I attempted to post this yesterday but it looks like Paypal deleted my post. Maybe they've got their hands dirty in this after all.
Here's my situation:
Two days ago, I received an email from a fake Paypal email. It tells me that because of a "technical issue, the credit card associated with your PayPal account was incorrectly charged for the following transaction: $70.90." I report this email promptly to Paypal and forward it to them as directed. What's especially suspiscious about the email is that it included my full name, didn't ask for info, had Paypal's real address and perfectly copied Paypal's email format with a very convincing fake email address. In fact, the only reason I caught it was because I knew that I didn't have a transaction for that amount.
Hours later, despite my warning to Paypal, I get $70.90 stolen out of my card. I call Paypal AGAIN and contact my bank. Paypal customer service is utterly useless - they interrupt me constantly by saying that "nothing can be done/no action can be taken." They refuse to even make a case for me and when asked if they can prevent this from happening to me again, they flat out tell me that it probably will. Paypal is supposed to be a safe, secure option on the web. Is this how it treats its customers?
On the other hand, the bank provided more information. According to them, the number associated with the account came from "4039357733" (which as you might know, is one number off from Paypal's phone number) and is labelled as "Paypal CA." Paypal doesn't have a response to any of this other than insisting that they're not involved. However, they most certainly are, and the reason I know this is because I use a separate name on my Paypal than on my card or bank account and this thief - whoever it was - knew my Paypal name. It leads me to believe that someone from Paypal is involved or that Paypal has a security leak on their hands. If the latter is the case, who's to say that they haven't already stolen money from other Paypal customers and their cards? Somehow I highly doubt that this thief went to extreme lengths to mimic Paypal just to steal $70.90 out of one person's account. It's possible that they've already stolen millions, and Paypal's response to all this is just "we don't know anything." This is unacceptable.
At this point, I am a victim of fraud because Paypal in one way or another. I want my money back and to be assured that this will NEVER happen again. I want to open a case on this because there may be many hundreds of other Paypal customers who've had money stolen from them and it's unacceptable for Paypal to just sit on their hands like this.
If anyone has any advice for me, please let me know. I've done what's necessary, like closing my card and changing my password, but I'm still very tilted about this entire situation.
