Fraudulent Charges and a Negative Balance

[cfisher14]

My story begins the weekend of March 11th when my PayPal was taken over and several transactions were put in place without my authorization. That following Monday, when I noticed the transactions, I called PayPal and submitted the initial disputes for these unauthorized transactions. I was also told to get my bank to initiate an ACH Pullback. I did all of what was asked of me. 

The next chapter begins on March 21st, this past Monday; I received an email from PayPal stating the disputes were not found in my favor. So, naturally, I freaked out as my PayPal has a very large negative balance. I dialied the help line and talked to a couple people, one quite rude and didn't even attempt to help and another who tried to do her best and help. She initiated limitations on my account and I had to submit a few documents. I had not heard from PayPal since Monday and I called again last night. I spoke to another person, and she directed me to sending an email to (an unspecific department dealing with things that rhyme with lame) and to reference a case number that she gave me. I put in my story, attached an anti-virus log that I ran the Monday after the transactions, and noted to look at my usual activity on PayPal. I have not heard from them, either, I can understand it taking a while, but I didn't get a confirmation email or anything of the sort. And I just got a wonderful email from PayPal collections telling me to pay my negative balance.

A note on my usual activity: less than 30 dollars goes through my PayPal on a monthly basis. I use PayPal for Spotify, Netflix, and Arvixe Web Hosting. 

A second note: My mother also experienced this same issue with her PayPal. She also had the same application the antivirus found. It also occurred on the same weekend of my transactions. My assumption is my computer acquired the program when I was fixing my Mom's computer. She is also having an easier time than I am. 

A third note: The monday folllwing the transactions I changed my password, security questions, added mobile pin, added the text security pin, etc. 

I am not sure what to do at this point, but it is going on two weeks of me looking at the negative balance.

Does this process usually take this long and is it usually so stressful? I wonder how often thieves get away with taking money from people through PayPal.  

[cfisher14]

I apologize for the double post! It didn't submit the first time, but apparently it did. I don't see an option to delete my posts.

[DPCreations]

@cfisher14

What I do when I mistakenly double post is to edit the message to delete all text and replace with a simple statement "edited to delete".

[cfisher14]

I have just received a response from PayPal on my appeal request. I am absolutely baffeled. 

It stated:

Dear cfisher14 Thank you for taking the time to contact us with your concerns. I am happy to assist you further.

After you cancel or close a dispute, you can’t reopen it or ask us to investigate by escalating it to a claim.

Although your dispute is canceled or closed, we encourage you to continue to work with the seller to see if you can resolve the problem. Most sellers welcome the opportunity to make their customers happy.

To learn more about PayPal Purchase Protection, click Legal Agreements at the bottom of any PayPal page, then click “PayPal User Agreement.”

Really? They did not even attempt to do anything. I cannot work with the seller! There are no sellers to work with! 

What am I suppose to do? I have been back and forth with PayPal and they are doing nothing! I am being tossed in circles and my balance remains at a very large negative value. 

[DPCreations]

I couldn't figure out the initial problem from your long initial post, but once a dispute is closed by PayPal, it's permanently closed.

[cfisher14]

The issue is that these transactions were unauthorized. PayPal is saying they weren't. I followed all instructions involving unauthorized transactions, and I am now hit with a negative 1,700 dollar balance. What am I suppose to do? I should not be paying this.

[DPCreations]

Summary:

You states that you did not authorize the charges.

PayPal records indicate you did authorize the charges.

Appararently you did not have sufficient documentation to show you did not authorize the charges.

Who did authorize the charges?

[cfisher14]

Whoever took over my account. The program the antivirus found gets passwords that are saved in the browser: WebBrowserPassView.  PayPal didn't even ask for any documentation from me in the initial disputes.

The Monday following the unauthorized transactions, I immiediately called PayPal and submitted disputes. At no point did PayPal ask for documentation from me during the review process. And so far, I have yet to get the documentation about the review process from claims.