Consumer complaint received 2025-01-25 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: MI

Complaint narrative:
On Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX EST someone hacked into my XXXX XXXX account and hijacked my phone number. They transferred my phone number to their XXXX XXXX  and ordered a new XXXX XXXX After activating the new XXXX  on their phone with my phone number, they were able to get the OTP to get into my PayPal account and change that password. Once in my PayPal, they created an XXXX commerce subscription at XXXX EST and changed my gift address to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX # XXXX, XXXX XXXX FL XXXX XXXX. The subscription processed for the first purchase of {$900.00} and a second purchase of {$950.00}. It was scheduled for a third but was cancelled prior. I received an email of the transfer of my cell number just prior to the lose of network access. I do skilled XXXX XXXX and am required to use my phone to log my GPS at patients ' homes, so I noticed as soon as I got to my next visit. So I drove to the XXXX XXXX  store to get my network access back. The agent stated that someone hacked into my online XXXX XXXX account to transfer my cell number and order the esim. She was able to transfer it back to my phone and order a new esim. Once I had my phone back at XXXX EST, I saw all the emails showing the transactions to hijack my phone, PayPal account as well as the purchases. They actually changed the esim 3 times, twice at XXXX EST and XXXX EST before hacking into PayPal and once after at XXXX EST. The XXXX commerce subscription was cancelled by this time. I removed my bank account information from PayPal. I changed all passwords on PayPal, XXXX, and my gmail accounts. I called my bank to report the fraud, they recommended coming in. So I went to my bank and was instructed to shut down the bank account that was connected to PayPal in case the hacker was able to get the account information. The charges had not showed on my account yet, so they were not able to dispute them. So they put a fraud hold on that account and opened a new account for me. It was unclear on PayPal whether the purchase had actually been made at that time because the subscriptions said cancelled. I did not realized they were even subscriptions at that time, so it appeared the purchases were cancelled. This did not make sense but my bank said they were probably testing whether the bank account had enough money in it. A few days later the charges came through but were rejected by my bank due to the fraud hold. PayPal allowed the purchases to go through anyways and put my account in the negative {$1800.00}. I reached out to PayPal who stated I needed to dispute it with XXXX. I did not have an XXXX account. So with no account and no order number, they could not find any purchases at all. I then went back to PayPal, processed the dispute with them and asked for the XXXX order number. PayPal stated they could not give me that order number and I would have to get that from my XXXX account, which I did not have of coarse. PayPal rejected my dispute first stating the subscriptions were created prior to the hack. When informed I am in EST, placing the purchases right after the hack, they then stated the purchases were consistent with my normal activity. PayPal then threatened to send me to collections if I could not get XXXX to process the dispute but they can not or would not give my the order numbers. They then restricted my account activity due to suspicious activity related the the change in my gift address to Florida. I was able to get them to appeal the rejection but they just changed the dispute reason to package not received. This was rejected as well as the tracking showed the packages were delivered to the suspicious address in Florida. I have filed a police report for this incident, froze my credit and put a fraud alert on, had XXXX mobile put an alert on the XXXX from that XXXX and filed a complaint with the internet crime complaint center. PayPal has since sent me to collections. I have records from PayPal that show this is far from my consistent activity, the rejection letters, the admission to suspicious activity and all correspondence. I have records from my phone company that show the transfer of my phone number and activity showing international charges displaying phone location in the USA then suddenly in the XXXX XXXX then back in the USA.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation