Unauthorized Payments via Paypal Access card - Fraud! - £827 lost!

mr_singh
Contributor
Contributor

I am feeling a little sick at the moment.

I was at the gym earlier when I had 3 notifications of payments made from my Paypal account show up on my phone (via the Paypal app)

1) £269.99 - Currys online

2) £199.99 - Screfix Direct

3) £359.99 - Costco.co.uk

 

As soon as I saw the first one I ran out of the gym and call Paypal. They then took me through security and then notified me it was done via my Paypal access card. They in the meantime cancelled that card to prevent further unauthorized payments from occuring. The lady on the phone who I spoke to said there was a 4th transaction coming through but bounced due to lack of funds in the account. Can't remember exactly how much but pretty sure she said £400 or there abouts to www.cromwells.co.uk

 

So she advised me the card was cancelled and no more Unauthorized activity would occur and that to change all passwords. I was also informed that I should fill out the claim form ASAP, to which I did within the hour.

 

I received the following e-mail back this evening

 

Dear ** ******,
 
We've investigated your unauthorised payment claim. The payment in question was sent as part of a billing agreement previously set up. For this reason, we're unable to consider this to be an unauthorised payment.
 
As a courtesy, we've cancelled this billing agreement for you. In the future, however, please be aware that you can manage and cancel your billing agreements directly from your PayPal account.
 
 
Here's how to cancel a subscription or recurring payment:
 
1.Go to www.paypal.com/uk and log in to your account.
2.Click the Settings icon at the top of the page.
3.Under 'Payment settings', click Pre-approved payments.
4.Use the filter to select the seller whose agreement you want to cancel and click Cancel.
5.Click Cancel Profile to confirm your request.
 
Note:
•You can't reactivate a recurring payment after you cancel it
•Cancelling a payment doesn't cancel your contract with the merchant. You need to pay the merchant for any goods or services you have already received.
 
If you're unhappy with the terms of your subscription/billing agreement, we encourage you to work with your seller to find resolution.
       
 
Yours sincerely,
Gaithree 
PayPal

 

--

 

  • Firstly you can imagine I am horified to read such a response.
  • Secondly have lost £827
  • Thirdly I never EVER setup any billing agreements with these people!

It is clear that reading this response PayPal do not deem these transactions as fraud of any sort. The billing agreement states that I have been billed £2900 since Feb 2019 on each of the transactions.

How on earth?! I never made purchases from these 3 outlets before. Its clear my account has been somehow hacked and these billing agreements somehow setup.

 

This is the worse feeling I've ever had and feel completely let down by PayPal. They pretty much have said my dispute is completely worthless!

 

Simply lost for words and horified!

 

HELP!

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3 REPLIES 3

Serish121
Member
Member
Hi. Did this problem get sorted?
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PSUK
Contributor
Contributor

PayPal direct will not deal with this issue.

 

However, you can get your funds back by calling 0333 700 7060 and advising that the charges are unauthorized and wish to raise a chargeback dispute for these.

 

While it is called PayPal Access Card, the company to get your money back from is infact PrePay Technologies Ltd and are the only people who can raise this chargeback dispute for you.

 

In my experience, they can be VERY reluctant to raise a chargeback dispute, despite it being a consumer protection offered by MasterCard. If they refuse, advise you want a final decision sent to you so you can raise a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service, they eventually agreed to do my chargeback when I told them this and I won.

 

Hope this helps!

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PayPal_Donna
Moderator
Moderator

Hello mr_singh, and welcome to the PayPal community.

As your question is very account specific, I would advise you to contact our customer care department who can help you further You can do this by clicking on the Contact Us link at the bottom of every PayPal page. You can also contact us via our Facebook Page or Twitter @askPayPal.

Donna

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