Unauthorized gift card purchases- claim declined

[forksandknives]

Hi everyone! Some hackers hacked into my PayPal account and phone to make $2500 worth of unauthorized gift card purchases. I filed a claim with PayPal and they denied it within 48 hours. Anyone else have a similar experience and know how I can go about dealing with this? I understand that gift cards are like cash and it's really hard to recover them once they are claimed. However, this was CLEARLY an unauthorized transaction- if PayPal can't even protect it's clients from obvious unauthorized transactions like these, what are we to do... The perpetuators had hacked into my Apple ID, so they had access to my iMessage in addition to PayPal, and they were able to bypass the two step phone settings. I have proof that I responded "no" to the text they sent to confirm the gift card purchase while the hack was taking place. I also disputed the transaction as soon as I realized it had gone through, despite me responding "no." It is absolutely ridiculous that PayPal thinks this is "consistent with [your] PayPal payment history." Never in my life have I bought anything from Target or Home Depot using PayPal. Never have I bought any gift cards using PayPal. I use PayPal only for sending money to people I know...

[Mjksaru]

Omg- i’m soo **bleep** right now. This is happening to so many ppl. This nightmare ended for me. Here’s what i did. I took this “identity theft” so seriously. First i disputed the charge with my bank, they returned my money and protected me, but Paypal placed a debt on my account. I reported the identity theft to FTC (easy report, just google FTC) (maybe not necessary but i also reported it to my state attorney general office and IC3 since it’s a cyber fraud) i also contacted Equifax and placed identity protection incase hacker more personal info than im aware of. After this I went to the messaging center and i typed exactly this (I’m requesting a call I need to speak to someone about the fraud that happened using my account) i was very persistent after this message with my replies and asked what phone number they will be calling from. they got back to me SAME DAY I explained EVERYTHING i did and how I was the one trying to stop this fraud and they did nothing i told them about all the reports i filled and immediately i get the we will re open the dispute you filled with paypal, it will take 10 business days. Not even 4HOURS go by and I received an email that they refunded the amount and debt is removed. PLEASE REPORT THIS TO FTC. Apparently they dont take this fraud seriously until you show them you will be taking legal action against it. Remember you can take PayPal to small claim court if they refuse to response accurately to fraud. Good luck and let me know if i can help with anything.