Consumer complaint received 2019-01-19
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: OH
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Getting a credit card
Sub-issue: Card opened as result of identity theft or fraud

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX I received a PayPal Credit bill listing credit card charges and a payment due date. I do not have a Paypal credit card. I made 3 calls to Paypal during the busy holiday season, on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. During each one of these calls I explained to them that I did not open an account with them, it is fraud, and I wanted the account closed immediately. I also requested that a block be put on my account preventing any future accounts from being opened. During each call I was told that the account was closed. I was also told that I could be the " fraudster '', even after I was made to provide my name, address, phone, and social security number. I was also constantly advised that I still needed to pay these fraudulent charges!!!! I advised the Paypal workers that I have a freeze on my credit, so there is no way that this account should even be open. I was then told that the account had been opened approximately 3 years prior and had just sat there unused. ( So obviously this was a Paypal employee that opened this account ) I was told that Paypal would consider the situation and decide if it was fraud or not. All of the charges were payments made to a XXXX. Paypal has a way to see the money trail of were these payments were going and the IP address of when this account was opened, but they denied the fraud. Regardless, I called on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX and spent several hours a day waiting on hold to repeatedly make sure that this account was CLOSED and that no further theft could continue. 
Then on XX/XX/XXXX I received an additional Paypal credit statement with 7 additional charges made. These charges are of escalating amounts, and someone has even made the minimum monthly payment on the account!!!! 
This is after I called 3 times in XX/XX/XXXX to have this account 1000 percent closed. 
When I received this XX/XX/XXXX bill on XX/XX/XXXX I spent approximately 3 hours on the phone with Paypal. I had to call in 7 times due to me being on hold and then the call just being " dropped '' after me holding between 10 to 30 minutes each time. This is a list of calls I made to Paypal on XX/XX/XXXX : I was transferred by a " Unique '' at XXXX Eastern and never reached the fraud dept. 

At XXXX XXXX a " XXXX '' transferred me and advised me that she was closing the account and that nothing was her fault and that I still have to pay these charges. Even though she could see the record of my 3 calls in XX/XX/XXXX. After a long hold, at XXXX XXXX  I reached XXXX # XXXX who said I had to speak to a senior specialist. Another hold until XXXX XXXX XXXX # XXXX was very rude and short with me and didn't understand most of the terms I was using. XXXX transferred me to a XXXX at XXXX who said that the issue was my complaint wasn't done in writing. 
Then I was transferred to a XXXX XXXX at XXXX who said the problem was that I had to go file a police report. She refused to transfer me to her supervisor and claimed that she was the highest level supervisor. She refused to give me her employee ID. After my repeated demanding she transferred me to an XXXX who said that his ID was XXXX ( which is more characters than all the other employee ids.? ) XXXX advised me to report this fraudulent credit account to the FBI. 

Most of these employees made statements to the affect that my account was " restricted '' then opened back up. Paypal has access to whoever made that minimum payment on the account. They can see the money trail of were that money came from. I advised them of fraud and requested it closed and they left it open for the criminals.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation