Consumer complaint received 2018-09-12
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: IL
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem

Complaint:
For the past 3 days my attorney has attempted to send me a refund for services/ Retainer via PayPal . 

Yesterday, XXXX, XXXX I finally called PAYPAL to find out why I had NOT received the XXXX refund she sent to my via PayPal, She actually sent the refund two times for a total of XXXX dollars. After staying on the phone for more than XXXX hour, The tech determined that my cell number was not confirmed in the PayPal system. I was unaware of this because I could see my phone number on the screen after I updated it, but for whatever reason the number was NOT validated and could NOT be validated by me. It was not until I called PayPal technical support and was taken through a series of security steps etc that I was I able to get the mobile number validated in their system. 
In the meantime, we learned that the original XXXX refund was accepted by someone with a Paypal account that had my number. Apparently, this person XXXX XXXX did not update his cell number in the system even though he no longer has that number. When my attorney realized that the money went to the right number but the wrong person she called Paypal to try to get my refund back to me. 
I was joiuned in on the conference cal which went on for more than 2 hours. We went round and round with the Paypal supervisor trying to get him to explain how my cell number could be used by someone else. Paypal refused to acknowledge any security issues or explain how someone received my refund. The supervisor would only say that cell phone numbers are recycled and they can not be responsible for the fact that the person accepting the money is still using his old cell number on his Paypal account. Nor, are they responsible for the fact that he did not update the number on his account. 
After going around in circles for nearly 2 hours and 31 minutes, the supervisor hung up on us. I am confused as to how the same phone numbers can stay in their system? I also don't understand what type of security PaypaL is offering if as the supervisor said cell phones are recycled constantly and they have no control over whether users are updating their mobile numbers on their accounts. My attorney was basically told that it was her problem. Is that true? Does Paypal have any responsibility? I called again this morning ( XX/XX/2018 ) and spoke with XXXX. I wanted to try again to get the XXXX refund resolved. Again, I asked if my phone number couldn't be confirmed because it was in use on another Paypal account? How did this happen? How can we get the money back? My attorney is out XXXX dollars. We got nowhere. I was told to have my attorney call again ( 3rd call ) and report the refund theft. XXXX also said I shouldn't be worried about it because its her loss and that the person who fraudulently accepted money not meant for him didn't do anything wrong?? How could that be? the money is NOT his nor is the phone number. This seems strange to me that they refuse to address the issue of recycled cell numbers stored on accounts in their system. Does that mean that money is sent to wrong numbers all the time? Nowhere on their website does it say send at your own risk or update your cell number before you process a refund It seems to me they have a security issue that they haven't addressed or do not know how to address.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation