Consumer complaint received 2022-06-02
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: TN
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX the IRS issued a XXXX informing me that they were proposing changes to my XXXX tax return in the amount of {$71000.00} as a result of a Form 1099-K filed by PayPal under my social security number. I do not have a business account with PayPal, have never used PayPal as a source of revenue, never received this particularly income, nor did I ever receive a 1099-K from PayPal in XXXX  proving that they issued this 1099-K with errant information. This notice informed me that the IRS would be assessing {$22000.00} in taxes owed, penalties, and interest. I followed the necessary steps prescribed by the IRS to report the fraudulent use of my identity and SSN and to dispute this proposed change to my XXXX income. I received a notice issued XX/XX/XXXX by the IRS indicating that they had received all the necessary information and would be looking into my claim. I then received a Notice of Deficiency less than 2 weeks later on XX/XX/XXXX. 

In addition to disputing this reassessment of my XXXX income with the IRS, I also reached out to PayPal in every way that I was able for help. On or about XX/XX/XXXX I contacted them through their PayPal Assistant, an online chat program. After several messages back and forth and a phone call with a gentleman in a foreign call center routed through XXXX, XXXX who identified himself " XXXX '' I provided a scanned copy of this initial IRS document through the PayPal Assistant Messenger. I received the following message in response : " Thank you for responding back -- -- -- - and providing that information. I will forward this to our tax operation that someone used your SSN and you dont know those transaction it may just take 3-5 business days just wait for our email notification in regards with the update or the result of the review. '' I never heard back from anyone at PayPal. 

On XX/XX/XXXX ( 80 days after my previous contact ) I reached back out to PayPal through their online PayPal Assistant to ask for help regarding this fraudulent use of my identity. I received a reply from an individual named " XXXX '' with the following : " Hi -- -- -- -, not to worry I have raised a ticket and escalated this with our specialists team so that they will review and update you the outcome via email within XXXX hours. 
XXXX XXXX - XXXX '' " The ticket id for your reference is : XXXX. 
So, I suggest you to please wait for the update and keep on checking your emails as well. 
XXXX XXXX - XXXX '' Later that day, I received the following communication through the PayPal assistant. 

" Dear -- -- -- - -- -- -- -, Thank you for contacting PayPal about the IRS letter you received in the mail. 

Protecting your personal information is our top priority. 

We are unable to locate the business account associated with your personal information, please send us a copy of IRS " Notice of Deficiency '' you received in the mail for further review. 

You can email the form to XXXX. Be sure to include your name and email address as they appear on your PayPal account. 

For detailed information on how we collect, store, use and protect your personal information, please read our Privacy Statement. You can find the Privacy Statement by clicking the Security link on any PayPal webpage. 

Please let us know if you have any additional questions. 


Sincerely, XXXX PayPal Compliance Department PayPal Please do not reply to this email address as it's not monitored and we will not receive your response. You can get in touch with us by clicking " Contact '' at the bottom of any PayPal page. '' I responded as instructed emailing the address provided with a scanned copy of the official IRS Notice of Deficiency. For the record, this is the second copy of an official IRS document PayPal with sensitive information such as my SSN has asked me to provide through an internet portal and an email address respectively. In this email, I informed " XXXX '' to the full nature of my problem and asked that he or someone from his office contact me directly so that I might receive an update regarding my request. 

After receiving no confirmation from anyone in PayPal 's Compliance Office that they had in fact received my email, I reached out again through their PayPal Assistant portal. I asked the representative identified as " XXXX '' to please pass a message to the compliance department on my behalf. In this message I requested the compliance department to respond to my email by XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. Also, in this message I informed them that due to the urgency of my issue with the IRS and their previous record of ignoring my request for help I would file an official complaint with the CFPB if I did not hear from them. " XXXX, '' unaware of the message that I received from XXXX asked for a screenshot of the message. After sending her a screenshot of the message, I received the following : " -- -- -- -, not to worry as I see the issue with your account is resolved. Please do not worry about the emails which you have received. 

Feel free to reply whenever you're ready and we'll reply as soon as we can. 
XXXX XXXX - XXXX '' This message would indicate to me that less that 24 hours later PayPal has marked my issue " resolved '' without notifying me of ever even receiving my initial complaint. They have made no effort to communicate with me their findings or their plans to resolve my complaint. After receiving this message and no confirmation that " XXXX '' would pass my request to the Compliance Office I notified the company that I would file this complaint with you immediately.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation