A man from Ilfracombe has fallen victim to an eBay scam after paying £300 for what he believed was an Apple Macbook. However, when Paul Barrington, 38, opened his package, it contained only a picture of the portable computer. 

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The DJ had sold his beloved surf board in order to afford to laptop for his DJ business. 

"It's the first time I haven't had a surfboard since I was 10 years old, but I need a laptop so I checked the listing and the seller's rating," he said.

"He'd been a member for a few years, so there was nothing to be suspicious about."

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Sadly, the package wasn't quite what Mr Barrington expected and he soon realised he had been scammed.

"The package was as light as a feather. Why bother sending a picture in a box? It doesn't make any sense. I almost had to laugh," he told the North Devon Journal.

An eBay spokesperson said it was a "very rare" incident, adding they take "the issue of fraud very seriously".

"We were very sorry to hear about Mr Barrington's unusual experience. We'll make sure he gets a refund as soon as possible and investigate the circumstances around this sale. The overwhelming majority of listings on eBay coming from honest and law-abiding sellers."

The incident echoes a similar scam back in 2013, when a father was duped into paying £450 for a photograph of an Xbox One console. 

In 2013, a father was duped into paying £450 for a photo of an Xbox One on the online auction site.

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