OT: Paypal Dispute

[TonyStarkFan]

Well it looks like what happened to me ten years ago may be happening again: identity theft. I was checking my e-mail tonight and saw that a payment for almost $400 was made from my Paypal account to a German business named Arvato Systems GmbH. I don't recall ordering anything from this company and after further research I come to find out that it is an IT company.

 

I already contacted Paypal and filed an unauthorized use claim. But then I come to find out that it will take around ten business days to for everything to be finalized. I tried calling them, but of course customer service at Paypal is closed. I also called the company already, but there is nothing they can do. It is all up to Paypal.

 

It couldn't come at a worse time either. I have paid all of my bills for January already. I am still unemployed and now my account is going to go negative because of this. This really sucks. Sorry to vent but it does suck!

 

Has this ever happened to anyone here? If so what were the results and how long did it take for it to get clarified?

[nocutename]

Man that really blows. Paypal should be open today. I would just call them in another hour. If your account does go negative because of a fraudulent charge your bank should waive all the fees.

 

I feel for you and hope it all works out. Just don't stress since it won't help the situation. Good luck!

 

BTW - I would remove your checking account from your Paypal account asap.

[jordanscott]

Something like that happened to me in 2001.

 

Checked my accounts one day and found a 500$ charge for an offshore betting company.

 

My bank (US Bank) took care of everything in one call. They didn't reverse the charge immediately but they flagged my account somehow so that any new payments that came thru that put me in the red would not incur NSF type fees and all they required was a fax from the betting company that they agreed I was not the person who made the charge.

 

The betting company answered on the second ring and had a fax out withing 6 hours since I got a call from the bank by the end of the day saying they were reversing the charge.

 

Neither gave any indication that they were going to persue the fraudster, which was disappointing, but at least I got my money back even if I financed somebody's gambling for a few hours.

[PEP]

Wow, sorry to hear that. I never heard of that happening before. Any idea how the identity theft could have happened?

 

You should also check your credit reports.

[iggy]

Sorry to hear about this! Good luck with the outcome!

[snitzer]

First off, sorry to hear about this.

 

Secondly, this might be a stooooooopid question, but did you login to PayPal and check your account to see if the transaction appeared in your transaction history? It could be spoof. If you already did, and it does appear there, the only way it could have happened is that someone hacked your account. In that case, you should change your PayPal password asap also.

[NYComics]

This happened to me with two illegal charges. I was able to get a supervisor from Paypal on the phone and then I told him that this money was essential and that it was paypal's fault that my account got hacked. They also refused to accept scanned documents via email and it had to be faxed or mailed to continue with the claim. I went nuts on the guy and he credited my account temporarilly for the amount until the claim was finished. Paypal does do this for customers......I also have been selling on ebay for some time (not sure about you) and I earn them a lot of paypal fees if you know what I mean...

 

anyways sucks that this happened at this time of the year. Good Luck.

[hockey&comicsguy]

Sorry to hear about that.

 

About 5 years ago I returned from vacation to a strange message on my answering machine. Some person I did not know got my number, called and left a message that they thought something screwy was going on with my ebay account. The guy left his number and said to call him. I thought, "this is weird". Anyway, I called the guy thinking he was some scam artist. Turns out he was retired. He had spent some time as an ebay employee and was spending part of his days scanning ebay for things that looked not quite right. Anyway, he didn't ask me for any info, he just said it looked like my account had been hacked and that I should get in touch with so and so, etc....He ended being very helpful but to this day I don't know how he tracked me down.

 

Anyway, somebody, in Germany as well, had hacked my paypal and ebay accounts. I didn't lose any money but this person had rerouted my paypal and listed tens of thousands of dollars worth of computers, cameras and electronics equipment. I couldn't log into either account to stop any of it and many of the auctions he had had ended and people had sent him money. Last I heard it wound up being around $40,000 worth of stuff he scammed from people. Sure enough, when people didn't get their stuff I started getting negs and all kinds of bad news. It took a week for ebay to realize it wasn't me, to clear my name and my account and get rid of all the negs. I don't know what they told the poor saps who got swindled.

 

[BaltimoreLauren]

This actually has happened to me a few times with Paypal, but it's always been my bank that's caught it. Good luck, and I hope your account won't go negative!

[G.A.tor]

just another reason I don't keep any balance in my Paypal account... if I get paid anything, I transfer it right out into an account that I then transfer again, so that there is never a balance that can be tapped

[Loki]

First thing you should do is verify that the payment was actually made. A friend of mine had a similar problem last month - he received a "payment sent" e-mail from PayPal for a transaction he hadn't made. It was a VERY authentic looking e-mail except for the link to the PayPal login screen. His account never did get debited and it was all just an elaborate phishing scam hoping he'd click the login link in the e-mail.

[TonyStarkFan]

First thing you should do is verify that the payment was actually made. A friend of mine had a similar problem last month - he received a "payment sent" e-mail from PayPal for a transaction he hadn't made. It was a VERY authentic looking e-mail except for the link to the PayPal login screen. His account never did get debited and it was all just an elaborate phishing scam hoping he'd click the login link in the e-mail.

Unfortunately it looks like this is a real transaction. I have spoken with Paypal and they have received my unauthorized payment dispute. It will take up to ten business days for it to be resolved. I am not sure how my info was taken. I have taken the necessary steps to prevent this again.

[TonyStarkFan]

This actually has happened to me a few times with Paypal, but it's always been my bank that's caught it. Good luck, and I hope your account won't go negative!

I am going to go to my bank when they open and speak with them about it. I am also going to empty my account of the cash. Is that a good idea? The back up card on the paypal account is closed and no longer valid. Therefore the money couldn't be taken off, right?

[snitzer]

First thing you should do is verify that the payment was actually made. A friend of mine had a similar problem last month - he received a "payment sent" e-mail from PayPal for a transaction he hadn't made. It was a VERY authentic looking e-mail except for the link to the PayPal login screen. His account never did get debited and it was all just an elaborate phishing scam hoping he'd click the login link in the e-mail.

Unfortunately it looks like this is a real transaction. I have spoken with Paypal and they have received my unauthorized payment dispute. It will take up to ten business days for it to be resolved. I am not sure how my info was taken. I have taken the necessary steps to prevent this again.

 

I'm a little confused here. The only way it could have occurred is that someone HACKED your PayPal account (weak password or you were duped by a spoof email and gave up your login info that way previously), but you haven't said that's what happened. What do you mean by "info was taken?" Lastly, just curious, but what were the last 2 or 3 sites you shopped on and used PayPal with?

[snitzer]

just another reason I don't keep any balance in my Paypal account... if I get paid anything, I transfer it right out into an account that I then transfer again, so that there is never a balance that can be tapped

 

I'm assuming you have a CC and/or bank account on file. Could be used just as easily to get the transaction in motion.

 

Bottom line, never, ever, ever click a log in link via a "PayPal" email and provide your credentials. Just type in the URL and check the account that way (thumbs u

 

heck, you should do that with any sensitive information...banks, ecommerce, etc.