Why does Pay Pal continue to allow people to use their systems to conduct fraudulent transactions?

cmuchui
Contributor
Contributor

On my credit card transactions list, I saw a payment to paypal made two weeks ago that I did not recognize. I called my credit card company and they immediately froze the acccount and put a dispute flag on the account . They asked me to call Paypal, collect as much information as possible and demand a refund . I called payPal. A customer service representative said someone opened a temprorary paypal account by phone, associated my credit card info with that account and then authorized a transaction to pay someone called "Reggie" using my credit card !! Since it was a temporary account it no longer existed. I asked for a refund and I was told I could not get one because the payment was already made. They removed my credit card from their system and asked that I contact my credit card company. I asked for a supervisor and was transferred to Tamryn. I asked Paypal to improve their system to force the users of accounts to verify that they are the owners of the payment methods they associate with the accounts, they said it is not their responsibility to keep credit cards secure.  But she could forward my suggestion to the meetings that they held every week. I asked for more details about the fraudulent transaction and Tamryn said that information is internal and could only be revealed through a court subpoena !! I asked Tamryn to send me an email so I could relay that information to the my credit card company investigators. She said she would send it but one hour later, she has not sent anything! Why does PayPal continue to provide a systems that fraudsters can use? The staff were vehement about blaming me and my credit card company for allowing the compromise. But they were unwilling to make any changes on their side to stop this.  

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2 REPLIES 2

sharpiemarker
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

I think what the supervisor meant is that the person who opened the temp account had your full card info so they can't possibly be responsible for that.  PayPal does not show all 16 digits of your card, only four so someone had your identity info and full card number and info to do this.  Your info got compromised somehow.  Was it compromised via PayPal?  Don't know.  Or someone has it outside of PayPal.

 

It is odd that PayPal allows these temp accounts.  Didn't know it could be done.  Your card should be able to chargeback on it if you do not recognize the charge and issue you a new card.


Kudos & Solved are greatly appreciated. 🙂
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cmuchui
Contributor
Contributor

"It is odd that PayPal allows these temp accounts.  Didn't know it could be done"

That is what disturbed me. They could not even tell me exactly how this was done so I suspect it is due to some type of weakness on their system.  Paypal seems to be quite comfortable providing a system that fraudsters can use . Their excuse is "we are not responsible for the financial information" 

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