Unauthorized PayPal Charges

[Andar]

I have used the Internet for shopping for years and never had a problem until now.
We purchased a TS on Ebay and used PayPal, linked to our checking. There was no problem with the TS purchase, but right after that there were
two unauthorized withdrawals from our checking account. One was almost two thousand dollars and the next almost three thousand.
PayPal restricted the account and noted a third party might have accessed it.

I have changed passwords and we have moved money out of that account (we had just sold a house so it had a large amount in there). I filed a dispute. They said they have to give the other party 7 days to respond.
The purchases were to the same place for a number of 'Pre-charged cell phones" each costing 3-500.00! Sounds like a drug ring or something.

Has anyone had unauthorized charges on their PayPal?
Did it get resolved?
Obviously this is a lot of money to be out of our account.
What else should I do?

I feel foolish as we have always had paypal charge cc but this time we had the money from the house sell and said to take it from checking

 

[AwayWeGo]

We Don't Link PayPal To Our Real Checking Account.

PayPal doesn't even know about our real checking account.

The checking account that's linked with our PayPal account is just a little rinky-dink credit union share-draft account that never has more than a few hundred bux in it.

That way if the Nigerian Internet fraud experts contrive some way to tap into our checking account via PayPal shenanigans, they won't get anywhere near our real checking account.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Andar]

Alan, that is obviously the WAY TO Go. Hindsight is great, I never even thought about it since we so seldom puzrchase anything using paypal. The TS was the only thing in months.

any suggestions what to do now?
Do you think we will get our money back?

 

[pjrose]

The checking account that's linked with our PayPal account is just a little rinky-dink credit union share-draft account that never has more than a few hundred bux in it.

We did pretty much the same thing. We didn't want to type our main checking account number into PayPal, but we had an extra one we rarely used, so that's the one online.

 

[Icarus]

Notify your bank immediately.

"sellers" don't have instant access to the funds in paypal accounts, they put a hold on those funds. Most likely paypal will refund the money, but it takes time. By notifying your bank of the fraudulent activity, they will be required to investigate it also and have 30 days to return your funds or notify you of the results of their investigation.

-David

 

[Andar]

David, thank you so much for explaining how it works. Do you think we will get our money back?
Has anyone else had this happen to them?

 

[klynn]

David, thank you so much for explaining how it works. Do you think we will get our money back?
Has anyone else had this happen to them?

This has happened to me and yes I got my money back.

 

[cjareed]

Hi - Sorry to hear you had a problem with your paypal account. Recently my sister had two airline tickets charged to her paypal account for several thousand dollars. Paypal investigated and within 7 days she had her funds returned. Her funds were in her paypal account, not withdrawn from her checking account.

Best of luck. I feel sure paypal will refund your money fairly quickly.

 

[Icarus]

David, thank you so much for explaining how it works. Do you think we will get our money back?
Has anyone else had this happen to them?

I got my money back from paypal from a fraudulent auction. I followed the directions they sent me after ebay canceled all the sellers auctions.

It took a few weeks but the money was refunded back to the cc I used for the purchase.

If you have followed the instructions and opened a fraud report on paypal, you should eventually get your money back, assuming you've done it all fast enough. It also sounds like they caught it also and were questioning the activity themselves.

I recently sold an older ipod nano on ebay/paypal, and the funds showed up in my paypal account as soon as the buyer paid, but there was a hold on them for about 2 - 3 weeks. You can read about what they do and how long those holds are on paypal's help section.

I hadn't thought of it before, but I like Alan's idea of tying your paypal account to a secondary checking account.

-David

 

[Kozman]

I use my credit card to make Pay Pal purchases. That way you can more easily dispute any unauthorized charges.

 

[caribbean]

Same here. Although Paypal has my checking account information I NEVER use it to make a payment. I always use one of my attached credit cards to make the payment. Thought it was more secure that way. Good idea about the secondary checking account.May do that as well.

 

[Icarus]

I use my credit card to make Pay Pal purchases. That way you can more easily dispute any unauthorized charges.

OP didn't buy anything, so I'm not really sure how that helps OP.

paypal likes to try to default the payment account to your checking account, since it's more lucrative that way for them. (They avoid cc processing fees.) I kind of doubt that people that commit fraud will take the time or trouble to change the payment account to your credit card.

-David

 

[Black Diamond]

Only way to use PayPal

I use my credit card to make Pay Pal purchases. That way you can more easily dispute any unauthorized charges.

I only use my CC to make payments through PayPal- easy method to dispute a charge by making 1 phone call to CC.

 

[Andar]

Thanks to all that shared their experiences with unauthorized charges. You gave us some hope we may see our money back. I will let you know.

 

[chellej]

I have been on the opposite side of this. DS sold his WOW account, the "Buyer" transferred the funds via paypal. Once we verified they were in our account, DS released the password, etc to the buyer. The next morning , paypal froze the funds as the Paypal Account owner filed a dispute of fradulent charges. Turns out, the paypal accoult was hijacked & was used to make 11 different purchases.

In this case we lost out because the "buyer" got the product and we got nothing. It is really discouraging that there is so much dishonesty out there.

 

[Sandy VDH]

I wonder how often accounts get hijacked. Does paypal publish any fraud statistics or do they keep it on the down low so that people will still use a flawed insecure product.

 

[Andar]

Update k

Update. We received email this morning from PayPal

"While we investigate this claim, funds equal to the disputed amount have
been returned to your PayPal account. Once our investigation is complete,
any portion of this transaction that now forms part of your balance and
that was originally funded by your debit card, credit card or bank account
may be automatically transferred from your PayPal account to that card or
bank account. Please note that it might take up to 30 days for the refund
to be credited to your card depending on the relevant card issuer.

For additional information or to track the status of your claim, log in to
your PayPal account "

This is progess but notice it is PayPal account, not returned yet to bank account.

 

[RichM]

I have one of the PayPal security keys from here:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webs...iven/securitycenter/PayPalSecurityKey-outside

It's only $5 and it will prevent someone from getting into your PayPal account even if they know your email address AND password.

It can also secure your e-Bay account.

For the added security, I don't mind digging it out of my laptop bag whenever I happen to use PayPal or e-Bay.


___________________
WorldMark Owners' Community -

- www.wmowners.com

 

[davidvel]

I have one of the PayPal security keys from here:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webs...iven/securitycenter/PayPalSecurityKey-outside

It's only $5 and it will prevent someone from getting into your PayPal account even if they know your email address AND password.

It can also secure your e-Bay account.

For the added security, I don't mind digging it out of my laptop bag whenever I happen to use PayPal or e-Bay.


___________________
WorldMark Owners' Community -

- www.wmowners.com

You can also set up the same service so a text is sent to your cell phone with the security key. This is free and should be made available on all internet financial websites.

 

[FlyerBobcat]

I have one of the PayPal security keys from here:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webs...iven/securitycenter/PayPalSecurityKey-outside .......

Thanks for that info.... I did not know about that feature. I just signed up to use my mobile phone as the device to receive the security code.

 

[M. Henley]

Reasons Why

All of this explains why I no longer have a Pay Pal account.

 

[lprstn]

ditto to the above...no pay pal for me either...

 

[Andar]

YIPEE, I have restored faith in PayPal

from email today:
"We've finished reviewing your unauthorized activity claim and you'll
receive a refund for the transaction amount. It may take up to 5 business
days for the funds to appear in your account."

Thanks RichM for your suggestion. I haven't decided it I will just link to small account, plus get the security key or just close it now.

 

[matbec]

Thanks for that info.... I did not know about that feature. I just signed up to use my mobile phone as the device to receive the security code.

This paypal security key looks really interesting. Do you know when or how often the security codes will be sent to your mobile phone?

 

[Lizyyz]

I ordered the security key and, interestingly, I was expecting to be charged US$5 but instead got charged Can. $5. Being from Toronto, I find Paypal convenient for transactions outside of Canada and haven't encountered any problems so far and I hope the security key will indeed provide increased protection.