How can Paypal advertise themselves as safer?

Wendy3

A few weeks ago a fraudulent attempt was made to take £650 out of my Paypal account. I have not used my Paypal account for months, so according to Paypal, I must have clicked on a link or something. I followed their guidelines and reported the fake transaction and changed my password.

Despite my reporting of this, the £650 was taken out of my bank account, due to my stupid decision to have a linked bank account. Eventually it seemed that everything was sorted: the money slowly made its way into the Paypal account and then I could transfer it back. The only good part of this was Intelligent Finance, who gave me an interim payment to tide me over. So then I removed the linked account and shut my Paypal account down, as I thought it would avoid any further problems.

Now I have received an email to say that my account is £650 in debt, with suitable threats and suggestions for payment. Unbelievably, it seems that the same person has now managed to get £650 out of the Paypal account. I don't understand how this could happen when I clearly reported it as fraud in the first place. Of course, I can't access the account to view details either - because I no longer have (or indeed want) an account with Paypal. This would be useful now, as I can at least report the fraud to the police, as Paypal would clearly rather give the money over to the fraudster than do anything at all about this.

I have rung the London number on the recent email - she said she'd refer this to the fraud department 'and they will get back to me'. I have also made a complaint by email, but don't know what else to do. I get really annoyed when I read Paypal advertising themselves as safer. The only ones in my experience that seem to do anything about fraud and who actually have any concern at all about the fraud victims have been my bank and credit card companies.

dazza.mk

Wendy3 wrote: »

A few weeks ago a fraudulent attempt was made to take £650 out of my Paypal account. I have not used my Paypal account for months, so according to Paypal, I must have clicked on a link or something. I followed their guidelines and reported the fake transaction and changed my password.

Despite my reporting of this, the £650 was taken out of my bank account, due to my stupid decision to have a linked bank account. Eventually it seemed that everything was sorted: the money slowly made its way into the Paypal account and then I could transfer it back. The only good part of this was Intelligent Finance, who gave me an interim payment to tide me over. So then I removed the linked account and shut my Paypal account down, as I thought it would avoid any further problems.

Now I have received an email to say that my account is £650 in debt, with suitable threats and suggestions for payment. Unbelievably, it seems that the same person has now managed to get £650 out of the Paypal account. I don't understand how this could happen when I clearly reported it as fraud in the first place. Of course, I can't access the account to view details either - because I no longer have (or indeed want) an account with Paypal. This would be useful now, as I can at least report the fraud to the police, as Paypal would clearly rather give the money over to the fraudster than do anything at all about this.

I have rung the London number on the recent email - she said she'd refer this to the fraud department 'and they will get back to me'. I have also made a complaint by email, but don't know what else to do. I get really annoyed when I read Paypal advertising themselves as safer. The only ones in my experience that seem to do anything about fraud and who actually have any concern at all about the fraud victims have been my bank and credit card companies.

You made the mistake in thinking that it was safer for the consumer, whereas its actually safer for eBay!

When you've exhausted the Paypal complaints process you can always complein to the FInancial Ombudmsan. Officially you need to givce them 8 weeks before approaching the ombudsman

catmiaow

Not so much safer for Ebay, just makes them more money which is why people HAVE to use it now when they sell something. Paypal are extremely bad at dealing with fraud and disputes. I had an item not received case, where I clearly entered a tracking number confirmed as delivered however they still froze my account and took two weeks to find in my favour(and that was with me ringing and emailing everyday nagging them)

They are best to use as a buyer, but not as a seller.

preable

paypal sucks as i just found out xD

catmiaow

I am just going to sell my stuff at Cash Converters now or will get loads together for a car boot!

Wendy3

Thanks for the advice and yes, I agree about the car boot thing! I haven't ever sold anything on EBay and will definitely find alternatives in future. I have only used Paypal for a couple of purchases and only linked my bank account because I wanted to buy something 6 months ago and it seemed to be the only way.

In future, I'll just have to go elsewhere, but for now still got to sort out this £650! What I don't really understand is that the same person could put another 'sale' through, despite me reporting the first time being an attempted theft - and also on a closed Paypal account. Seems to me, from my experience and from reading others, that it'll just be loads of my time and money wasted and not a lot of Paypal's!

Wendy3

This morning I was told that the reason for the £650 debit was that the 'transaction' had gone through to pay the original fraudster. This afternoon, I've had a phone call in which they said it wasn't that, that the other advisor must have got confused and that instead, my bank had requested the money back again. So, of course the responsibility has been put back with me... and guess what? The bank know nothing about it at all and say as I have, that they thought it had all been sorted out before. I know who I believe...

DVardysShadow

I think the step you now need to take is to head off to the Debt Free Wannabe's forum and look for the 'Prove It' letter and modify it to your situation. This effectively puts the account into dispute and puts the onus onto Paypal to justify their claim. Once they set out their position, you can begin to argue and hopefully demolish their position.

You cannot deal with this kind of dispute over the phone and personally, I would be dealing by post rather than by email.

Wendy3

Thanks for that DVS - will investigate further.

catmiaow

Be sure to send all letters recorded, they may just lose your letter otherwise. Good luck!