Consumer complaint received 2022-05-24
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: FL
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2020 I accidentally Venmo the wrong account {$700.00}. When I realized this, I contacted Venmo and asked them to reverse the transaction ASAP. 

They told me I need to contact the person who received the money and ask them to send it back. Which I did because I had his phone number from the transaction. 

He told me that his account balance was XXXX and he can't reverse the transaction because his account was frozen. 

I contacted Venmo and they told me to tell him to open a ticket and tell them it's okay to reverse the transaction. Which he told me he did... 

However for safety, I called the bank and put a stop payment on the transaction. 

Anyway, Venmo then told me because I was able to contact the other person. I must know him and that they can't reverse the transaction because I know this person. 
So basically they scammed me into contacting the guy and used it against me. Even though I followed their directions precisely. Also they were stalling for time while they took my money from my bank. Luckily I stopped them. 

I asked him why they allowed me to send money to a frozen account in the first place? why isnt the account closed? ( they didnt answer ) I continued to contact then to resolve this with no luck. So I let it go because I don't need Venmo. After they showed their true side and their methods. I would never use an evil company like this again. I told them to close my account and leave me alone. 

Anyway, a few month go by and a friend sends me {$200.00} on Venmo without telling me. I contact them and tell them to reverse the {$200.00} and ofcourse they ignore me and keep the money. I have screen shots of the conversation of most of these conversations. 

They then spend the next 2 years ( COVID years in which I lost my dad and uncle to XXXX and almost became XXXX ) harassing me and calling me at crazy hours of the morning to collect the money. In which I reply they owe me {$200.00} and after spending hours going in circle on the phone with them. We end up with no fixes to the problem. There were soo many calls in which they threated to ruin my credit, threatened to continue to harass me, and tried different ways to trick me into paying. Telling me they will refund my money once I pay and get the account to XXXX first. 

Anyway, most of these calls ended by me telling them to close my account and leave me alone. They did no such thing. 

Then on XX/XX/XXXX someone sends me {$2000.00} on Venmo. I was like that's impossible. They were supposed to close my account 2 years ago. They have no permission to be using my phone and identity to collect money from people. I contacted them and again they refused to cancel the transaction. I kept repeating to cancel the transaction. They told me to contact the guy and get him to agree to reverse the transaction. To which I replied, I'm not an XXXX. I know how this works. I contact him and then you say I must know him and use it to deny the reversal. I told them that they need to contact the guy and reverse the transaction themselves. That they can't force me to accept a payment and that they need to return the money to this man. I told them that I would report them to XXXX  and CFPB. Especially since they are already under investigation for such collection practices. 

I told them that the original guy who i accidently sent money to... He owed them the money. Not me, not my friend who sent {$200.00} and not this man who sent {$2000.00}. That they need to fix all this or i will report them to the authorities. They then kept repeating that I should contact their collection department. Who has never in the past 2 years had the power to fix anything despite the many conversations I had with them. Please call them and get them to cancel the transaction and close my account and stop using my name and phone number to collect money from people.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief