Consumer complaint received 2026-04-27 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem — 
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: IA

Complaint narrative:
XXXX XXXX Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Start a new complaint All complaints XXXX Print complaint Closed Submitted Status Submitted to the CFPB on XX/XX/XXXX Product Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service Issue Fraud or scam We received your complaint. Thank you. We will review your complaint. Depending on what we find, we will typically : Send your complaint to the company for a response ; or Send your complaint to another state or federal agency, or help you get in touch with your state or local consumer protection office ; or Let you know if we need more information to continue our work. YOUR COMPLAINT I am filing a complaint against PayPal regarding a {$750.00} balance they are attempting to collect from me following a confirmed fraud incident. I was the victim of an impersonation scam in which an individual falsely claimed to represent XXXX and instructed me to send money as part of a fake account verification process. This was not a legitimate transaction, and I was deceived into sending the funds. Once I realized the situation, I immediately reported the issue. My bank conducted an investigation and determined the transaction was fraudulent, issuing a reversal in my favor. I provided XXXX with all supporting documentation, including screenshots clearly showing the impersonation and fraudulent communication. Despite this evidence, XXXX denied my claim and is now holding me responsible for the {$750.00}. I also attempted to investigate the transaction further with XXXX, the payment processor involved, but they required card details that XXXX refused to provide. This prevented me from pursuing that investigation and was beyond my control. As a victim of fraud, I should not be held liable for funds obtained through deception. XXXX has failed to properly evaluate the evidence and is attempting to collect money that resulted from a scam. I am requesting that XXXX : Remove the {$750.00} balance from my account Conduct a proper fraud review of my case Provide written confirmation of their findings I have acted in good faith at every step and expect XXXX to uphold its responsibility to protect customers from fraud. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX View full complaint Sent to company Status Sent to company on XX/XX/XXXX We've sent your complaint to the company, and we will let you know when they respond. Their response should include the steps they took, or will take, to address your complaint. Companies generally respond in 15 days. In some cases, the company will let you know their response is in progress and provide a final response in 60 days. Company responded XXXX XXXX responded on XX/XX/XXXX Response Type Closed with non-monetary relief Company 's Response I am writing on behalf of XXXX in response to your complaint to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I understand being the victim of a scam would be concerning. Your complaint relates to payments you sent using your XXXX XXXX XXXX that you later reported were fraudulent. You requested reimbursement for the payments. I am happy to inform you that we have ceased collections efforts for your XXXX account as of XX/XX/XXXX. However, for reasons addressed further below, no reimbursement is being offered. XXXX XXXX records show that on XX/XX/XXXX, you initiated XXXX transfers totaling {$750.00} ( Transfers ) from your Visa debit card to your XXXX account. Later that same day, you sent two payments in the total amount of {$740.00} ( Payments ) to XXXX using your XXXX XXXX XXXX, which were funded using your XXXX account balance. On XX/XX/XXXX, you contacted XXXX and reported the Payments as unauthorized. In your report, you stated you made the Payments after being contacted by someone claiming to work for XXXX, with the promise that the money would be returned to you. This prompted us to initiate an investigation of the Payments. The investigation into your claim of unauthorized activity included looking at your XXXX account login history and payment history. On XX/XX/XXXX, we concluded our investigation and subsequently denied your claim, as we found no evidence that the Payments were unauthorized. We notified you of this outcome via email on this date. We made this decision because your account login activity remained consistent before, at the time, and after the Payments were initiated. On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX received notification that chargebacks were filed with your debit card issuer against the Transfers, stating that the Transfers were unauthorized. It is important to note that when filing a chargeback, the card issuer, not XXXX, will determine who wins the chargeback. On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX accepted the chargeback reversals from your card issuer. As such, {$750.00} was returned to your card issuer at that time. It is important to note that the Restricted Activities, Holds, and Other Actions We May Take section of the User Agreement, which you agreed to when creating your account, advises that you may not attempt to double dip during the course of a dispute by attempting to receive funds from both XXXX and the seller, bank or card issuer for the same transaction. As such, because XXXX determined you had received refunds for the Transfers but still used those same funds to complete the Payments, XXXX debited {$750.00} from your XXXX account on this same date, which left your account with a negative balance of {$750.00} The Selling & Accepting Payments section of the User Agreement also advises that a negative balance represents an amount that you owe to us and if you do not resolve it, XXXX may engage in collection efforts to recover the amount due from you. Accordingly, on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX placed your account with XXXX XXXX in an effort to recover the negative balance. Resolution I am sorry for any difficulty the Payments have caused you, and I want to let you know that due to the concerns expressed in your complaint, XXXX recalled your account from XXXX XXXX and ceased all debt-recovery efforts as of XX/XX/XXXX. We have also conducted an additional review and confirmed no XXXX errors occurred when denying your claim. While I understand you sent the Payments at the request of a potentially fraudulent third party, it is important to note that intentionally sending payments, even when coerced into doing so under false pretense, is not a valid unauthorized claim reason. Therefore, while I understand this is not the answer you were seeking, we are declining your request for reimbursement. As such, because we determined that your current account debt is valid, you will be required to resolve the negative balance in order to continue using XXXX 's services. In hopes of helping you avoid these issues in the future, we have included reference materials discussing how to identify common scams, along with suspicious emails and sites, and how to avoid them. Please feel free to contact XXXX 's XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX at XXXX if you have any questions or concerns or if we can be of further assistance. DESCRIPTION OF NON-MONETARY RELIEF I am happy to inform you that we have ceased collections efforts for your XXXX account as of XX/XX/XXXX. Attachments CFPB Response - Lukeheart ( XXXX ) .pdf ( XXXX KB ) What are common scams and how do I spot them.pdf ( XXXX MB ) Feedback requested Status Feedback requested on XX/XX/XXXX Feedback due XX/XX/XXXX Provide feedback about the companys response We welcome your feedback on how the company responded to your complaint. You will have 60 days from when the company responded to share your feedback. The CFPB will share your feedback responses with the company and use the information to help the CFPBs work with consumer complaints. Submit your feedback Closed The CFPB has closed your complaint. Privacy XXXX XXXX XXXX # XXXX Note on user experience Have a question? ( XXXX ) XXXX TTY/TTD : ( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX a.m. to XXXX p.m. XXXX, Monday through Friday ( except federal holidays ). 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Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation