Someone created an account using my email address

[danielwaters]

Someone has created a PayPal account using my email address and started making purchases.

I have spoken to customer services but was told that as I have a PayPal UK account, and this new account was created in the US, they couldn't help. Furthermore, I was then told that I couldn't contact PayPal USA to close the account as they wouldn't be able to verify the account holder.

Sadly there are already a lot of previous posts about the exact same issue, with no response from PayPal.

If anyone has a suggestion of how this can be resolved, please share it.

[kernowlass]

@danielwaters 

Not sure how she would have managed to verify the email address if she doesn't own it.

[danielwaters]

Incredibly, there is no email verification requirement.

I have just tested this, and was able to set up an account with another email address, with no check to see if it was mine.

If I try to reset the password of the fraudulent account, verification is by this other person's phone number, so I am unable to close the account myself.

[kernowlass]

@danielwaters 

Yes but you can't send or receive funds to that paypal account unless the email address is verified.

https://www.paypal.com/uk/smarthelp/article/how-do-i-confirm-my-email-address-faq3273

[danielwaters]

@kernowlass 

They sent a payment of $29.19 USD to Mutou (Dalian) Technology Co., Ltd for what appears to be game currency using Visa <removed>.

Perhaps they created the account with a phone number and added the email address later. Either way, I am obviously concerned and want to close the account as soon as possible.

[PayPal_JonK · Accepted solution]

Hello @danielwaters,

I'm sorry to hear your email address is being used without your authorization. I would recommend reaching out to our Customer Support over the phone or via Twitter direct message or Facebook instant message. They'll be able to escalate your information to the proper teams for review.

Thank you for your time!

 - Jon K

[danielwaters]

This issue has been resolved by PayPal.

For those with the same issue I can recommend the following:

1. Contact PayPal support via Twitter DM. They always responded to my messages, and were able to help where the UK call centre were not.
2. Send an email to<removed>from your email address that has the fraudulent account. Do not send an email using your actual PayPal email address, as in my case this led to my legitimate PayPal account being closed in error.
3. If it's a similar email address (in my case it was a gmail address with and without a period/full-stop) make sure you explain the difference in the email.

It took several weeks for this to be sorted, so you need patience and perseverance to follow it through. Good luck!

[paxton88]

I received an email from PayPal asking me to activate my new account. I still have the email from November 2020. I did not click Activate, but somehow the user who used my email address to log in was able to add his cell phone number, and possibly was able to make purchases. I called PayPal today to see if there's anything they could do, and I was told "No." PayPal does not take responsibility for users who use someone else's email, and the Activate your account email is useless if they still allow you to continue creating your account without activation. 

[Jvgilbert]

I received an email asking to verify and I just closed it. Then I received another email saying my PayPal account was ready to use. How did they verify?

[EddieTLTran]

Happening to me too. First it was a PayPal Business account. Email received from paypal stating to validate my email in order to verify the account etc... Never did. Then a few days later, email confirmation of adding Credit Card and removing another. Then later that night, emails of transactions. PayPal has become the champions for these scammers. First Facebook allows for fake product ads and Paypal is the preferred payment gateway for these scammers on their fly by night ecommerce sites. Now these merchants are using people's emails to create Paypal accounts to further their fake ecommerce sites to scam more people. I used my own account to raise the issue and I get a response stating how I should report fraudulent charges.... What the heck. Do support people even read or just scan and give canned responses! This is a serious matter that PayPal obviously doesn't take seriously enough! I cannot call and sit on hold for 1 hour to talk to an agent! Now today, I get another email they used the same email address to open a regular PayPal account. How is this even possible when they need to validate their email and I never validate any of them yet PayPal allows them to do business through those accounts still? Sounds to me PayPal just seem to care to get money where they can.... I seriously recommend people to stop using PayPal and start looking at other service. When all there is left are nefarious people and they lost all the honest people's money and business, maybe they will finally change their ways. Elon Musk must be so proud. I'm seriously getting fed up with PayPal as of late. From no help when getting scammed by fake products from scammers to now having my own identity used to create PayPal accounts for nefarious purposes formerly mentioned.