Consumer complaint received 2025-02-03 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt was result of identity theft
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: IL

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter from XXXX XXXX XXXX, a collection agency, that I had an unpaid debt with Paypal. I had never opened an account with Paypal, so I returned the letter disputing the debt. I also called Paypal, who told me that a business account was opened in my name in XX/XX/XXXX and that this was now with a collections agency and they could no longer help me and I would need to speak with XXXX XXXX. 

I filed an identity theft report with the Federal Trade Commission at IdentityTheft.gov. On XX/XX/XXXX I sent a letter and copy of the FTC Identity Theft report to XX/XX/XXXXXX/XX/XXXXXXXX and on XX/XX/XXXX I also sent a letter and copy of the FTC Identity Theft Report to the Paypal Fraud Specialist Department in XXXX XXXX, CA. I never received any communication from either company in response to my letters. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received a 1099-K from Paypal. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I filed a police report with my local police department. I also called Paypal and spoke with XXXX. He said he could not help me and that I need to speak with the PaypalXX/XX/XXXXDepartment. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted the PaypalXX/XX/XXXX Department at the number provided by XXXX. It was a recording that said I needed to contact XXXX XXXX. I then contacted XXXX XXXX and spoke with XXXX XXXX and her supervisor XXXX XXXX. They told me they could not help me and I needed to call Paypal because Paypal owns the debt. They could not provide me with a phone number or contact person. 
I then called Paypal XXXX XXXX XXXX again and was able to get out of the recording and speak to XXXX, operator XXXX. He said all he could provide me was proof of debt, which he requested, and said I should receive by XXXX XX/XX/XXXXn 7-10 days. He transferred me to the Paypal XXXX XX/XX/XXXXwhere I spoke to XXXX, operator XXXX. He looked at my case # and said he could not help me, and I needed to speak to the Higher Limitations Department. He said he would transfer me to them but instead transferred me to the main Paypal contact number. I then spoke with XXXX, operator XXXX, at the main number. He said there is no such thing as a XXXX Limitations Department. XXXX said my account is locked, so I need to speak to the Lock Department, and they will be able to look at the case file. He said he would transfer me there, instead he transferred me to the same department as XXXX, the Negative Balance section of the XXXX XXXX Department. I spoke with XXXX, operator XXXX. He said there is no such thing as the Lock Department. He said I need to speak to the Limitations Department. He said he would transfer me there, instead he transferred me to the Business Relations Department. I spoke with XXXX, who has no operator number and would not provide his last name. He said the Limitations department is a back office not available to customers. He was able to see that my case was opened on XX/XX/XXXX and promptly closed XX/XX/XXXX with no notes about the investigation, which is highly unusual. It also stated that an email was sent, but there was no record of the email. I never received an email. He said he would create a new ticket and send it to the Tax Department notifying them that this was previously reported as fraud and ask them to review the previous ticket and contact me via email.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation