Consumer complaint received 2025-11-20 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Other banking product or service
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account — Transaction was not authorized
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: IN

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/year> I received a series of text notifications that charges were being made to my PayPal account. Since I knew this wasnt my doing, I immediately logged into PayPal to confirm the charges were really happening. XXXX of them was for something called XXXX XXXX. There was no real contact info, it was a phony company. That was {$120.00}. There were XXXX charges from XXXX one for {$16.00} and for {$99.00}. 

I contacted customer support to tell them someone was using my account without my authorization, and they told me to contact the merchants. Since I could not contact XXXX XXXX I guess that was enough ( for paypal ) to issue a refund immediately, but they wouldn't flag it as any kind of fraud. I talked to XXXX, and they said the {$16.00} was for a subscription, which they could stop. So, they did that. The other was for a membership to a website. They said they'd begin an investigation and recommended to contact PayPal as well. 

So, I did. PayPal immediately assured me there was no third-party use to my account -- weird because im watching it happen in real time, right? I explained that yes, in fact, there was fraudulent use of my account occurring as we speak. I explained the charges. Iwas then informed that XXXX had contacted the webmaster for a site called XXXX, who assured them that I agreed to a terms of service and provided my card information and was charged correctly. They also apologized that I was unhappy with their services, which literally had my jaw on the floor. I saw a screenshot of that message. It was written by someone who didn't finish elementary school. I checked this " website ''.... its for sure a sham. This webmaster is the thief, I suspect. Im almost certain of it. But thats all it took for PayPal to brand me a liar. Ive explained to at least tem different employees in full detail what had happened, and they just keep reassuring me my account is safe and secure. 
They keep offering to change my claim to a dispute, and say the item was never received, and assure me ill get my refund soon ... and in less than XXXX hours I get an email saying case closed, theres no unauthorized use to your account. 
So if I file a claim and don't let them change it to a dispute, I get the exact same result. They're intentionally ignoring my reports about this fraud and this fraudulent website. This is actual identity theft, they had my checking account information, too. And PayPal just keeps saying " im sorry you didnt receive your item, sir, theres nothing more we can do. '' I can not get them to stop saying that I didnt receive the item or that im unhappy with the services. I cant get them to say anything implying fraud or unauthorized use, other than " it didnt occur ''. They know it did. And theyre going to let it continue to happen to countless others. 

This feels like theyre intentionally misclassifying my fraud case so that they dont have to report holes in their security. I want my XXXX dollars back and or an apology from PayPal. Some of their employees have been incredibly rude and dismissive with my concerns.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief