Don't mean to bum you out, but if he's really a scammer, Paypal can't do crap.
They'll recover your money no problem, IF AND ONLY IF, he's left it in his Paypal account. If he's a real scammer, he would have cleaned out his account. Then Paypal can't do jack.
If you paid through Paypal via a credit card, go through the credit card instead. They are much more consumer friendly than paypal..
Best of luck/
thx for the headsup. I'll contact chase.