I wanted to do moneypak because I had such great success with "trader steve".  It was so quick and fast.  Money wire takes days, and time was not on my side (I am moving by tuesday).  I learned a $300 lesson, and it sucks.

I will use Mt. Gox when I have the money again.  For now I gotta lick my wounds and figure out how to get some $ or BTC before I move.

I contacted paypal and claimed fraud.  one of the $100 i sent was as a personal gift, so they can't get that back.  The other two 100's are under investigation.  I can't chargeback because I used moneypak to fund the paypal account.

Looks like I have been scammed and I'll be surprised if I get any money back at all, since I am at her mercy.

Let me be a lesson to anyone new to BTC, don't rush into buying BTC without a trusted source, and if things seem fishy, just back out.  I should have known something was up when she (or he for that matter) insisted I type bitcoin in the description.  I should have known something was wrong when she wouldn't send me BTC for each $100 I sent.  Yet I went along with it anyway (mostly to avoid being labeled a scammer).  Now I am out of $300 I needed for BTC for my move across the country. 

Scammers are pieces of shit.  She was quite polite and kind but apparently all kinds of people will f*ck you over when they're anonymous.

ffuentes, I have sent money via paypal before and was unable to get it back.  It's quite possible.  If she sends the BTC I will send back the money.  But it's obvious this is bullshit.

EDIT: not to mention yesterday, before I sent the money, she was responding to my emails literally within 30 seconds.  It's been hours since she has responded, and does it not seem a little odd that she hasn't posted on this forum since she said she sent the BTC?  Trust me, I really do want the BTC but I am not going to stand by and watch $300 of my money go to some scamming *sshole.

Raeldi may be a scammer.

Check out this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=36492.0

(I can provide email convos) Basicly I had a moneypak of $300 I wanted to trade for BTC.  She said sure.  I placed the $300 in my paypal which caused limitations.  When I sent the $300 the money was retracted by PAYPAL, not me.  We tested the waters with me sending $10 and she sends 1 BTC.  Worked great.

I told her I wanted to send 100, then get my respective BTC three times.  She said no, she will send the BTC when I send three 100 payments.

After some arguing I caved in and send the three 100 payments.  In the thread she said she sent the BTC ( 25 BTC ) which I never received.  And using http://blockexplorer.com/ with my address 1MeQai3fHDsHcdVLS12muKeySobqxuwcXZ you can see the 1  BTC was sent, but the 25 BTC was never sent / received.  The wallet she used is 1516rnmGUDeF4vyBX3NDR5eXd22yKZdPHR.

I told her I'd give her a couple hours to respond, but she has since responded in the thread after she said she sent the BTC, and she sent me an email 5 hours ago saying her internet is down and shes using a cell phone.  If I don't hear back from her I'll contact paypal.  Does that sound standard?

Anyways I learned a valuable lesson and I just wanted to alert you guys of the situation.  I will update if she turns out to be legit or a scammer.  So far it looks like a scammer.

When can I contact paypal and you guys consider it OKAY, so I don't appear to be a scammer?  She hasn't posted in this thread since she said she sent the BTC.  She said her internet is down and is sending emails via cell phone. 

And when she told me to send the money she said to put "for Bitcoin, the virtual currency" in the description, which I responded saying no, I shouldn't because paypal doesnt like BTC.  She insisted I put that in the description which further leads me to think I have been scammed.

Input is greatly appreciated.

She sent me an email asking if I received the BTC.  she said she sent the email through her phone cuz her internet it out or something.  Anyways, I told her no I didn't and there's no history of her sending it.

Told her to hop on the forum and send the BTC.  Hopefully works out.

indio007, she said she already sent the BTC.  Only reason I haven't contacted paypal (besides being advised) is she was kind, articulate, and bright.  I didn't think she was a scammer, but the lack of BTC says otherwise.

Hopefully there's a reason for all this and no harm is done.

So then, if she is scamming me I have a chance of getting that money back?  Even if it was moneypak money?  I just want BTC but this whole ordeal certainly taught me a lesson.  Hopefully she responds in this thread within 24 hours.  If not I'll end up contacting paypal.

EDIT:  Well it's been a long day, I'm going to sleep.  Hopefully I wake to gmail response from her, or a response in this thread.  If not my heart will sink and I will have learned trusting anon is foolish.

Can you explain why PP for BTC is frowned upon?  I do appreciate you taking time to respond to this situation, but could you elaborate?  PP would freeze my account for 180 days because I tried to buy bitcoin?

The 1 BTC appeared instant.  Took a an hour or two to confirm it.

Alright, I will wait a day.  She was VERY responsive in her emails and seemed intelligent, coherent, and friendly.  She really doesn't strike me as a scammer, but I have been burned before and it sucked.

Thanks for popping in and giving your input guys.  I have a lot of bitcoin politics to learn.

So time to contact paypal?

So if you look at her address she used, you can see the 1 BTC she sent when we were testing teh waters after I sent her $10, but there is no amount for 25 BTC.  Does this mean I have been duped for certain, or can it take time?  She said the amount was sent, but it does not appear that way. 

Anyone seen BTC take so long to even show up in someone's wallet?

In an email she said

"By the way, I'll assign the same wallet address to you as I use for the rest of bitcointalk.org: 1516rnmGUDeF4vyBX3NDR5eXd22yKZdPHR"

So I assume that's the address she sends it from?

By wallet I mean a BTC address that is handled online instead of the bitcoin client.

In the beginning I requested proof of her BTC.  Here's the pic she sent

https://i.imgur.com/t7171.png

 The address in that pic is

1DyrWHVDrnredkQPdKbjaxMMatMLNLauY9

The "wallet" she used is

1516rnmGUDeF4vyBX3NDR5eXd22yKZdPHR

Going by that site you mentioned, I see no 25BTC transactions anywhere.

If you guys think I have been scammed (considering she said she sent the BTC, which you all saw) what's the best way to handle this?  Thank you guys so much for your help and feedback to a newb such as myself.

My address I used is 1MeQai3fHDsHcdVLS12muKeySobqxuwcXZ

Think it's time I contact paypal?  Could someone guide me through on how to recollect my funds that I sent via paypal.

Still no BTC in my wallet's history... Should I be concerned?

Everything okay on your end Raeldi?  Any bumps?

Okay.  Well I am going to watch some "Breaking Bad" with my brother (GREAT tv series, incredible).  I'll return in an hour or two and report back if I received the BTC.

My wallet doesn't show any BTC transactions, does it take longer to receive the BTC because it's higher than 1 BTC?

I got a response from her! I'll let you guys know how it goes.