I have been charged 370€ from Booking.com and PayPal decided it wasn't fraudulent

[M-Benjamin]

Hi, 

Monday 17th at 11:30PM, I have been charged by ebay for an amount of 370€ on an alleged order from Booking.com. (I website I have never visted.) Suspecting a fraudulent use of my account, I tried to call Booking.com but the number is not attributed. I then sent Yesterday an e-mail to the company to verify this transaction. This was their answer :

Since I never received any of these information (because I never made that order), I answered that I have no idea what are those. The only information I got through the PayPal transaction was the location : Holiday House Lacului . This place is in Romania and I live in Belgium...

Furthermore, I changed my PayPal password and tried to issue a claim, without success. Yesterday at 2PM, I called Paypal and reached an agent who opened a case for this and told me PayPal would decide on it the 4 following days. This morning (9:30AM), PayPal already sent me the feedback and determined it was a legit order. Apparently, it took less than a day to take that decision. I haven't been given the opportunity to add any commentary on this issue. 

I want to know if there is any solution to this. I have no intention to lose 370€. On my PayPal account, I had 20+ € that I obtained through an ebay sale. My account has been emptied by Paypal and they are requesting 340+ € from my bank account. I have no intention to get scammed and will probably block any PayPal order from my bank.

[kernowlass]

@M-Benjamin

An unauthorised transaction means that an account holders Paypal account was hacked and used without their consent.
Paypal check IP addresses and devices to find out if your account was in fact hacked.

As they didn't find any evidence then they do not appear to think its fraudulent.

I would speak to your funding source ie card / bank for advice in case someone is using that information.

[M-Benjamin]

If Paypal checked IP addresses and devices, there is simply no way they would come to that conclusion. My phone and computer are the only devices with access to my account.

To access my bank account they would use my card and go through a two step verification process. 

Is there any solution left with PayPal ?

[Aasish77]

I was charged 1159.20 EURO this morning and same with me. They say it is a authorised payment. I mean are you serious. I have never in my life visited booking.com and they say I authorised it

[ajfunelas]

Hi, I have the same experience. Booking.com charged my Paypal account €1,782.45 EUR which is $3,000+ AUD. As you can see I live in Australia and didn't make any transactions with booking.com, I've already opened this dispute with PayPal but I get the same response which is that I've "authorized the transaction". I hope PayPal takes notice. This is unacceptable.

[beyzabozkurt]

Yesterday (20/1/2020) I have been charged 1800 euro total from Booking.com and still waiting for any reply from PayPal

Does anyone have any solution on this problem?

[MY-Canuck]

This is worrying if someone is hacking into Paypal and using accounts indiscriminately linked to your card accounts. You can always do a chargeback... but is PayPal complicit in this scam and should I remove all my creditcards from my PayPal account now?

Update: I’ve removed all creditcards except one Amex card which they are excellent to deal with in fraudulent charges like this. So one card stays. The bank and debit card stays as I deposit money into them..

[ajfunelas]

@MY-Canuck 

Yes you can do that and I also suggest to change your password to a complex one, because when i got hacked

i knew my password was not strong enough.  

Stay safe everyone.

[ajfunelas]

i had the same issue bro, but i solved it by telling paypal that i didn't receive the item that was bought, and they will refund your money.

Hope this helps!

- Aj

[beyzabozkurt]

I would like to update my situation. 

I got an e-mail from PayPal that they denying my claim and it was not fraudulent.

After 7 mins, I got another e-mail that they reviewed my case approving 

the payment was unauthorized and the payment will be refunded to

my PayPal account in 9 business days.

I will update my post when PayPal refunds the money. 

Stay safe.