On May 10, 2020, my phone started chiming repeatedly with notifications from PayPal that my account was being charged. Within a matter of 3-minutes, I had 5x fresh $4.49 charges to "Google Preapproved Payment." Upon closer inspection, my PayPal account stated the money went to "PP*GOOGLE ODNOKLASSNIKI" with a contact email address of "<removed>" and Cyrillic script (that the community rules AI won't allow me to post here) which appears to translate into the name of a Russian social network similar to "<removed>."
I immediately reported this information to the PayPal Resolution Center, changed all my security details, and de-linked all my payment methods from the platform. PayPal responded to my report via email remarkably quickly (apparently too quickly) with the following summary decision:
"We've completed our review of your unauthorized activity case, and we’ve determined there was no unauthorized use. The payment in question was sent as part of a billing agreement you previously set up with the merchant. We've now canceled this agreement for you to prevent any other unwanted transactions. Moving forward please be sure to review all your active billing agreements. If you need a refund for a payment sent using an active billing agreement, please contact the merchant directly."
My curiosity was piqued by this "sent as part of a billing agreement you previously set up with the merchant" line as I use my PayPal account very sparingly. I am the sole operator of my PayPal account and I have never established any billing agreements with "Google" or with the Cyrillic title (that the community rules AI won't allow me to post here). A second round of digging into my account showed an unfamiliar "Automatic Payment" relationship with Google (same weird "<removed>" contact information as above and a <removed> telephone number that I found referenced in numerous "scam alert" websites) having started on May 9, 2020. In total, my account reflects 10 vendors with whom I have had an "Automatic Payment" relationship, with this erroneous "Google" account counting as one among that 10 and the most recently established (within the last 24-hours). PayPal does a remarkable job notifying me of logins, changes to my security information, and payment transactions. I now assess that PayPal does a poor job of notifying me of newly established "Automatic Payment" relationships.
I am certain that PayPal would help me address this fraudulent charge if they allowed me to elevate it to a claim for continued research and resolution. Currently, the PayPal Resolution Center has no such option for my fraudulent activity case. I'd appreciate any suggestions the community has on how to have the charges reversed.
