Clever Fraud Even Sucked PayPal In

[PatheticHelp]

Here is a clever fraud.  Have a website with a PayPal account.  "Sell" goods to a customer and bill the customer through PayPal using a different unassociated name to the place the goods were "purchased".  Do not provide tracking information until the customer demands it and then provide PayPal with a USPS tracking number that does not show the details of the delivery address.  I suppose they never show the address.

Send a fake envelope via USPS with the tracking to some place in the city the purchaser lives.  PayPal believes the item that was supposedly purchased has been delivered and thinks the customer got the package.  Then PayPal stonewalls the customer.  One cannot dispute the charge because the item has been delivered.  However, only a Dear Resident envelope was really delivered to a large church in the city the customer lives and not to the customer's home.  

PayPal has been suckered into the scheme at the customer's expense.  

One would think PayPal would be smarter than to get suckered into such a scheme but apparently they are not that smart when other's money is at stake.

[kernowlass]

@PatheticHelp 

I expect its one of these??

Chinese Web Sites or on Facebook easy to spot so buyer beware.

1. No return address on the returns policy............thats because the site will look as if its in your country (where they despatch goods from) BUT they will ask for returns to go back to China (returns depot) at a shipping cost nearly always more than the item is worth.
2. No contact telephone number............if you click on contact the most you will get is webmail or an email address.
3. No company address information.
4. Great looking items at bargain prices that turn out to be tat.

If so then.............

To submit an appeal on the dispute that was closed, PayPal asks that you obtain a detailed report from the shipper (on their letterhead or some other form of official stationary) that includes the address the seller gave them for the shipment or that includes a statement mentioning your address and saying the item was delivered to a different address.

When you have that, contact PayPal via phone (log on to your account and click Contact at the bottom of the page), via Facebook (send a Private Message to PayPal) or via Twitter (send a Direct Message to @AskPayPal) and say you want to appeal the denial of the dispute based on the shipper saying the item was delivered to a different address. Once it's submitted (you will be provided with directions on how to do that), the dispute will be reviewed further and a determination will be made.

[PatheticHelp]

This apparently was a South Korean operation.  What I do not understand is how a website like www.donexgoods.com,  where there fog/DRL was supposedly ordered, gets a PayPal link for payment to some other outfit named Franklin Mortgage Holdings, Inc.  I thought a PayPal symbol and with a link into PayPal billing legitimatizes an operation.  This leaves one with the idea no organization is to be trusted that has a PayPal symbol that gets paid through PayPal and my credit card.  I thought PayPal checked these outfits out before they allowed a path into someone's credit card.  Apparently that is not the case. 

[kernowlass]

@PatheticHelp 

Paypal is just a payment processor, I could set up a website in about 30 minutes and then add a paypal logo and start accepting paypal for purchases.

Paypal can't  possibly check every seller / merchant / company / website that uses paypal world wide.

Thats why they give you 'some' buyer protection but we have to risk assess our own transactions, same as you would if you paid by bank transfer or debit card.

Paypal buyer protection is not an insurance policy or warranty and is very limited on what it does and can offer.  

[PatheticHelp]

Ok.  I actually thought a PayPal link on a website indicated the website had been vetted in some way.  I guess the only good thing with PayPal is a website does not have one's credit card information or at least so far it has not been indicated they do.  I would not have purchased anything from donexgoods on my credit card and only did through the PayPal link.

What is interesting is that PayPal had some communication link to Franklin Mortgage Holdings, LLC since they took a few days reaching out to them for tracking and even an email address.  Of course I have never had a response to inquiries using that email address.  I presume PayPal was talking to a fraudster which is interesting.  It is almost like the fraudster had more credibility than the customer.

As I said before it looks like PayPal was suckered too!  I will try to start this process over again using the phone.  I have had no luck in getting PayPal messaging to work.  The first persons to communicate with generally have names like Sirhan Sirhan and they soon say my information will be sent to some dispute department with some fuzzy statement as to how I will be communicated with and then "the line goes dead".  I have tried that line two times.  I will try the phone now.

[Dell14z]

I could set up a website and use PayPal logos legitimately. After PayPal checked for compliance, I could start doing unscrupulous things like you mentioned.  PayPal can’t check websites daily or weekly 

How was PayPal defrauded?  They got your money and paid someone else. They didn’t refund any money.

[PatheticHelp]

Well you are right about the money trail.  This is the first time I have looked into how PayPal works and have seen about all they do is hopefully protect your credit card and maybe sometimes refund your money.  You are right.  PayPal skates!  

I have never seen such a disjoint, dysfunctional, communication system.  Between messages, escalations, phone calls, and emails, none of which seem to communicate with one another, there is a confused mess of this that and the other.  Then there are those that can speak English but do not really understand it.  

Right now I have emailed PayPal on 3/12/20 images of the detailed tracking of an envelope with Dear Resident on it delivered to a huge church in the same city I live in and I am awaiting their contact with Franklin Holdings Mortgage, Inc who charged my account when I ordered a fog/DRL light from donexgoods.  I sent an image of my order and sent all the same stuff I sent to PayPal to an email address on donexgoods and got a funny response from someone apparently in Korea saying they would get back to me in 48 hours.  That was on 3/12/20.  And I always love the "correct the highlighted areas when there does not seem to be any.  

[PatheticHelp]

Well, after days, PayPal has been defrauded.  Apparently they finally gave up on Franklin Mortgage Holdings, Inc.  Below is the content of an email from them. 

I have learned a lot from this transaction.  This was a relatively clever fraud.  Advertise goods on a website with a PayPal payment method.  Somehow connect the delivery of the item, a rather large Genesis Coupe fog/DRL light, with a tracking number associated with an address in the U.S., and then mail an envelope to Dear Resident to an address of some place in the city of the purchaser.  Because the purchaser cannot see the actual delivery address and often times the ignorants that deliver for USPS puts "on the porch" instead of a better description, PayPal and the purchaser think the purchase has been delivered.  Instead it is delivered to a giant church in the city the purchaser lives in.  Without spending an inordinate amount of time tracking down what happened to the delivery at the USPO locally and keeping on contacting PayPal through their dysfunctional communication system, I would have been out $98.  The first message from PayPal was my claim had been denied because the package had been delivered.

I recently was on the web looking for a remote control for a gate opener.  I came across a super deal at www.yngprmsonline.com. It had the same email address at the bottom that was on the website where I thought I purchased the fog/DRL.  I used the email address and called them scammers.  The email address was bad and the email returned.  Although the site did not show PayPal and only showed MC and Visa, I suspect when one orders there was a PayPal symbol available.

I would have never ordered the fog/DRL from the original site with my Visa and would have gone somewhere else except for the PayPal symbol.  Here is PayPal's latest response.  This message cannot contain an email address for Franklin Mortgage Holdings, Inc. but there was one in the PayPal message that I used once but got no response. I am filing a mail fraud report against Franklin Mortgage Holdings, Inc with the USPS.

Dear ........,

Because we were unable to obtain additional information from FRANKLIN MORTGAGE HOLDINGS, INC regarding your claim, this case has been resolved in your favor and you have received a refund of $98.00 USD. If you paid with a credit card, the money is refunded to your credit card. Please note that it can take up to 30 days for the refund to appear on your card statement. 

Transaction Details

Case number: PP-D-57106707

Seller's name: FRANKLIN MORTGAGE HOLDINGS, INC

Seller's email: ........

Seller's transaction ID: 1CE21362XR312564X

Transaction date: February 28, 2020

Transaction amount: $98.00 USD

Your transaction ID: 2S892760A84391629

Sincerely,

PayPal

[PatheticHelp]

Oh, BTW, this refund may have also been stimulated by a letter from the Office of Attorney General, state of California, where I filed a complaint against PayPal.  I recently got a letter from the OAG saying they were contacting PayPal.