Protection on buying online3

If buying online (especially first time with a company) I always use either credit card - or paypal -- that way there is some protection -- eg credit card has to refund you if you do not receive the goods or services paid for -- paypal has some protection as well.

I hope you haven't lost too much -- if the sum makes it worthwhile -- only recourse would be court action -- though sending a recorded delivery letter to the comapny concerned threatening that if you don't get a refund may work

A while back I bought something from a Belgian based online seller -- Nothing arrived and no response to emails etc -- Fortunately I had paid by credit card -- My final communication with them advised I was contacting my CC provider to advise them I hadn't received the goods and that I would ask them to refund me --- hey presto goods arrived 5 days later (and I got a dispatch notification emailed to me a few hours after they received my letter!)

I would certainly contact the bank though which you made the transfer.
If they can tell you where the receiving bank account is based at least you will know whether it is in Holland or somewhere which might heighten your suspicions. Also, your bank might be able to make contact with the receiving bank for further help though I suspect that that might depend on your relationship with the staff in your bank - I'm confident that my bank would put themselves out to help in similar circumstances.

Not much a bank can do. They can't simply take the money back, a good thing in most cases. You should be able to find the receiving bank from the details you used to transfer the money, but what do you expect that bank to do based on your allegations?

Have you been scammed? Well, after being heavily involved with eBay since it first went live, tell me the circumstances and I should be able to tell you if you were scammed.

Rule of thumb........iif you tried to get something for nothing and ignored any red flags in your attempt to seal the deal, you got scammed.

I do wonder what the options they will be discussing actually are. The usual option is there is nothing they can do. The sending bank cannot retrieve the money and the receiving bank is no sending their clients money to you on your say so. The only exception to this that I have ever seen was in a clear cut case of large scale fraud where the police became involved. But please do keep us informed.