Consumer complaint received 2020-09-10
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: FL
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem

Complaint:
I'd like to discuss something about PayPal that is a bit more than a disgruntled consumer complaint. 
PayPal has a feature allowing you to send friends and family funds. If you originate that from your account, to transfer funds to another person, using an email address ; and if you have not sent this person any funds in the past, if it's a first transaction with that person -- PayPal does not in any way verify that the email address is associated with the intended recipient. Only after you commit your funds to transfer, is it possible to " see '' who you sent funds. They have a feature called " search PayPal '' but when I tested using emails of personally known people, who do have PayPal accounts, and whomI have never sent money, they did not show for verification. Only the fact that it was a valid emailis communicated. I was trying to send some financial aid to my son. I had never sent him money and he uses an email for PayPal I rarely see. He missed one letter when he verbally gave me address. On XX/XX/2020 a stranger " XXXX XXXX '' was sent {$1000.00} meant to help my son, whose income has been impacted by the pandemic, because his email is one letter away from my son 's and because I didn't get to see his name until after the funds were sent. 

There are further issues, despiteseeing the error within seconds and immediately contacting PayPal, I am told there is no recourse. The money is uncollected, it is at this point just XXXX and XXXX in their systems. At first they suggest you yourself go and ask for your moneyback, perhaps by sending an email. After much complaining they offer to do it for you, which is likely a minimal nod to responsibility. 

Would you open an email from someone unknown.If you did what impression would a request to refund a personal money transfer get? 

This happens so often they have an established operating procedure, that SOP is totell you it " isn't their problem '' and they will not return your funds. If the money is never claimed by the mistaken recipient, it is never refunded. 

How often does this happen? How much money is involved? I was trying to send a XXXX dollars to my son. Paypal has millions of users, in many countries. Who gets this unclaimed, mistakenly sent money? Is it sitting unclaimed in an account? Is there interest accruing? This may be financial crime, on what scale I can not say -- but you can bet they will minimize the scale if asked. In the current climate, people sending funds to family and loved ones is likely more frequent than ever ... 

Personally I may or may not get resolution ; only if the mistaken recipient decides to refund me the money. If not, I am toldthat PayPal will deduct my account and my only recourse is to have my bank intervene. This may or may not result in restitution, and is likely a long process. Where is the money in the meantimefrom my case, and the hundreds? thousands? of other similar cases? 
Remember it's just " policy '' to allow you to reclaim your funds, and both XXXX and XXXX XXXX have processes in place to allow a sender to reclaim funds, especially uncollected funds. I know PayPal is big, but I think if they keep those funds, take it from my account ( or if I stop payment put me into collections ) that they are stealing money, and if I defend with a stop payment they will threaten my credit. I am actively pursuing my " case '' withinPayPal, but have little reason to expect a positive resolution. 
Sincere Regards, XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation