The recipient did not receive payment (friends and family)

[Vin8]

I am going to post BOTH the question AND the answer to try to help others avoid wasting time with the paypal helpdesk on this particular topic.

Scenario:  I sent my nephew $200 for his birthday using his mobile number.  On my end everything looked good and payment went through; however, he stated that he never received it.  He's family, so of course I believe him.  We re-validated the phone number, that his account was verified, etc.  Countless messages and phone calls to paypal's helpdesk did not help.  They simply stated that the transaction looks like it went through on both ends.  What the heck, right?

[Vin8 · Accepted solution]

ANSWER:  My nephew had an old paypal account with a different email address he forgot about, yet this old account was associated with the same phone number as his current account.  When he checked this old account, lo and behold, there was the money.  I honestly think the paypal helpdesk should have asked about this multiple account scenario AND the application itself should let a user know when they are associating the same phone number with multiple accounts.  Also, I apparently need to get with the times and use venmo like "the kids" are doing these days.