Consumer complaint received 2021-04-27
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: WA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I ordered a {$79.00} 40cm 5.5 lb electric photographer 's turntable from a site online : XXXX : XXXX I paid for it via Paypal as when I went to pay, that was the only payment link that popped up on the screen for me. According to the PP receipt email I received, the main email address connected to that Paypal account is XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a notice from Paypal that my item was shipped and told me to go to my Paypal account to get my tracking number. When I checked the tracking number ( XXXX ) at USPS online with my Informed Delivery account, it said this First Class Mail package was expected on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX and had been sent from XXXX, TX. I thought that seemed awfully fast for such a heavy package to come to WA all the way from XXXX, TX. Then that led me to check the tracking number again to be sure it did say sent via 1st Class Package because it was my understanding that 1st Class packages could only weigh up to 13 ounces. I knew my item I ordered was 5.5 pounds before packing materials were added on. 

I began getting a bad feeling then and went into my email to see if I had yet received an order confirmation email from this company ( the website ) or from that XXXX XXXX person listed on my Paypal transaction page. I had not. Not a single thing. The only contact at all was from Paypal when that seller/scammer uploaded the tracking number to Paypal on XX/XX/XXXX. I also noticed that the official Paypal Transaction number for this order is different than what shows on the scammer company 's website in my so-called Order History. They used some Transaction Number that is not connected to my Paypal payment. 

All day Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, I kept checking the tracking and once it said it was delivered late that afternoon, I drove up to our mailbox and, of course, there was NO package. 

I then went next morning to my XXXX XXXX XXXX on XXXX XXXX and they referred me to the Postal Carrier Annex and gave me their phone number to call. 

I went back home and then called the Postal Carrier Annex and spoke to a lady named XXXX. She asked my name, address and the tracking number. She then put me on hold for a couple of minutes while she checked it. She came back and asked me again my address and name and again the tracking number. She then told me that that number was not connected to me at all. The name of the addressee was different, the address was different, miles away from mine in XXXX XXXX I live in XXXX on the XXXX XXXX XXXX  and the item connected to that tracking number was a small 3oz package. NOT a good sized package that would house a 40cm 5.5 pound motorized photography turntable! She said she suspected this was another scam and told me that these types of scams are getting really heavy lately. She advised me to file a complaint with the Postal Inspector. She gave me a phone number but I decided to file that complaint online and did so Monday XX/XX/XXXX. 

On Monday XX/XX/XXXX, once I discovered I had not received anything, I went directly to Paypal and filed a complaint that I had not received anything even though the tracking number claimed it was delivered. In that complaint, I said I suspected a scam and pointed out that the tracking number turned out to be for a small 3oz package and that the item I ordered and paid for was 5.5 lbs. The Paypal notification said I had to wait to give time for the seller to respond to my complaint before I could escalate my complaint. Then, Paypal forwarded my complaint to the seller/scammer! 

I decided then to give it until Monday, XX/XX/XXXX and then I would escalate this complaint with Paypal to force them to do something about this and investigate it thoroughly. I assumed that once they actually looked at all the details I had given them and when they investigated that tracking number, they would come to the same realization I had and the Postal Annex lady had ... that this was a scam. 

Then, over this past weekend, Paypal emailed me and told me they denied my claim! They are siding with the scammer! Paypal never even investigated this at all! They just took the word of that person, XXXX XXXX in XXXX TX as gospel. 

I told them that I got my information from the USPS! Paypal doesn't care. 

I looked further and noted that I received a series of emails from Paypal on Saturday, XX/XX/XXXX, in a span of exactly 5 minutes saying first, that my complaint had been escalated to a claim ( by the seller/scammer ), then the second one saying they were contacting the seller " XXXX XXXX '' for further questions, and then the third one saying " we're reviewing information given by XXXX XXXX '', and the last one just one minute later saying they were denying my claim! No one from Paypal ever, at any time, contacted me to ask me anything or to allow me to show all my proof I had accumulated. They didn't want to see any of the screen shots I have of my order nor the info I had gotten from the Post Office about the tracking number that person gave being to someone else entirely and at a completely different address than mine. 

I have no clue what this person 's address or other contact information is because I never received anything from him/her so can not even check email headers to see where he/she really is. His/her most likely phony email address ( XXXX ) is all that's on my Paypal transaction page. The original email from Paypal sent as my receipt for payment listed another email as the main account holder ( XXXX ). This person is like a shadow and I can not get any information on who or where she/he/it is. Only Paypal must know that. 

I have screen shots and .pdf files of everything. I took shots of their website pages and the order page itemizing the item I purchased from them. It even says it was completed through Paypal and gives the transaction number and amount. I have a pdf of the Paypal page showing what I paid and the tracking number she posted there. 

Paypal is fully aware of these frauds and scams because they've been going on since way back in XXXX or XXXX identical to this one. But they side with the scammers every single time. Every email we get from Paypal now is a no-reply email. We can not contact any customer service via the phone because they dumped their customer service department last year supposedly because of the pandemic. All you can do is talk to a bot online which is useless. The only time anyone has ever been able to speak to a person at Paypal is once Law Enforcement gets involved and Paypal suddenly acts concerned and calls " to help solve the problem ''. 

After my first complaint to Paypal on their site about suspecting this was a scam ( that they then forwarded to the scammer ), I have not ever been allowed to add any screen shots of my proof, more details, or anything else to the dialogue there. This scammer ran the whole show and Paypal allowed them to. 

I have reported this to the Postal Inspector General, my bank who issued my debit card I used to make this purchase, my WA State Attorney General 's Office, and I filed an FBI ic3 complaint against Paypal and the scammer website/company. If I can think of any other government entity to complain to after this, I will file there too.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation