Fraudulent PayPal transaction
06-15-2012, 01:03 PM
#21
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Illinois
Posts: 9,312
Very disheartening to hear this.. I am so glad you suspected something was amiss before the "fraud" had the chance to play out. There is way more to this story than I think you might ever know. Do let us know what Pay Pal has to say about this , if there is more follow -up. So many of us have gotten used to this convienience believing it was the safest way to transact on-line.
My guess is that if someone hacked the pay pal account they also hacked the e- mail address. But that whole phone issue .. and now its disconnected... HMMM thats the part that really makes all of it very very suspititous.
You may want to consider calling the Police Department for that Town/City.
My guess is that if someone hacked the pay pal account they also hacked the e- mail address. But that whole phone issue .. and now its disconnected... HMMM thats the part that really makes all of it very very suspititous.
You may want to consider calling the Police Department for that Town/City.
06-15-2012, 01:04 PM
#22
Super Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Orchard Park, NY (near Buffalo, which is near Niagara Falls)
Posts: 3,884
I did wonder whether I should wait for PayPal to just take the money back (assuming that the person did actually report to PayPal that there had been a fraudulent e-check)... but after checking to see that the shipping address did not seem to have any connection to the billing address, I would not have shipped the order anyway. So there was IMHO nothing to be gained by waiting to issue the refund.
BTW... whenever I have a REALLY valuable package - or a situation that makes me uneasy - I send the package via USPS restricted delivery, which means that only the person to whom the package is addressed can sign for and claim it. They also have to show government issued photo id to claim it. I believe this is the best way to insure safety for both buyer and seller. For the buyer: nobody else can lurk in their yard, and steal the package when it's delivered. For the seller: there's no chance that the buyer can take delivery and then claim that he/she did not receive it (or that a third party forged the buyer's name when signing for the package).
06-15-2012, 01:07 PM
#23
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Illinois
Posts: 9,312
Do the pre-paid cards cost more than the face value? I think I bought one for my son at Christmas and was disappointed to find out that there was an extra fee. As to why they might not work online, it could be that there is no address verification available for that type of cards. Some merchants might have their websites set up to reject transactions that don't have an address match.
06-15-2012, 01:08 PM
#24
Super Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Orchard Park, NY (near Buffalo, which is near Niagara Falls)
Posts: 3,884
At this point, since no money has changed hands (I refunded the payment), they probably would view it as no crime having been committed.
06-15-2012, 01:17 PM
#25
Power Poster
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Northern Michigan
Posts: 12,861
sorry but i do have to disagree with you- i've been using my paypal account for almost 10 years---and have found it to be the safest way to conduct alot of business transactions- and i have dealt with customer service a couple times- they are very knowledgable and fix things right away when there is any issue- i had an auto place run my card 3 times for a transaction once---they said it didn't go through the first 2 times- when i checked my paypal accout there were in fact 3 payments---i called them right away and within minutes they had fixed it- cancelled 2 of the transactions and reimbersed my account- they have been more than helpful, friendly and acknowledable...my mom who is in her 70's has been using her paypal account for a number of years to pay all of her bills- she no longer deals with checks at all- pays everything though her paypal- and has also never had any kind of problem- or dissatisfaction with customer service- when she did have a problem is was something she did- and they still fixed it right away- it only took a few minutes on the phone.
Paypal is not safe! Someone hacked into my account (I was not phished) and was busy buying on ebay with money from my checking account. Somehow they were able to bypass any confirmation emails to me whenever they were in my account even though paypal said my email was the only one registered to my account. Frankly, I suspect that it was a paypal employee who was stealing from my account. The creep added four names and four addresses to my account without me ever knowing. I discovered the fraudulent charge when I was looking at my checking account balance on-line and reported it to paypal. They did next to nothing to help, it was my bank that took care of everything. They refunded my money immediately with no questions asked. Paypal's customer service was horrendous and I ended up canceling my account with them. Will never use it again!
06-15-2012, 02:26 PM
#26
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Owensboro, KY
Posts: 1,420
Not too long ago I was ordering something on ebay and intended to pay for it with my PayPal account. I was told the account was frozen and I couldn't use that account, nor would they let me put anything on a personal charge or debit card. I was furious because I thought they were telling me my credit was bad. They suggested I call PayPal and find out more information.
Apparently, PayPal was acting on my behalf by freezing my account. They informed me of an attempt to use my account by someone in another country. They were alerted somehow. We went through some security questions, changed the password, etc and they reinstated my account. I was so relieved they had discovered the fraud attempt before it happened.
Apparently, PayPal was acting on my behalf by freezing my account. They informed me of an attempt to use my account by someone in another country. They were alerted somehow. We went through some security questions, changed the password, etc and they reinstated my account. I was so relieved they had discovered the fraud attempt before it happened.
06-15-2012, 09:35 PM
#28
Super Member
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Ohio
Posts: 1,299
I have been using Pay Pal as a buyer and seller for about 15 years and never had a problem. Had one eBay sale that wasn't properly handled and Pay Pal fixed the issue and gave me my money back. I have less worry about Pay Pal handling my money than the guy at the gas station, Pay Pal will be there years from now, that guy could be gone tomorrow.
06-15-2012, 09:51 PM
#29
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Limbo
Posts: 1,953
Super scary! I do have to say, that I will not order anything online if they do not take paypal. Paypal is the only way I pay for anything online, I have had them for years and never any problems that did not get cleared up quickly. It is sad that we have to deal with such people!
06-15-2012, 10:13 PM
#30
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Upper Michigan
Posts: 8,248
I was going to get the prepaid cc to use online. I did research then went to walmart. Cost me 3.00 to buy it, then found out it would cost 3.00 every month! Plus you have to activate the card!! To do that they want your dob and ss#!!! They said because of homeland security! No way do i give that out!!! Luckily they refunded my money i had on the card and cost of the card . Dont do it!!
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
himnherr
General Chit-Chat (non-quilting talk)
2
03-28-2014 05:17 AM
dreamer2009
General Chit-Chat (non-quilting talk)
20
11-20-2010 08:58 AM
