Consumer complaint received 2019-05-26
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: DE
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Threatened or suggested your credit would be damaged

Complaint:
My husband and I were victims of a scam through an online sale of equipment which took place between XXXX, and are now being held liable by PayPal. We were contacted by an individual through the website XXXX claiming to be interested in buying equipment from us for {$1900.00}. The individual agreed to send the money via cashiers check and to meet up with my husband in a public place after the check cleared in our account. We received the check which ended up being for an additional {$1800.00}, totaling {$3700.00} on XX/XX/19. My husband contacted the person again stating the check was for too much money. The person ( who was using the name XXXX ) said he hired movers to pick up the equipment from us and asked if we could give them the difference. We told him, after we deposited the check we would then take out a cashiers check to give to the movers for the difference. The check sent by XXXX cleared our bank ( XXXX XXXX ) XX/XX/19. XXXX then contacted us again telling us the movers would not accept a cashiers check and that we needed to wire the money. At this point my husband and I thought this transaction sounded like a scam. We told XXXX we were not going to wired the money to the movers and that we no longer felt comfortable with the transaction. We said we would refund him the entire amount, which was still in our bank account 2 days after depositing it. XXXX said he did want the refund but that he wanted us to wire it to him and provided information to someones account. We said we would not wire the funds but would send him a cashiers check. Finally on XX/XX/19, I suggested sending him the money via PayPal as I didnt feel comfortable knowing we may be involved in something scary with such a large amount of money and this person knowing my husbands work address ( where he originally sent the check ). XXXX agreed and gave us a PayPal account to send the money. On XX/XX/19 I sent {$3700.00} from my PayPal account to the account XXXX gave us XXXX XXXX via the friends and family option. 
PayPal fronted the funds to that account prior to processing with my bank ( XXXX XXXX ). Friday XX/XX/19 I checked my bank account and saw the {$3700.00} had been taken out but it looked like it was recalled from XXXX  XXXX. I then called the bank, inquired about the charge and they told me the check we deposited XX/XX/19 was fraudulent. I immediately told them everything that had transpired with that transaction and the scam. I then called PayPal right after speaking to XXXX XXXX XX/XX/19 and also explained to them what happened. Their initial response to me was to report it to the bank, they said PayPal works with banks in cases like these and if theyre investigation ended in my favor they would be able to pull funds back from the other persons account and/or put it in the negative. I then called the local police department to report what happened. The officer I spoke with essentially said they unfortunately see cases like these a lot and that if the money left Delaware they didnt have any jurisdiction. He also said the money probably went outside of the country. The following week I noticed my bank account was substantially in the negative and a pending charge on my account - {$3700.00} from PayPal. I called the fraud department at XXXX XXXX again, they told me that with my prior call they couldnt do anything since the PayPal transaction hadnt shown up yet. Now that it had I could file a new claim, and also put a block of future attempts from PayPal to collect the funds. XXXX XXXX said they would investigate and if the investigation was found to be in my favor they would return the funds, they said that because the transaction was pending and had not posted yet, they would try to expedite the investigation. I called PayPal back, spoke to a new person about was was going on. They then told me again that they would be able to work with the bank and that they would be able to pull their funds back from XXXX XXXX account. They also told me I didnt need to call back as they would communicate with me via email. The transaction in my bank account ended up being reversed. I called XXXX XXXX to confirm and they said they ruled in my favor and were able to stop the funds from coming out of my account. I then called PayPal back to also confirm that this situation had been resolved. This time I spoke with someone new at PayPal again, but they told me that since I initiated the transaction for the {$3700.00}, I will be liable for that amount and responsible for paying it back since PayPal fronted the money on my behalf. I explained to the person everything that had transpired and what I had been told by the other PayPal representatives. I also told him what the XXXX XXXX found AND that I had already reported this to the police. The person maintained that I would still be responsible for paying and that I should also submit the police report to a link he would later provide. I submitted the police report. I then went online and reported the situation to the FBI through their online claims. I called PayPal again, spoke with someone new. I explained my story again told the person I uploaded the police report and also stated, I do not have the {$3700.00}, I was given a fraudulent check as a scam to get me to refund real money, and I didnt understand why PayPal couldnt just take the money back that they fronted to that other persons account. Now I am getting multiple emails about paying PayPal {$3700.00}, and threats to send me to collections and damage my credit. I have documentation of the returned fraudulent check, the bank sent back a copy. I also have a copy of the police report, as well as documentation of the conversation with account numbers between my husband and the scammer.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief