted it to avoid chargeback, claiming that I could be a scammer and take back the money after getting the game account.

I suggested the seller organize the deal using the most trustful and legit middleman services like EpicNPC or Trustap. I even increased the price in order not to use the middleman he promoted.
He strictly rejected my suggestion.

So, yeah

 

[SaltnVinegar]

That's unfortunate mate, I highly doubt we can make him return it. Next time, if there is a next time, please make sure you use Trade Guardian. There's nothing we can do otherwise and our support only covers onsite transactions.

Do your best to recover what you can, if possible.