Consumer complaint received 2025-05-14 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX of this year I purchased a XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  camera from XXXX, XXXX from an XXXX seller for a total of {$920.00} USD. The seller originally marked the listing as being sent as " XXXX XXXX '' in the XXXX interface, but the seller gave me a fake tracking number through XXXX messages and sent a link to a website clone of a popular XXXX courier. On the XXXX of XXXX, I called XXXX support because I was suspicious of this seller and they told me that I would need to wait until the package either arrived or the final date of delivery passed without the package arriving to file any dispute. The expected delivery of the package was between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, so I decided to wait for my package to arrive. On the XXXX of XXXX, I logged into my XXXX account to find that the package now had an official tracking number that was shown to XXXX, but the problem was that the package allegedly arrived at my home address on the XXXX of XXXX. I checked on the XXXX tracking website, and it said that the package was delivered to my ZIP code, but it was signed for by a person I didn't know. In addition, this tracking number was for a package that was much heavier than the camera I expected to receive at about XXXX pounds instead of the XXXX pound camera body I expected to receive. At this point, seeing that this tracking number was for a package that definitely was not my camera, I filed a dispute with XXXX, relying on their XXXX XXXX XXXX to protect me from this scam, and I was told to wait for up to XXXX days for the scammer to correct their tracking information. On XX/XX/XXXX I was messaged saying that they will reach out to the seller for more information about the package they sent. On XX/XX/XXXX, my request was closed because the seller provided a XXXX tracking number that also went to my ZIP code. This new package allegedly arrived to my home address on XX/XX/year> at XXXXXXXX XXXX only a day after I had ordered the camera all the way from XXXX. Any reasonable observer at this point in time would recognize that this is evidence of a scam. As such, I made an appeal on the XXXX of XXXX and it was denied in the same day because the seller had provided a tracking number. After calling repeatedly, they conceded " We understand that you did not receive the item '' in XXXX of their support emails. Instead of refunding me, they instead suggested I " file a claim with the courier that handled the delivery ''. Unfortunately XXXX of the couriers is fake and only had existed XXXX weeks before this scam, and the other courier was XXXX and was for XXXX packages that never reached my home address. Regardless, I decided to comply with XXXX 's demands and ask the scammer through XXXX messaging to either give me a refund or file a claim with his courier. Unsurprisingly, the scammer was not cooperative and sent me this ominous, super-villain-esque line " I have all the evidence that the package has been received. XXXX sided with me. I'll win the dispute at the bank, too. '' At this point I get fed up with dealing with XXXX support. Since they don't want to honor their Buyer Protection Guarantee, I decided to try PayPal 's Purchase Protection. I call Paypal 's support number on the XXXX of XXXX saying that I did not receive my item, and I started a claim with them. On the XXXX, XXXX responded giving the first XXXX pound package tracking number to PayPal. On the XXXX of XXXX, my case was denied again for the reason that " we received shipment tracking from the merchant confirming that the merchandise was delivered ''. I had called XXXX on the XXXX of XXXX confirming verbally with the support representative that the package with that tracking number was not sent to my home address, so I filed an appeal with PayPal, knowing that I had enough evidence to prove that I had never received my camera. On the XXXX of XXXX, PayPal requested documents " Please provide us the letter provided by XXXX stating that this order was delivered to wrong location. '' I called XXXX on the XXXX of XXXX, and they sent me an email stating that the tracking number given to PayPal did not lead to my home address. I had to call them again on the same day to get them to make a spelling correction because their support representative misheard my home address on the phone. The representative re-confirmed that the tracking number was not shipped to my home address and sent me an email with the spelling corrected. On the XXXX of XXXX, I uploaded a screenshot of this email to PayPal. On the XXXX of XXXX, PayPal requested more information : " To be eligible for PayPal 's Purchase Protection Program, you must attempt to contact the seller to resolve your issue directly before filing a claim. We need more information regarding the attempt to resolve the issue and why you were not satisfied with their resolution. Let us know if you've received a refund, negotiated a settlement with the seller or have other details to help resolve your issue. Please provide any documentation you may have related to your attempt to resolve this issue with the seller. '' I sent them my email chain with XXXX that resulted in them telling me I needed to work with the scammer to get my money back ; I sent them a XXXX page XXXX document detailing all of the information I had about the case complete with explanations, messages, and screenshots ; I sent them my conversation with the seller, and the seller 's lack of responsiveness to my messages when I attempted to get them to file a report with their courier. Additionally, I also attached a printed-XXXX of the email from XXXX just in case the screenshot was not good enough proof. Eagerly, I awaited the case 's resolution. 

To my dismay, PayPal denied my appeal on the XXXX of XXXX. They claimed " We have reviewed this transaction ( XXXX ) and are denying your case ( XXXX ). This decision was made because we received shipment tracking from the merchant confirming that the merchandise was delivered. '' This was incredibly disappointing to me. I had sent them an email I received from XXXX themselves stating that the tracking number XXXX and the scammer provided did not link whatsoever to my home address where I wanted the package shipped, and they ignored it. They flat out ignored all of the evidence I collected, the time I spent to get them all of this evidence, the hours I spent waiting and worrying if I would ever be able to get my money back, all of it just ignored. 

That is where the case stands at this point in time.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation