Consumer complaint received 2018-10-05
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: SC
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: I do not know
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was result of identity theft

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX ( I believe ), PayPal called me telling me I had a negative account balance of XXXX dollars. I assumed it was a scam phone call and hung up. A week later I have a horrifying revelation when I login to my paypal account and see that I do indeed have a negative account balance of {$1500.00}. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, 4 payments of {$390.00} were deposited by someone I do not know. Then 36 payments were withdrawn, in increments of approximately XXXX  dollars, in total equaling {$1500.00}. Heres where things are bit hazy for me. I think those payments were auto flagged as fraud, and then the original 4 payments of {$390.00} were withdrawn into a bank account ( XXXX XXXX ) that I have no connection to. I have never even heard of compass bank. For further clarification, I never logged in or used paypal on XX/XX/XXXX, the day this all happened. 

According to the first employee I called at PayPal, referred to this as an account takeover, but then said that this bank account ( XXXX XXXX ) has been on my Paypal account since XX/XX/2009. I can say with 100 % certainty that this is unequivocally untrue. I use my paypal all the time and have always been aware of the three payment methods I have associated with it. I don't know how or why she said that bank account came to be registered on my paypal. Additionally, I see no history of it on my end. I have a screenshot of that too but will not send it unless asked, for as it containts personal information. 

She asked me to file a complaint through the website but whenever I tried to file one by clicking on a fraudulent transaction I get a site error saying one of two things. Either " We're unable to file a case on this transaction, '' or " Unable to complete your request. '' I have screenshots of both of these messages. 

Over the phone, she said theyll investigate and return my account balance to XXXX. But all they did was send me an email saying the dozens of ~ {$40.00} transactions were indeed marked as fraudulent and that my new account balance should reflect that. 

But it doesn't, it has remained at - {$1500.00} for over 7 weeks now. 

I have called 4 times in that period and I am always told that they'll investigate and " in all likelihood the matter will be resolved. '' I've asked twice ( two different employees ) if I should file a police report or contact the CFPB and they said no, they'll handle the problem internally. Instead, they have reassigned my account to a debt collections company and now when I call, I can not even get through to their main customer service once I've entered my account info. The automated system says that my problem has been reassigned to a 'partner company ' and then hangs up on me. 

It's as if I have been roadblocked whenever I try to get this sorted through their XXXX XXXX, or over the phone. 

Additionally on Saturday XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, saying that I have 30 days to dispute this problem. I have yet to take action with them. 

I just turned XXXX and I do no have a steady job. If I have to pay this amount, it will financially ruin me. As of now my credit is in good standing, but I fear this identity theft will ruin that as well. Please help. 

PS - I have the email of the person that initially deposited the {$1500.00} into my account. I don't know if that helps, but just thought I'd include all the information I have. I will send that if asked, as well as additional screenshots of bank account history, paypal account info, etc.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief