How you paid shapes what comes next
Credit card purchases generally carry dispute rights under federal law for goods that were not delivered or not as agreed, and many issuers offer similar dispute processes for debit cards. Disputes usually must be raised within a set period after the statement, so acting soon matters. Payment apps, wire transfers, and gift cards are much harder to reverse because you authorized the payment yourself. Marketplaces and payment services often have their own buyer protection programs with their own deadlines and rules. If the checkout page captured your card details, unauthorized charges may also appear later, and those are handled differently.
Records worth saving
Take screenshots of the website, the product listing, and any messages with the seller before they disappear. Save order confirmations, tracking numbers, payment receipts, and the email address or phone number the seller used. Report the scam to the FTC, to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, and to the New York Attorney General if you live in the state. If you gave out card details or passwords, contact your bank and change those credentials. Be wary of follow-up messages offering to recover your money for a fee, which are a common second scam.
Whether a legal claim makes sense
Many online shopping scams are run from overseas by people who are hard to identify, so a lawsuit against the seller is often impractical. Legal help can be worthwhile when the loss is large, when a card issuer or platform wrongly denied a dispute, or when a domestic business or payment processor played a role. We review how you paid, what the provider told you, and what records you kept. For businesses that sell online and were targeted by fraudulent buyers, the analysis is different, and we look at chargeback and contract issues. We tell you plainly when the cost of pursuing a claim is likely to outweigh what could be recovered.
