PayPal Fraud

[I_am_Beast]

never link your bank account to it, and if you have to go get a "savings" account set up at the bank you use so you can transfer money when needed.

I have my credit card on the account, but the wrong numbers, ya needed one to activate it, just switch numbers after and when you to use the account just use "other card " not the one on file.

[Burninator]

Do not link your bank account to Paypal! Here is my Paypal story. (sorry for the length)

I had the same crap happen to me. Hadn't used my Paypal account in months, then all of a sudden I got a couple emails from Paypal about money coming out of my Paypal account. It totaled over two thousand dollars! I immediately got on the phone with Paypal and some of the transactions were not approved. Paypal canceled what they could on their end, but there was still $1300 that was going to come out of my bank account, as they were linked. Paypal said it was out of their hands to stop the payment because it was already on the way to the bank. I phoned the bank and got them to put a stop payment on anything paypal. It cost me some money for each stop payment (I needed 3), but they worked.

Phew. Crisis adverted. Until I get a call at 2 in the morning from some asshat. He claimed to be representing one the of the payees from my account. The way this whole fraud thing works is someone breaks into a Paypal account and buys virtual online goods. But since it was a fraudulent purchase the money was not delivered to this guy. Needless to say he was ticked, and what ensued was one of the most ridiculous conversations I have ever had.

Like I said he claimed to be representing the guy who didn't get his payment. Why he was phoning me at 2 in the morning? I don't know. How he got my phone number? I don't know. But I did know that he was an idiot and he was not fooling anyone. He went on and on about fraud and how he was going to report me to Paypal and sue me and blah blah blah. He wasn't talking very smoothly and most of what he was saying made little to no sense. It didn't take me long to figure out that he wasn't a lawyer but the guy that got ripped off. I guess he didn't understand how Paypal works or what it is for, because they reimburse both parties who get ripped off. That's what Paypal is for! I was confused for the first part of this conversation because being sound asleep and being woken up and accused of fraud is something out of the norm for me.

Anyways this went on for a while and he kept trying to convince me to settle it outside of Paypal. By now, my BS meter has gone through the roof. He wanted his money back ($500 I believe) and the conversation went something like this...

Him "Give my client his money back"
Me "I don't have your money"
Him "Give the money back!"
Me "dude listen, I didn't take your money, talk to paypal"
Him "Now! Give the money back, now!"
Me "......no"
Him "Give me my money back!" (notice the change from client to me)
Me "Your money? I thought you were a lawyer?" (I knew this all along, I just waiting to bust him on it)
Him "GIVE ME MY BEAR BACK!"
Me "Your what?"
Him "MY BEAR! GIVE IT BACK!!!"
Me "WDF are you talking about? I don't know what bear you are talking about?"
Him "It's a WOW character. Give him back or give me my money back"
Me "I don't have your WOW character, you idiot!"

He gave me an ultimatum of either giving back his money or bear or else he'll make things very difficult for me. I said we are done here and hung up. That conversation lasted about an hour and 45 minutes and killed a lot of my brain cells listening to him babble on. I phoned Paypal in the morning and they were aghast that someone had phoned me.

A couple days later he emailed me asking again if I wanted to settle outside of Paypal, I said no. Then he said he would make things very difficult for me because he wasn't going to respond and I wouldn't get my credit back. I phoned Paypal again, they were very confused by his behavior, they even said if he kept it up that I should call the police. Oh and his actions of not responding, to screw me, they said made no sense because he would lose his case and get no money, but I would still get my credit back. Idiot.

Anyways the struggler did respond to Paypal in the end and I guess he got his money, I don't really care. But he never bothered me again. Everything about his actions was idiotic and suspicious. I was never really sure if he actually thought I was committing fraud or if he was trying to scam me. Anyways it didn't work and I canceled my Paypal account.

[photon]

Originally Posted by I_am_Beast

never link your bank account to it, and if you have to go get a "savings" account set up at the bank you use so you can transfer money when needed.

I have my credit card on the account, but the wrong numbers, ya needed one to activate it, just switch numbers after and when you to use the account just use "other card " not the one on file.

That's a good idea.

[Engine09]

Unfortunately it is unlikely that CIBC will listen to the whole "Im closing my account" thing. I might do it on principle but they won't care. Not for a University student with only $1300. Maybe if it was $130,000.

The cool thing is that I haven't been a student for the past 3 years, I work here at the University. Although, with the loans to pay off I am almost as broke as a student.

Thanks for the heads up on some spyware/keylogger installed on my comp. Ran Spyware Terminator last night and everything came up clean. Could have been my computer here at work but I had it reformatted a few weeks ago. It was acting strange so that is a definite possibility.

Burnminator, hilarious story. Give me back my BEAR!!!!!!

I actually talked to the person who got ripped off, Phillipino kid who lives in Toronto. He thought I was making a legitimate transaction for his imaginary computer character, I almost laughed at him on the phone. I couldn't really feel bad, he didn't lose anything real.

Anyways, checked my PayPal account this morning and all of my money was back. Took less than a week so I guess it wasn't that bad dealing with PayPal, they just need to give their customer service people a better system to check up on claims and transactions.

In the end I am still out $50, $40 for the one NSF fee and $10 for an overdraft fee. Not sure if I should bother calling CIBC again, but 50 bucks is 50 bucks.

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by Burninator

I guess he didn't understand how Paypal works or what it is for, because they reimburse both parties who get ripped off. That's what Paypal is for! I was confused for the first part of this conversation because being sound asleep and being woken up and accused of fraud is something out of the norm for me.

Actually for virtual items like WoW characters there is no seller protection, his only recourse was to try and get his character back from Blizzard.

[CaptainCrunch]

Somehow I see a picture of a bearded Mel Gibson screaming "Give me back my bear"

[burn_this_city]

I would have started laughing when he told me it was a Wow character..