Consumer complaint received 2023-05-25
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: OH
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
In early XXXX of XXXX I purchased a refurbished kitchen appliance from a website for the price of {$64.00}. The merchandise was never delivered to me, I do not have the name of the seller ; website and email address have completely vanished from the Internet after I threatened to file a Police report. 
I reported the charge as fraudulent to XXXX. 
I had XXXX options to pay for the merchandise, XXXX was XXXX that I have never heard of, the other one was PayPal. I do not have a PayPal account, but I was able to use PayPal as a guest, and my XXXX XXXX was charged on XX/XX/XXXX. For PayPal I have used my eMail address XXXX. as well as my phone number XXXX. 
XXXX cancelled the card ending in XXXX for safety reasons, reversed the charge on XX/XX/XXXX, and a new card ending in XXXX was issued. I had considered the case closed. XXXX determined that no fraud was committed, and the charge of {$64.00} was made permanent. 
I started making calls to Discover that same day, I had to tell the story to several different agents and still was told that this charge is not considered fraud, since I authorized a payment. That I had never received my merchandise did not seem to matter, but at least XXXX of the agents gave me a little bit more information and told me PayPal had provided them with a XXXX tracking number, which indicated that my merchandise was delivered on XX/XX/XXXX. 
The tracking number is : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
I went to my local XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, ( XXXX ) XXXX ), talked to clerk XXXX, he was able to confirm that this was not a package meant for me, but a XXXX. package ( postage {$4.00} ) which was delivered on XX/XX/XXXX, to XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX, OH ( I live on XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX, OH, but the XXXX cities share the same ZIP Code ). 
My merchandise would have been about XXXX. 
XXXX opinion was that the merchant had fished a tracking number, provided PayPal with it, they took it as valid and provided XXXX with the information that a package with that tracking number was delivered. 
With that information I contacted PayPal. Using the information from my XXXX statement PAYPAL XXXX XXXX CA. An agent was able to find the dispute with XXXX within a few seconds, that it was closed as not fraudulent since the merchant had provided a USPS tracking number as proof of shipping. We discussed the case in detail, and he agreed that it is considered fraud when a seller provides a false tracking number to make the buyer believe he has shipped merchandise, but he also admitted that it is nearly impossible to verify all information they get from merchants, there are simply too many claims like this. 
PayPal has the case reopened and escalated, and I was supposed to hear from them by XX/XX/XXXX, and that it is very likely that the charge would be reversed in my favor. 
That did not happen, and I called PayPal again on XX/XX/XXXX. The agent told me to get in touch with XXXX again and request a chargeback, and that PayPal would not be able to help me, but the agent provided me with their internal case number : XXXX XXXX their internal case number used between them and XXXX : XXXX. 
I filed a chargeback request with XXXX that same day, also filed a complaint with the CFPB ( case # XXXX ), XXXX denied my request as well as my CFPB complaint and closed the case again on XX/XX/XXXX, after telling me the day before on XX/XX/XXXX, that Discover needed more time to investigate. 
I am aware that XXXX might not be required to do a chargeback, but PayPal is, therefore I request a refund of my payment in the amount of {$64.00}. 
The last agent I talked to indicated that even she could not read the merchants name, as all she was seeing are XXXX symbols, but she would mark his account as suspicious.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief