Consumer complaint received 2021-02-19
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc (GA)

On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX EST, I received a phone call from my mother from a caller ID that showed " Mom ''. This phone call would last 19 minutes in total. 
I answered the phone and heard a woman crying that sounded like my mother. I told her to calm down and tell me what was going on. This went on for several seconds. She was inconsolable. Before she could reply, the phone was taken from her hand and a man came on the line. 
The man had a panicked tone in his voice and multiple times throughout the conversation said, " I didn't mean to do it '', " I just needed rent money '' and " Tell your mom to stop grabbing me ''. 
Throughout the conversation you could also hear occasional cries/moans from my mother. 
He said everything will be ok, and he will " let my mom go if I send him {$900.00} " that he " needed for rent ''. 
I asked to speak with my father, and it was implied that the robbery had gone bad and that my dad could not speak ( it was implied that he had been murdered at this point ). Additionally, anytime I would ask to speak with my mother, the man on the phone would become more frantic and desperate with his demeanor. 
The man asked if I had VENMO which I told him I did, and he demanded {$900.00} " for rent ''. He said at the point he received the money my mom would be released. 
The Venmo transaction for {$900.00} was completed at this time. 

VENMO transaction to bank of user XXXX XXXX XXXX phone number with the account XXXX Date : XX/XX/2020 Amount : {$900.00} Payment ID : XXXX Transaction from : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX At this time the man stated the transaction had not gone through and he requested another form of payment - immediately and my mother would not be harmed. 
A PayPal transaction of {$900.00} was made : To User : XXXX XXXX From : XXXX XXXX Amount : {$920.00} Made at : XXXX EST Transaction ID : XXXX During the time the second ransom transaction was being made my wife called our local police department ( XXXX  Police ) in XXXX County XXXX Georgia XXXX 
They stated to call the local authorities in XXXX XXXX, Texas where my parents reside. 
She placed a call to the XXXX XXXX Police at which point they were able to contact my mother and sent a policeman to their residence. 
At this point we realized my parents were indeed fine and we had been the victim of a scam. 
Throughout this ordeal, we were under extreme duress thinking my father had been murdered and my mother was being held hostage. This was amplified due to the voice of the woman crying and the caller ID showing " Mom '' that came on my phone. 
Since the incident, we have been in contact with XXXX Police, XXXX XXXX Police, FBI IC3 team, XXXX, VENMO, PayPal, XXXX and the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
Additionally, XXXX  confirmed that a call was placed at the time and date of the incident ( although my mom did not call me at that time ). My phone log shows the call came from my moms phone number but there is no checkmark showing the call was verified as authentic by the carrier ( something that can only be checked after the call is completed anyway ). XXXX stated that with a police subpoena, they can provide the actual number that was used for the incident. 

We disputed the charges immediately ( within minutes of the police arriving at my mom 's house to verify everyone 's safety ) with XXXX ( for the PayPal fraudulent transaction ) and our credit union ( for the Venmo fraudulent transaction ). We provided all four of these companies with the police case number that is currently pending and under investigation. We asked them to cease any collections until the police are able to investigate. Nonetheless, XXXX denied the claim and the {$900.00} has been paid to the scammer via PayPal. Our credit union agreed to do a stop payment to Venmo and now internal collections at Venmo follows up with us several times per week. Our Venmo account is also frozen because of the stop payment request.