Fraudulent transaction report denied and no investigation!

[vivilavida29]

I signed up to an online course free trial (Shaw Academy UK) and they asked for my PayPal information. Wasn't willing to give at first but I thought loads of online services companies give out free trials but need your financial info, so I authorised PayPal. But later on Shaw Academy just started charging me money! At first it was just multiple $1 transactions and were reversed on the same day, but then suddenly there was a $34.95 transaction made without my authorisation!

Of course I contacted them and they said they are all transactions to 'validate the payment method' and they are all reversed on the say day. But the $34.95 was not reversed!

I made a report of unauthorised transaction through PayPal and PayPal just straight up denied?? Without asking for any screenshots, evidence, nothing?? Can't even get to PayPal customer service amid all this COVID-19 craziness! 

Has anyone experienced the same thing? Is there any way to report the case again? I can't report it again because the system just says the case has been resolved!

[LiamCaleb1528]

Hi @vivilavida29 

I hope all is well. First, I must say, thank you for taking time to use the community forum to be heard as our phone lines are currently closed due to the pandemic coronavirus (covid-19) emergency. I understabd your frystration here that PayPal denied your report for the unauthorized transaction, it seems that you are actually aware of this company for you sign in on their site at the first place, but what's unfair here is that they are charging you for additional fees without you even agreeing to their terms and agreement. What we can do tho is to help you out for those other charges that you never agreed on. You may file a dispute for this by following this instructions where as you can communicate directly with your seller by opening a dispute in the PayPal Resolution center:

Log in to PayPal.com
Go to the Resolution Center.
Click Report a Problem.
Select the reason for your case and click Continue.
For more information, you may also visit the link below:

https://www.paypal.com/ph/smarthelp/article/i-didn%E2%80%99t-receive-the-item-i-purchased-or-it%E2%8...

Hope this will help you, stay safe now and God Bless!

[Di-help2]

Hi @LiamCaleb1528 ,

I have the same problem: I was charged for an e-certificate (it costs 30 euros) without knowing that it was an one-klick-purchase. I reported it but it was denied straight away. You said that we should go to the Resolution Center and report it but we can't report it again as we have alrwady reported it for unauthorized transaction. I also tried to call you but no one takes the call. What can we do? I really want to solve this issue and get my money back. They charged me without my approval. Now in these times I need my money more than ever and 30 euros are a lot for me. So I would be very grateful if you could help us both.

[vmtuong]

@Di-help2 Hope this is not too late. I got to the same situation with one-click purchase pop-up window (auto purchase when I tried to close the windows) and manage to get the refund. Email Shaw Academy asking for evidence but expect that they will just answer you with irrelevant email or ignore your query entirely.

About the dispute decision, this is basically because of choosing the wrong reason. Since the decision was made by the system, you have to appeal the decision. The steps that I did:

1. Stop using all the services. Cancel the subscription (remember to make the phone call to enter the pin number confirmation).

2. Email privacy [at] shawacademy.com  asking to delete the account (they did this immediately via email, no fuss). I believe this is important because there were cases where Shaw Academy said you can reactivate your account any time to use the e-cert.

3. Contact Paypal support team via Message Centre asking to change the reason of the dispute because you have stopped the free trial and you can no longer have access to the certificate: Dispute it as unusable which falls under "significantly not as described".

Best of luck

[f_radjabpour]

Hello all,

I exactly have the same problem. Unfortunately, Shaw Academy charges members without their permission. I cancelled my membership 2 weeks ago and tried to delete my payment information after the cancellation. They did not let me do so. Now I see they charged me 49,99 Euro for a premium membership that I never asked for. Even more frustrating I never signed in the website since my cancellation. I really hope PayPal could do something for us. Otherwise, I will be very disappointed with this platform. 

[WRCop23]

I too just noticed an unauthorized charge for $69.99 on June 22 from Shaw Academy. I have reached out to this POS company that thinks it's legitimate to charge people this money without consent during a time when so many have lost their jobs. Why is PayPal continuing to allow payment transactions to take place when Shaw Academy is obviously committing, at the very least, shady business practices, but more likely something that will meet the standards of a crime?

[TEotzampazis123]

I have the same problem ,I don’t even know what Shaw academy is and they charged me 69,99€ and I didn’t get a refund .I don’t know what to do.They charged my card through PayPal without my authorization