PayPal chasing a payment I never authorised

WeeTyroneDoll

This may be a long one... so apologies.

Some time over the summer I noticed I had no mobile reception. I was on holiday with the family so wasn't too bothered. My husband on the same provider had reception. The following day I visited a shop belonging to the provider and I explained the problem and was given a new sim and told it may take 24 hours. This time came and went. When home I visited a different branch. I was issued a new sim which worked straight away. He asked if I'd applied for an esim two days prior (i hadnt). Later that afternoon I got a text message to say I was overdrawn and was highly distressed to see I had no money in my bank account and my PayPal account had 2 pay in 3 accounts established and a huge amount on PayPal credit. All in, just under £8,000 and all to Argos Direct.

I have reported these ALL as unauthorised transactions, PayPal have stated that they found the transactions "were authorised" that I am liable to pay these.

Whilst I have no evidence of what exactly happened, I am only speculating here, I think that my Argos Direct account was, despite a complex password, breached and that is where my payment details were displayed in addition to my mobile number and link to PayPal. I believe that my mobile number was cloned (I did not even know this was possible)and this was used to authorise spending. Again, I am only speculating.

I visited my bank and got two of the payments reversed (until they complete their investigation) reported it to Action Fraud, contacted Argos, called my mobile provider, contacted PayPal, and the Credit has been removed AND one of the Pay in 3 but not the second one.

Paypal are now chasing me for the Pay in 3. There is £999 owed. The kind of money I do not have, nor have ever been in a position to spend. My PayPal purchase history reflects this. Paypal have closed every unauthorised dispute I have recorded against me, with the exception of one which took place in exactly the same circumstances.

What is the next step? Do debt collectors arrive at the door and take my car / possessions / whatever they want? Do I get taken to court and forced to pay the outstanding amount? I cannot express just how much this is impacting me. Some days I feel fine because I DID NOT SPEND THAT MONEY, and other days I descend into a spiralling panic, cant breathe and am in complete despair.

I would be so grateful for any advice that I can be given.

Thank you xxx

tacpot12

Debt collectors can't try to take your possessions or any vehicles until the matter has been to court. When the matter has been to court, bailiffs (and not debt collectors) can be instructred to remove goods. Have a ready of the information here: Bailiffs & Debt Collectors. The Difference? StepChange

If you have home insurance, check to see whether you have legal expenses cover. Hopefully you will have this. If you do, call the Legal Helpline provided by your insurer.

You might need to go to court, so you should assemble all the evidence you can of how the fraud was perpetrated, but don't speculate; just record what you know for a fact. You should also review how the PayPal systems were weak and allowed someone else to take out a loan in your name.

It also appears that your mobile phone number was ported without your permission. You need to investigate how this was possible and get evidence from your mobile phone provider that they accept that it was ported without your permission.  

You should also turn on Two-Factor Authentication on your PayPal account and any account that allows direct billing of PayPal (e.g. eBay). 

tacpot12

I've just checked and when you click on the Pay Later button on the Argos Website, you have to log into PayPal, so I would say that you PayPal account was compromised, possibly because you had the same complex password on the Argos account as on the PayPal account. 

I can see why PayPal consider the payments as correctly authorised, but you know that they weren't authorised by you. 

You should also check where the goods were delivered to. It is likely that they were delivered to an Argos store, in which case CCTV footage should be available of the person who came to collect the items. The problem is that only the Police local to the store can get involved to obtain this CCTV footage and they may decline to do so. However, this evidence would be helpful if PayPal take you to court. Evidence that the collection was made from a store that is many miles away from where you live increases the confidence that a court may have that it was not you who ordered or received the goods.

born_again

Sounds like a sim swap fraud.

https://www.natwest.com/fraud-and-security/fraud-guide/sim-swapping-scams.html