Consumer complaint received 2024-04-03
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc (CA)

I made an online purchase on XX/XX/XXXX of {$78.00} and paid through paypal. The next day, I saw that I was billed twice, and another XXXX payments had been authorized. I immediately contacted paypal and alerted them of the fraud. After checking my browser, I saw that at the time I made the purchase, paypal checkout was accessed multiple times. And I saw that I was never sent the purchase confirmation from the seller. Paypal claimed that it was me that authorized the second payment and additional XXXX future payments, and denied my claim. 

I appealed, and collected lots of documentation, including the screenshot of the item, a screenshot of my browser history showing XXXX checkouts in just a couple minutes. 

Paypal contacted the 'seller ' who sent them a tracking number, and again my claim was denied. I contacted to postal service, who sent me a picture of the package with the tracking number very clear. It was addressed to someone else- not my name- and another address, and showed the weight of the package was XXXXXXXX XXXX The only thing in common was that the package was addressed to someone in my zipcode. Apparently, for paypal, anything shipped to anywhere and anyone in my zipcode was enough proof that I received the item. Even the shipper on the package label was not the same as the seller. 

The item I purchased was XXXXXXXX XXXX. I again supplied paypal with the info the post office supplied, and provided the description of the item purchased showing the XXXXXXXX XXXX weight of the package they claimed was shipped to me, and showing them that the XXXX items I was charged for ( charged twice for XXXX order ) had the same tracking number for each 'order '. I even supplied proof of the postal weight limit from the local postmaster. 

The attempted purchase was XX/XX/XXXX at XXXXXXXX XXXX. At XXXXXXXX XXXX the same date, the company authorized additional payment to be charged to my account. At XXXXXXXX XXXX, on XX/XX/XXXX, the second payment was charged to my account. with XXXX more payments to be taken. 

It was about XXXX XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX when I discovered all this and immediately reported it to paypal. Paypal denied my first claim just XXXX minutes after I submitted it, saying that I authorized the payments. 

I spent the next several days going back and forth, and I had to battle each charge separately and file everything twice, as paypal considered it as XXXX separate purchases. 

I got the tracking info from the post office on XX/XX/XXXX, including an email from the local postmaster, and a pic of the package, and submitted it immediately to paypal. 

Paypal informed me that they would review the info and issue a decision is just a few days. later extended to XX/XX/XXXX, and said they would give the seller a chance to submit info. The website I bought from is still active, but the website that billed me is no longer active, so the scammers likely switched to another account. Paypal hasn't replied to my requests that they refund the money. 

And now I have learned that paypal does this regularly, as part of their business model, and instead of honoring their money back protection guarantee, they force consumers to go into small claims court to receice money back. I'm XXXX XXXX XXXX, in poor health, unable to walk long distances, and because they have added a prohibition against class actions, and insist on either arbitration or small claims court to acheive satisfaction, there consumer protections are essentially a fraud. It will be an excessive burden for me, and likely most consumers. They profit from every transaction, and don't want to return even the {$150.00} total they have charged me. They also told me that the charges would be removed until this was settled, but the charges remain. 

Since paypal profitted, they are actually aiding and abetting the criminals by letting the seller submit fake tracking info, and having paypal willfully, knowlingly accept it without checking. They forced XXXX to spend hours trying to get the info from the post office. Paypal is detrimentally relying on the fact that the post office doesn't generally give out tracking info to anyone but the adressee.But I was able to show the postmaster that paypal had me listed as the recipient, so showed that fraud was occurring