Scammed? Here is what to do
If you paid a seller and the item never arrived, act quickly. Start on Kuulu — we can freeze a copy of the listing and your conversation as an evidence file — then take it to the police. This page also explains the limits of what consumer-protection bodies can do for a private sale.
1. Report it on Kuulu first
Reporting the seller is the one thing only Kuulu can do for you: the moment you report, we freeze a copy of the listing and your full conversation, with timestamps, into an evidence file tied to the seller's verified identity.
- Open the conversation with the seller you paid.
- Use the report option and choose “Paid, never received”.
- We freeze your evidence file straight away — view and print it from your account to take to the police.
2. Report to the police
Paying for goods that never arrive can be a criminal offence (fraud). Reporting it to the police is about the offence, not a refund — but a police report, together with your evidence file, is what an investigation needs. Report to the police in your own country:
- Estoniahttps://cyber.politsei.ee/cybercrime@politsei.eeCybercrime portal of the Central Criminal Police. Reports are not anonymous.
- Latviahttps://www.vp.gov.lv/en/how-report-policeuzticiba@vp.gov.lvState Police reporting. You can also file an e-application via latvija.lv.
- Lithuaniahttps://www.epolicija.lt/epolicija@policija.ltePolicija self-service portal. You can file anonymously; signing in lets you follow the case.
In an emergency, call 112 anywhere in the Baltic states and the EU.
3. Claiming your money back through the courts
Getting your money back is a civil matter — a claim you bring yourself, separate from the criminal report. If the seller is in another EU country, the European Small Claims Procedure is the cross-border route.
It covers cross-border civil and commercial claims up to 5 000 € (excluding interest and costs), and you start it by filling in standard Claim Form A.
An honest note on consumer protection
Consumer-protection law in the EU covers contracts between a business (a trader) and a consumer. A private sale between two individuals is not a consumer contract, so consumer-protection bodies and the European Consumer Centres do not resolve disputes between two private people.
That is why your routes here are the police (for the criminal offence) and, if needed, a civil claim — not a consumer complaint. This is also why Kuulu verifies every seller's real identity: so there is a real person behind the listing when something goes wrong.