Paypal Disputes

julicorn wrote: »

First of all, really sorry to hear, I'm sure it must be a very stressful situation to be in.

2 questions come to mind:
1) Who else has access to your computer?
2) Can you see where the payment went?

It's been highly stressful, coming a few days after losing a loved one too.

Nobody else has access to my computer as such. I live with my Mother who wouldn't know how to work it and my partner who has her own laptop and separate accounts. I have checked and double checked with them that they did not make the payment and it's not a 'surprise' gift for anything they don't want me to know about. They know how serious it is now anyway.

The first payment which was returned to my account, coincidentally the smaller amount was sent to an email that I can see on my paypal account. It's not an email I recognise nor have sent money to it before. The reason it was returned to me (paypal say) is because it is not a valid paypal account and therefor cannot receive funds. I can also see the other email the largest amount of funds were sent to. I have google searched both, the one where the money was returned links to nothing, and the second one with the largest amount of money returns searches relating to African people/their faiths and beliefs.

I have sent an email to it in the off chance, explaining what has happened and asking them to confirm who they are, if they received it and what it was for but obviously haven't had a reply.. and didn't expect one either.

No I haven't set up two factory authentication.

To be honest, Paypal was something I set up and left some years ago. I only used it to buy stuff on eBay and pay friends for some little jobs they done for me.

The smaller transaction bounced and came back to me because according to paypal there is no such email as the one 'they' tried to send the cash to. The larger sum was sent to a valid email and that's why that one hasn't came back to me. They said to me they didn't question the large transaction (even though I have never made a transaction of that amount before in over 5 years of having the account) because apparently the address was the same as is always logged into from.

I really feel like they are not willing to even entertain me because it looks like I'm at it and I'm just trying to get money back for something I've received. I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere with them at all.

I have appealed it again for a fourth time, and this time the lady I spoke to said she put on the notes that she believes there is something else at play here ie a virus, and a couple of other bits of information.

I have also contacted the FSA for advice too.

I've set up the two factory authentication now but I'm hoping it won't be needed as I mentioned before I removed all my bank details from the account so theoretically no more money should be able to disappear unless they somehow have my online bank details too.

Another strange thing is that when I call paypal and they ask for the phone number on record for the account, I enter my mobile number and it says there is no associated account with that number. When I'm logged in to the account I can see that this is not the case and the number is correct.

As long as viruses are going around and slipping past anti virus and malware software and they are able to log in using our own address spoofing then our money is not safe with paypal as a company.

OceanSound wrote: »

Make a subject access request to paypal. Ask for the record of all the ip addresses and the 'device ID's' that have logged in to your paypal account.(Perhaps forum members here can suggest what additional info to ask for)

Paypal should process and provide you the info within 30 days.

Don't count on much advice from these guys. It's the usual 'we cannot advice in order to maintain our impartiality' diatribe. They may point you in the direction of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), but that's it.

Did the lady say paypal will investigate it further?, if not, best to ask for a final response letter. I think Paypal has 8 weeks to issue you one. After that you can take the complaint to the FOS. Must warn you, decisions against Paypal are thin on the ground. Just have look at: http://www.ombudsman-complaints-data.org.uk/
But don't be put off by this. Some cases are decided against Paypal. If FOS dosen't find in your favour, then you can take it to Court. I remember a law student took paypal to Court and won. All depends on how much money, time, effort you are willing to put in + legal knowledge about Court procedures etc (if you self-represent yourself). Or you could hire a lawyer (if funding one is not an issue).
Also, you can look in to hiring a lawyer through no-win-no-fee basis:
https://www.first4lawyers.com/no-win-no-fee-solicitors/

Yes they said they were going to reinvestigate it. To be perfectly honest, I'm still missing around £800 (by the time conversion rate works out). I've never had to take anything to court before, and have never appeared in court myself for anything. I have absolutely no idea how it works and for £800 I have a funny feeling there would be no point in chasing it through the courts as fees would quickly mount up. I'm willing to put in all the effort and time in the world but I can't afford to throw money at it to get it back, I understand that the fees would be repaid to me for court but if in the event I don't get it back then I'm even more out of pocket than I am now.

Still feeling like I have nowhere to turn just now and feel like they are not in the least bit fussed about it either.