Consumer complaint received 2020-03-13
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: TX
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I began as a seller  on XXXX  on XX/XX/2018, and had been selling  XXXX   XXXX  for about 3 months, when I noticed that XXXX  was invoicing me for items that had been returned. When I called to get this problem rectified, they told me they would resolve the issue. Once the deadline for the invoice was past, they suspended my account for non payment. Again, I called to get the problem resolved, and they told me they weren't going to do anything about it, and that I either needed to pay the invoice, or I would not be allowed to sell  on XXXX. This was a problem, as I had invested everything I had into creating my own store  and this was my full time job. Unfortunately, I didn't have the additional {$770.00} that they were overcharging me at that time.. It took 6 months to finally reach someone that was competent enough to understand what the problem was. They recognized the misunderstanding and credited me the {$770.00} and gave me the opportunity to sell again. I was happy that it was finally figured out, but this is only the beginning. While I was suspended, XXXX claims that I had customers wanting to return items, but I know this wasn't true and XXXX refused to provide a summary of the issues at hand because they were made up. What ended up happening was XXXX decided to give me credit for the overcharged invoice, but during my suspension, they created a negative sellers profile, allowing them to charge more per sale, so instead of 10 % of {$100.00}, like it is supposed to be and what was agreed upon, they could now charge 12 % -15 %, even 18 % if they wanted to. This also allowed them to revert to this problem that they created every time I came to them with an issue, which was every month die to never being credited for returns. They would simply say, " we see that your sellers  level is below standard '' which was true, but only because they created the problem and the below standard sellers  level. This was entirely out of my control. I asked them why they found it ok to credit the money, but allow the XXXX created sellers  level remain in place. They would never give me an answer other than " it's been beyond the 60 days that's required to dispute such a claim, and had you complained before the 60 days, we could've done something. '' This was all nonsense and a lie. First of all, it took me 6 months to even get into my account to know there was negative feedback to begin with, so there goes that idea. Trying to put it behind me and just play their greedy little game, I didn't mention it anymore. However, this would be considered frivolous at best compared to what was happening next. XXXX  XXXX   their criminal colleagues at PayPal and requested that they step in and steal my money, which is exactly what happened, but only after a brief period of time where I had a considerable amount of sales that put {$4000.00} in each of my 2 accounts. Unfortunately, I was not able to deduct the money fast enough and that's when PayPal took the money. If I only had about {$50.00} in each account, they wouldn't have touched it because it wasn't worth the trouble for {$50.00}. {$8000.00}? Thats a different story, and that's the one I'm telling. When I questioned where my money was and why I could not retrieve any of my hard earned money that I invested everything I had into earning, they said they required some information from me, but would never tell me what that information was, just that they needed it. I never gave them anything, and nor should I have to. If they didn't have all of the information that they required at the beginning of their own fraudulent contract that I was never aware of existing, that's their problem. A contract can not allow someone to change the particulars in a contract just because it benefits only fhem. This is common knowledge, and nowhere in their contract does it state that they reserve the right to take all of your money under fraudulent pretenses. In fact, as soon as they took the money, they committed theft and a felony if I'm not mistaken. This renders any contract void immediately, even if I was unaware of it. I can not be expected to go along with criminal activities because of a contract that I never agreed to to begin with. My agreement was with XXXX, and this is why XXXX needed PayPals help. To deflect the contractual agreed to particulars. I never asked for, required, thought it was a good idea, agreed to, or ever promoted the idea of having a 3rd party having access to my money, and to steal a percentage of that money on every transaction that occurred. In fact, I was blatantly opposed to the idea and voiced my opinion on several occasions. Additionally, XXXX claims to allow you to not use PayPal at all, and just have the money directly deposited into your account. This is how I set up my account, but XXXX changed this, stating that I needed to be invited to have that as an option. It is an option when you set up your account, but XXXX knows they can not commandeer people 's accounts when they are under a direct deposit. They must make you use PayPal in order to do this. Their whole platform is designed to promote their own fraudulent transactions, not to protect customers or sellers, and that is the problem I have with this. Additionally, this, in my opinion is discrimination at it's very definition that I need to be invited when it's given as an option when setting up the account. Did I not qualify for an invite? If jot, why not? This is more information that they can not provide due to it showing their criminal intent.. I digress. Now that PayPal had every dime to my name, leaving my family and I without money to even eat, I was at their mercy. After weeks of going days without food, I finally decided I should see what could be done to be provided relief. I called them and asked, and they said " we've found that your counts are connected to another account that is over drawn in the amount of {$550.00}, and this amount must be paid prior to your money be in released. I agreed, under protest because this was jot my account and they knew it. It was extortion, period. The reason I can tell you that this was not my account, is because the email address that they gave me that I'd supposedly mine, does not exist in XXXX, and it is a XXXX account. Only someone who benefits from extortion would ceete an account in their own system, even though it does not exist in reality. They never created the account in XXXX, so if you try to access the email account, XXXX tells you, " sorry, but this account does not exist. '' So, he's, this was extortion at it's finest. I agreed to pay it because I couldn't allow my family and I to go another day without a solid meal and at least a hotel room for 1 night to get some rest. PayPal promised to release the funds within 20 minutes of my oatibg their fraudulent balance. After it was paid, I went to deduct money from the account, and I was denied. After several hundred calls to them trying to figure out why, I received an email stating that I had been denied my appeal, and the account would remain closed. They stole upwards of {$8500.00} from me, just like that. PayPal claims that will give you your money back after 180 days, but all this does is allow them to create fake returns, where they then give the fake customer their money back, when in reality, they're just draining your account. At the same time I was suspended again, XXXX continued to allow customers to purchase my products, knowing that I couldn't fulfill them due to a billing agreement with pay pal, usps, and XXXX, that allows me to have the funds needed for shipping be deducted from my sales price. I didn't have the means to ship anything out even if I wanted to and if I thought I was ever going to be said for it anyway. So I didn't ship anything. XXXX  still invoiced me for over {$700.00} again for less than a weeks time period. When I didn't pay it, they told PayPal to change my payment method from personal credit card to PayPal, and then XXXX went into one of my frozen accounts and took the money. They were not finished. Then, they, changed their invoice to read it was due out of my other account and not the one they had just deducted it from. By doing this, it allowed to claim that I still owed the {$700.00} and this is what they began reporting to my credit report, fraudulently, and as unpaid and a negative mark on my report. Always checking my credit report regularly, I noticed that PayPal and XXXX both have somehow gained access to my report and have added their own accounts using my name, and then turning around and claiming that I still owe them money. They stole my identity to charge up my account on their platform as if I had a credit limit. I never had a credit limit, not once in my entire life have I had a credit card, so how can this be possible? So XXXX creates an invoice that they know I couldn't be held liable for, for not having the ability to fulfill the orders, yet continues to pursue the funds, steals them out of one account, and claims it is still owed on the other account, then proceeds to report it to the big 3 credit bureaus, defaming character fraudulently after stealing my identity to have access to my account to run up fraudulent credit on their own platform. At last estimation, they have stolen or charged a total of {$34000.00} and some change, and that was the last time I was allowed to even check it. They've since removed my access to my accounts, and the months has long since passed. I have never seen a dime of my money. Only theft, fraud, extortion, embezzlement, money laundering, Racketeering, and violations of RICO. I have in the past reported this to every other agency in America, including the cfpb. Nothing has ever been done about it and I understand that you are all complicit in this scam, and I'm not surprised. I just wanted to remind all of you involved that it hasn't been forgotten, and that everyone involved will someday pay the price for the damages you've caused due to your greed and corruption. It would be refreshing to find that at least one of you had the balls to stand up and do your jobs, which is to protect consumers and American Citizens, first and foremost, instead of lining your pockets with stolen money. I am realsitic, and find that hard to believe, let alone possible. Still, it would be refreshing. This is a complaint about not only XXXX and PayPal, but it's a complaint on the entire system that allows them to continue to do business, and allows you to continue lining your pockets and at the expense of the only backbone you have. The American people. I wish you would do something, but I've read your pathetic disclaimer about how worthless you are, and that is what I expect from you. Nothing. Because that is what you're worth. Now you know that we know, and now you need to know that you're about to be run out of this country or face the consequences for your treason. Have a nice day XXXX!

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief