Consumer complaint received 2024-12-04 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: TN

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/year>, I noticed a pending transfer in the amount of {$81.00} from my bank checking account to a PayPal vendor that was clearly fraudulent. I contacted the bank to initiate a stop payment and then contacted PayPal. On that call, we established that someone had hacked my account several months previous and had removed my email credentials and replaced them with their own ; they had also changed the default language on the account from English to Spanish, a language I do not speak. The hacker had made several small transactions ( some for {$0.00} and {$1.00} ) in previous months which I had not noticed, a transaction for {$9.00} on XX/XX/XXXX and another for {$11.00} on XX/XX/XXXX and then the transaction for {$81.00} on XX/XX/XXXX which I had reported immediately. To protect my account against more fraud, we removed all connections to my bank account and credit cards. I was told to leave the account otherwise active so that a refund of the fraudulent charges could be made. Within XXXX days of the call, PayPal, unable to pull the funds from my bank account, proceeded to charge my credit card for {$81.00}. I then called my credit card company, XXXX, to report that this was a fraudulent charge. 

On XX/XX/year>, I received an email indicating that a review of the account showed that the transactions were " authorized. '' I immediately called to dispute the assessment. On this occasion, I spoke with a manager in the fraud department who agreed that the activity was fraudulent and that an unknown IP address had been used to access my account. I also pointed out that the name and address on the items shipped were not mine ; I live in XXXX, TN and the addresses were in Oregon and Washington. When I asked why my credit card had been charged, I was told that PayPal had retained the card details to get their money that was paid to the vendor. All this additional detail was added to the claim, and it was resubmitted for review. On XX/XX/year>, I received another e-mail indicating that my claim was again denied ; all the transactions were determined to be authorized. 

I called again on XX/XX/year> and spoke with another manager. While sympathetic to my plight, I was told that I could not appeal again. I was told that a did not receive item claim could be made for the transactions. While true, I did not receive the items, this claim did not get at the true problem, and I felt that this was a waste of time. On XX/XX/year>, I received an e-mail indicated that PayPal had contacted the vendors and determined that the items had been shipped and that my claim was denied. 

I called again on XX/XX/year> and was able to speak extensively with a manager supervisor who indicated that the initial claim had likely contained insufficient information about my claim. Although the initial back-office investigator would have had full access to logs on my account, they may not have conducted a thorough analysis of the activity. When I asked what had occurred with all the additional detail that I had provided on the two subsequent appeals that were made, I was given the run around. The supervisor agreed to submit a new case. I was then told that the fraudulent charge on XX/XX/XXXX could not be disputed as it was more than 180 days in the past. When I pointed out that I had disputed this charge on XX/XX/XXXX, which would have put XX/XX/XXXX in the 180 day window, I was told that nothing could be done at this point. 

I am filing this claim as it has become clear that PayPal is choosing to ignore the obvious fraud on my account. They are refusing to refund my money. They further thwarted my efforts to block payment by charging my credit card, information about which I had deleted from my account. I am extremely angry that even though their phone representatives, managers and supervisors have all acknowledged the indicators of fraud on the account, their back office review team continues to deny that it has occurred. I have wasted countless hours on this issue. I can only wonder how many other PayPal customers have given up in frustration while PayPal simply denies to address fraud that has occurred. 

I look forward to hearing from you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief