Consumer complaint received 2024-10-23
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc (WY)

On XX/XX/year>, I purchased a pair of XXXX XXXX XXXX  from an online company ( XXXX ), which I paid {$98.00} using Paypal for the transaction. I took a screen shot of the transaction for my benefit. I did not receive any sort of confirmatory email from the company which I thought was strange. The shoes were suppose be shipped free to me. I received a confirmatory email from Paypal on XX/XX/year> that the transaction had occurred. 

Some later a follow-on email was sent by Paypal saying XXXX " You approved an authorization to XXXX on XX/XX/year> for {$98.00} USD. XXXX has updated the total amount of your transaction. Your new total is {$110.00} USD. '' It had been sent on that very same day of XXXX, XXXX. I had found this out after checking my emails about a week later wondering where my shoes were. I was totally surprised by such an email, because I was totally unaware of any increase and did not authorized an increase of such an amount. Upon finding this out, I made a complaint to Paypal about the transaction and requested it be cancelled with my entire amount of {$110.00} returned. Paypal took its 5 days and responded that they rejected my complaint because they considered it a billing issue. I was totally amazed, particularly that gave me no response to how the amount was increased without me being aware or my authorization. I appealed the decision on XX/XX/year>. I provided additional information to Paypal as follows : " This is a billing issue. I purchased the shoes via Paypal and authorized an amount of {$98.00} for the shoes with free shipping. The seller raised the amount to {$110.00} without me knowing until I checked my email sometime later after arriving back at home from travel. I was shocked to see this and could not understand how this how this occur. There is a billing problem in that Paypal authorized payment in the amount of {$110.00} based on a seller changing the amount, I have provided a partial screenshots of those emails I received. I would never have agreed to {$110.00}, because there are other sellers offering the same shoes at the exact same price with free shipping. If Payapal went and authorized an increase in the amount without my knowledge and authorization, then the company has some serious problems. I intend to contact my credit card and the Department of Justice in regard to your company authorizing a payment I did not agree to. In the meantime, I would recommend you seriously look into fraud been committed by this vendor. '' I provided emails of Paypal 's confirming the initial purchase and the increase to {$110.00}. 

Paypal denied my dispute sticking to " The case was closed as it wasnt a billing issue. '' I have since found that the entire transaction was a fraudulent one and I have been working through XXXX XXXX to get my money back. The company 's website is defunct as well as their email for questions. the telephone number they provided for contact was XXXX XXXX XXXX, which confirmed this seller was not associated with them. 

If I am contacting XXXX about this transaction it is because Paypal help to facilitate a fraud and made it worse by increase my lose without my knowledge or authorization. No matter what they respond to me, I consider their own actions as increasing the harm done to me on this fraud. I would add in companies like XXXX and XXXX as providing the ad space to such fraudsters and increasing the likelihood of fraud through their search algorithms. It maddened me to no end to see the very same company pop up on my home screen offering the shoes at the same price. Interestingly enough there were other companies with the same price showing up in the ads on my home screen. 

However, my issue is with Paypal and their practices which only increased the harm to me. Yes, I may get it resolved with my credit card, but ultimately someone is paying for this fraud even if it is not me. I have all relevant documentation concerning the transaction and how Paypal responded or did not respond.