PayPal credit - unauthorised payments

Philip5803

Hi all 

I was hacked yesterday and the person who hacked me managed to gain access to my PayPal account to buy goods worth a total of £700. This was completed during 1am in the morning.

when I woke up and realised what had happened i immediately reported it to PayPal and told them it was unauthorised. This was approximately 7 hours after the transaction had occurred. 

I reported them as unauthorised fairly quickly thinking that PayPal would block/reverse the credit and contact the seller to prevent any goods being delivered/ shipped.

the order appeared to have been placed online on eBay but the PayPal transaction didn’t give an indication of who the seller is which I find strange, there is also no tracking details all it shows it is it being delivered to an Argos and shows the name of a person (who I can only assume is fraudulently using my account)

PayPal have now come back to me and said that the payments were genuine and closed my case in their resolution centre. I find this pretty shocking considering I have been a PayPal customer for a long time , and in this instance I did report it extremely quickly .

where do I stand with this? The person who fraudulently used my account has spent £700 on it.

just to note I have also changed password and login details so they no longer have access.

Woodstok2000

Have they spent money on your Paypal account itself, or have they used paypal to spend money on other cards issued to you by a bank/building society?

flaneurs_lobster

Woodstok2000 said:

Have they spent money on your Paypal account itself, or have they used paypal to spend money on other cards issued to you by a bank/building society?

OP says PayPal Credit, their Buy Now, Pay Later finance deal.

Woodstok2000

flaneurs_lobster said:

Woodstok2000 said:

Have they spent money on your Paypal account itself, or have they used paypal to spend money on other cards issued to you by a bank/building society?

OP says PayPal Credit, their Buy Now, Pay Later finance deal.

If that's the case you need to exhaust their internal process first.  If they've denied your initial claim then raise an appeal, follow that through and keep escalating.

It helps to speak to them on the phone where you can, and also to follow up in writing and provide as much detail as possible about why the transactions are fraudulent.  E.g. Do you have 2-factor authentications set-up and did you get a code sent? Also ask paypal to full investigate the log-ins to your account and the details of the purchases, which should clearly show that they didn't happen in your location and on your device(s).

Philip5803

Woodstok2000 said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Woodstok2000 said:

Have they spent money on your Paypal account itself, or have they used paypal to spend money on other cards issued to you by a bank/building society?

OP says PayPal Credit, their Buy Now, Pay Later finance deal.

If that's the case you need to exhaust their internal process first.  If they've denied your initial claim then raise an appeal, follow that through and keep escalating.

It helps to speak to them on the phone where you can, and also to follow up in writing and provide as much detail as possible about why the transactions are fraudulent.  E.g. Do you have 2-factor authentications set-up and did you get a code sent? Also ask paypal to full investigate the log-ins to your account and the details of the purchases, which should clearly show that they didn't happen in your location and on your device(s).

Thanks for the reply yes 2 factor was setup , but  they delinked my mobile number and had access to that number. I did also have the app but it never asked to approve anything.

I will have alook at raising an appeal but when I looked earlier on the app I couldn’t see an option to dispute it again.

All it says on the transactions is deliver to Argos in Wolverhampton with an address and an eBay order number and a persons name. I have just tried to contact the Argos store where the items are being delivered to see if they can help or stop the items being collected and they have told me to contact eBay directly (which is easier said than done because everything is done via there website and don’t appear to have any phone lines?).

Philip5803

All I get is 

Case Status:Closed

Thank you for reporting this case. After our review, we found that certain transactions were authorised.

Woodstok2000

Maybe try the website, I've found that better than the app for disputes.  Also their webchat (and phone help) is pretty good for simple queries like 'how to I dispute a decision', just don't expect them to resolve the issue there and then.

Same with Ebay - live chat is the way to go.

Surely the items haven't been dispatched yet if this all happened overnight - I would get on to ebay asap and get the orders cancelled.

Philip5803

Woodstok2000 said:

Maybe try the website, I've found that better than the app for disputes.  Also their webchat (and phone help) is pretty good for simple queries like 'how to I dispute a decision', just don't expect them to resolve the issue there and then.

Same with Ebay - live chat is the way to go.

Surely the items haven't been dispatched yet if this all happened overnight - I would get on to ebay asap and get the orders cancelled.

I can’t see anywhere on eBay where you can chat to anyone just send messages and say they will get back to you within 48 hours…

flaneurs_lobster

Philip5803 said:

just to note I have also changed password and login details so they no longer have access.

You need to change the password on your email account by the sound of it, that would have been compromised first once they had control of your mobile number. Check your email account for any new rules or filters that might have been added to forward or delete your mail.

Sim swap fraud? Who is (was) your mobile service with?

soolin

Philip5803 said:

Woodstok2000 said:

Maybe try the website, I've found that better than the app for disputes.  Also their webchat (and phone help) is pretty good for simple queries like 'how to I dispute a decision', just don't expect them to resolve the issue there and then.

Same with Ebay - live chat is the way to go.

Surely the items haven't been dispatched yet if this all happened overnight - I would get on to ebay asap and get the orders cancelled.

I can’t see anywhere on eBay where you can chat to anyone just send messages and say they will get back to you within 48 hours…

Go through the help system and try the options related to account or fraud and eventually contact details will pop up and you can request a call back. 

TheComplaintGuy

Unauthorised use of PayPal Credit is treated differently to a normal PayPal dispute because it’s a regulated credit product. You’re not liable for any credit agreement transactions you didn’t authorise, but it’s important to get the right steps documented.

A few things that may help:

1. Make sure PayPal has logged the payments as “unauthorised use of PayPal Credit” rather than just a standard dispute. Those are two different teams and the credit side is handled under consumer credit rules.

2. Ask PayPal to confirm in writing:

   • that the transactions are being treated as unauthorised

   • that your PayPal Credit account won’t be held responsible for the balances

   • that no negative data will be reported to your credit file while this is being investigated

3. Take screenshots of:

   • your dispute case numbers

   • any messages from PayPal agents

   • your PayPal Credit summary page showing the charges

   • any error messages if their system won’t let you dispute them properly

This helps if you need to escalate it later.

1. If PayPal don’t resolve it quickly or give mixed messages (which does happen), you can raise a formal complaint with them. If that doesn’t sort it, the Financial Ombudsman can step in and they deal with unauthorised credit use all the time. PayPal have to follow whatever the Ombudsman decides.

You’ve done the right thing reporting it straight away. If you can post the exact wording PayPal sent when they said they “can’t find your case”, people here can help you work out the next step.