Consumer complaint received 2024-02-19
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc (CA)

My Name is XXXX XXXX XXXX ( autofill messed up when I started filling this out and it reads " XXXX XXXX XXXX '' ). 

On XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXXXXXX XXXX ( PST ) I was sent XXXX text messages from PayPal, each confirming my order for {$190.00}. I did not see these messages until approximately XXXX XXXX  ( PST ) while on my cell phone. The texts did not indicate what the order was for, however as I did not make any such transactions I immediately tried to contact PayPal. Calling PayPal is frustrating to say the least, but I managed to get past the bots and speak with a human. He directed me to the website where I found the purchases were for XXXX and they were made through my ( secondary ) checking account. I did not authorize these purchases. I am XXXX XXXX XXXX and I know nothing about XXXX, what it's for or why anyone uses it. I deleted that account from PayPal as instructed. I gave additional information they asked for and filed a dispute. Later, my claim was denied as they determined there was " no unauthorized use '' ( this was on XX/XX/XXXX ). They further found these transactions were " consistent '' with m PayPal payment history. A review of my PayPal history would show purchases primarily related to sewing and quilting items ; donkey rescue ; gift purchases ; and donations. I was told that I could request the documents they used to make their determination. I requested those documents. I again weathered the PayPal bot gauntlet, spoke with another representative who took additional information and he filed an appeal. That appeal was denied almost immediately for the same ambiguous reasons. I made a second request for the documents they were relying on. [ In the midst of all the back and forth on the PayPal website, I received the following pop-up from my Norton Password Manager, " Update your password now. Your PayPal.com password has been compromised! Let us automatically update it with a stronger one and we'll save it in your vault. '' I changed my password. ] Finally on XX/XX/XXXX, I received their " document '' which was a screenshot showing XXXX logins on my home computer, to my PayPal account between XXXX XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. I have NO idea what that's supposed to show. That was all they sent to me. PayPal is now all over me to collect the {$600.00} they got screwed out of. ( My bank rejected these purchases out-of-hand, as there was only {$50.00} in the account. ) As stated, I use PayPal to make purchases online as a payment method instead of a credit card since it's supposed to be secure. I had no idea that PayPal could be used like a bank? 

Furthermore, at the time of day these transactions were made, I was in my car- not at home on my computer - picking up my grandkids from school. They go to school on the XXXX XXXX XXXX which is notorious for not having phone service. I was not able to use my phone until I got to my daughter 's house, around XXXXXXXX XXXX ( PST ). According to PayPal 's " document, '' all purchases were made from MY computer. 

Additional background which may be pertinent to this issue : On XX/XX/XXXX, I was a victim of e-mail fraud. The e-mail purportedly came from XXXX XXXX, advising me that our account was being charged {$410.00}. The e-mail further stated if this was in error I should call the number provided. That was the worst phone call I ever made as I wound up down a terrible rabbit hole. I wound up allowing this criminal remote access to my computer. He got into my bank account and who knows what else. They managed to transfer money out of savings accounts set up for two of my grandkids as well as our savings, into our checking account. While he was giving me directions to physically go to my bank, lie to the teller about why I would be withdrawing {$10000.00}, and then telling me it would involve XXXX, a representative from the XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX fraud department phoned my husband to report unusual activity in our account. I asked the person on my phone if he would like to speak to the XXXX XXXX XXXX rep on my husband 's phone and swapped phones with my husband. There was a lot of yelling. We followed the bank rep 's advise and unplugged our computer immediately. After going to the Bank to close accounts, etc., we took our computer to a reputable business to have the computer washed and to replace the hard drive. All to the tune of nearly {$500.00}. 

I have attempted to explain this initial fraud to PayPal as possibly having something to do with this unauthorized XXXX purchase through PayPal, but it's extremely difficult to get past the bots. When you do reach a human being, they seem to have a script they follow. A woman I spoke with in their collections department told me that they have no fraud department.