Unauthorized Payments to Microsoft Corporation

[Deaddoll00]

I was wondering if anyone has exerienced this:  Last night, I received an email notifying me that several charges had been made on my Paypal account on July 3d (I had a balance on it, which was used on these charges) that I had not authorized or heard of, paying to "The Microsoft Corporation". These are several charges, specifically:

$4.99

$19.99

$49.99

$4.99

$19.99

I've already filed a fraud claim with the Resolution Center, but wanted to document here and also ask if anyone was having the same experience? The transaction details provide zero information aside from the fact that the charges were paid to the "Microsoft Corporation" and a long distance "customer service" contact number, **remove number**.

[violindmb]

I called the number on this microsoft corporation account as well and it did take me to microsoft.  of course, while they admitted that they have had a lot of phone calls about this account they said they had no way of telling me if the account was theirs or not, nor if the money was being used to pay other peoples accounts.  no help at all.

Also, I got a quicker response from paypal by calling them directly.

[Gulmot]

One week later after disputing it and talking to a rep that assured me the charge against my account would be reverse I still have a negative balance on my account.  And I couldn't do anything through the website about the unsolicited money sent to my account because the transaction ID was invalid.  Now they are going through with the investigation without my input.

[ehjay-1]

Same thing happened to me. 
If anybody that this has happened to has resolved their issue please let me know how they did it.
they took 150 from me.  Paypal needs to resolve whatever security issues their facing.  

[Jill_L]

Anyone gotten a response back from paypal on this? I'm currently with an account in the neg because the scammer placed a hold, and the only options I seem to have are to send him his money (which I never got) back, and a whole lot of silence. Bout ready to just call the FBI and let them sort it out, since it IS fraud, even if it is only ~$110.

[wulfom]

It's been exactly a week since I reported my money stolen by the same scam everyone here has suffered. I was told by a paypal rep that it will take 7-10 days to resolve, but still no follow up. 

I do however get annoying automated messages about the disputed funds that were sent to me (which we given back). I can't "resolve" on my paypal account because it doesn't recognize the transaction id. 

I can't imagine paypal won't return our money...they must have insurance for this sort of thing, or atleast just pay it out of their own pockets... they are a multi-billion dollar company that is based on providing safe transactions. 

Still, even if I get my money back (which I'm pretty sure I will), I would like some explanation of what has happened and assurance it won't happen again... 😕

[Sidhedevil]

I thought I had to make a second dispute, too, for the contested funds sent to me. And whenever I tried to do that it gave me an "Invalid ID" error. But if the sender already opened up a ticket, you just need to go to the bottom of the Resolution Center's main page, where it lists all of your open disputes.  That's where you reply to the open dispute and stuff. 🙂

[AK85]

I just had 2 payments show up from people I have never heard of, and then I had a $50 purchase made to Microsoft.  I have disputed all 3 charges, and hopefully some of the earlier posters have heard back and have had good results.

[sk8er431]

same here i got 2 transactions sent to microsoft corp of $74.99 which is $150

this **bleep** and i know my pc is secure. paypal please do something about this.

[wulfom]

Just spoke to a paypal fraud rep. They assured me I will be getting my money back very soon (it has been 9 days) and shed some light on this. NOTE: I am not saying this is for sure what is going on, but I feel it's a like it's a good possibility based on my converstation with the rep.

Basically this scam uses two accounts that have been comprimised- your account, and also the one that sends you the initial payments. I am still not sure why they need to send you money first, but regardless, the other account involved that sent you the money is also a victim here.

Regardless of whether your computer is clean and secure, if this happened to you, it is undeniable that your paypal password was somehow obtained. The proof of this is that hey had to set up an "open billing arrangement" (or whatever it was called) prior to sending the money to Microsoft. 

The most likely cause of this is using the same password for paypal that you use for other accounts (email, facebook, twitter, online retailers, etc.) Think about it,the list is endless, and not all sites are created equal in terms of how secure your info is kept. Any of these accounts will have your email address, so the thief will have a password and an email- all they have to do now is try it on paypal and hope you use the same password.

Moral of the story:

Have and EXCLUSIVE paypal password that you don't use with any other accounts. This was advised to me by the paypal rep. Makes sense, but I hadn't thought of it before. I've taken this step and hopefully will never have this happen again. I'm also going to make exclusive passwords for other accounts that have access to my finances, just to be safe(r).

[rene110980]

Just checked my paypal account and i have 3 transactions come out from my paypal account to microsoft corporation filed a claim now i have to wait 10 days and from seeing other peoples comments i am not the only one hope they deal with it asap if anybody has had this done can you let me know how long it took to get your money back.