Bogus account

[Psyop]

Someone created a paypal account using my email address. How do I get it closed? I've already contacted PayPal and all they did was send an email to my account saying the account was temporarily limited and I need to login to resolve. It's not my account, so I can't login to shut it down.

[sharpiemarker]

They limited your account instead? 

[Psyop]

No, they sent my email address a (your account has been temporarily limited). The bogus PayPal registrant used my email address to register.

The "limited" email came after I told them about the bogus account registration.

[FTS]

You should call customer services and request a Password Reset.

It will come to your email, and then you'll have access to the account linked to your email.

From there, you can either keep or close the account.

[Psyop]

I'll call but I have no account verification info and the phone number linked to the account (which partially shows when attempting a reset online) is not mine. I'll give it a shot, but I doubt I'll be granted access to it.

[DPCreations]

Phone PayPal support for help, and repeat as necessary until you reach someone knowledgable.

[Psyop]

I called.  Absolutely worthless, just as I thought it would be.  The reply I received?   "Please call back tomorrow, our security office is closed for the day".

Meanwhile, I have no way to know what else about me is compromised and used in the PayPal account creation, what that account originator is doing, or what else I should be doing to protect myself beyond the many steps I already take, and the customer service agent will do NOTHING except ask me to call back.

So, I guess my emails to them and the phone call that I've already made doesn't count for much if it happens to inconvenience their staff, but it's a good thing it's OK for me to be "inconvenienced".  That's the term the girl used, "I apologize for the inconvenience", as if being on the potential edge of identity theft is merely an inconvenience....

[FTS]

Alright, calm down.

Email addresses are public domain - just because someone used your email address does not mean you've been hacked - does this other person(s) have access to your email? Have you changed passwords to make sure?

"Please call back tomorrow, our security office is closed for the day"

Not sure who you called, I just got off of the phone with PayPal customer support.

[Psyop]

I didn't say Paypal Customer Service was closed.

I called customer service; "Ann" put me on hold when I asked to speak to a supervisor (I've was on the phone with them for 40 minutes).  Customer Service is open, the Security Department is not, according to Ann.

Last reply from a supervisor:

"We can't do anything for an email address.  We have no way to prove that a particular person owns the email address.  The account will be limited because it won't be confirmed via email, but they can send money, add cards and accounts, and take other basic actions (but cannot receive money).  If the account turns out to be fraudulent, we will close the account, but the email address will not be released for a minimum of 3 years."

So, nothing I can do, apparently.  PayPal permits accounts to be opened without verification that the requester owns the email address used during registration, and the owner of the email address cannot sieze it or otherwise request the account to be closed or otherwise modified in order to recover the email address, regardless of evidence of ownership (and their are LOTS of things that can be provided which demonstrate evidence of ownership).

That said, and because email addresses are "public", and there have been many large breaches in the last two years, everyone should be concerned when their email address is used to register for something, especially if it's financial related.  One breach may not be enough to expose someone, but with all the crappy security used by merchants and the number of large breaches, it's plausible that enough pieces of information exist to compile a reasonably accurate profile by someone motivated with bad intentions.

I'll deal with it elsewhere/somehow. 

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@FTS wrote:

Alright, calm down.

Email addresses are public domain - just because someone used your email address does not mean you've been hacked - does this other person(s) have access to your email? Have you changed passwords to make sure?

"Please call back tomorrow, our security office is closed for the day"

Not sure who you called, I just got off of the phone with PayPal customer support.

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