Text message from <removed>

Rutro
New Community Member

I received a txt from <removed> asking the following is this from paypal?

Msg from PayPal: Transaction of -$**.00 USD with The **** **** on May 9, 2017 has been marked as suspicious. Reply "Yes" if authorized or "No" if not authorized.

 

I did make the transaction but have never received this before and in todays world, one never knows.

 

THX

Login to Me Too
75 REPLIES 75

TXGRunner
Contributor
Contributor

Good luck BenGunn.

 

Whoever works in their email response group are more like automatons than human beings. Over the course of six or seven emails, they failed to read what I carefully wrote. I asked they forward my inquiry to their net defense/security group and they assumed I was reporting my account was hijacked and gave me several paragraphs on what to do improve security on my account.  All their responses were non-sequiturs and clearly indicated the service agent responding either didn't read or was incapable of understandinng basic English to form a coherent response. Finally, they suggested I call. I explained I was traveling and calling was not practical. They responded by suggesting I call. I gave up.

 

Obviously, PayPal doesn't care about security and their online support staff are just a fascade to direct people to the FAQs. I look forward to the day when there is a viable alternate payment system run by a competitor that understands they are in the financial services sector and need to treat security seriously.

Login to Me Too

BenGunn
Contributor
Contributor

I actually got a reply from (I think) a human.  In response to my email saying that their first response didn't deal with my question, he/she explained that they send an automated response to whatever appears in the subject heading.  The flaw with this of course is that, as far as I can see, when I contact Paypal I can't create my own subject heading but have to choose one of theirs and if it doesn't exactly match my problem the answer won't match my problem either.  A classic example of a system set up for the company's convenience rather than the customer's.

 

Anyway, he/she confirmed that the <removed> text was indeed from Paypal.  However they didn't explain why my attempts to text "yes" in response were all noted as undeliverable.  And what's interesting is that, all though thy never received an affirmative answer from me, they processed my "suspicious" payment anyway.  So I am at a complete loss to explain how this "Security" step actually works.

Login to Me Too

PayPal_AshleyM
Moderator
Moderator

Hey BenGunn,

 

If you replied "Yes" to the text, meaning you did authorize the payment, we wouldn't put anything on hold or restrict the account activity as you notified us that the activity was done by you. If you mark "No" then we prevent any further transactions and hold that payment for review as unauthorized. There weren't any changes on the account as you indicated there wasn't any need to investigate, since you initiated or authorized the activity.

 

If your text was undeliverable, I would advise reaching out to your phone company to see if there was an error on their end when sending the text. If not, let us know so we can look into things on our end to identify if there's an issue, however that number should be able to receive texts at all times from all numbers. I hope this helps!

 

- Ashley M


If this post or any other was helpful, please enrich the community by giving kudos or accepting it as a solution.
Login to Me Too

BenGunn
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Ashley,

 

Thanks for the helpful reply.  It's a pity it has taken several attempts on my part before someone in Paypal actually addressed the questions/concerns I raised.  But please note,

1)  I attempted to reply "yes" and the text was tagged as "undeliverable".  Since I am having no problem sending other texts I assume there's an issue at your end.  

2) Although my "yes" text was apparently not delivered to Paypal, my payment was processed anyway ie., without the authorization that you were requesting.

Login to Me Too

PayPal_AshleyM
Moderator
Moderator

Hey BenGunn,

 

I apologize that you didn't receive a response sooner - the PayPal Community Help Forum is a space for PayPal Community members to work together to solve problems, so moderators are not always available to respond or assist in the Community at all times. We jump in when we can to clarify or provide as much information as possible.

 

Regarding the payment still going through, if we don't receive a response to the text, we still process the payment, as it's common for people to not respond to texts within 10 minutes. If it is an unauthorized transaction, you can log in and report the charge as unauthorized at your earliest convenience, and we'll investigate the charge then. I appreciate you providing the information regarding your texts, and I'll ensure this feedback is escalated internally. Hopefully this is resolved soon!

 

- Ashley M


If this post or any other was helpful, please enrich the community by giving kudos or accepting it as a solution.
Login to Me Too

BenGunn
Contributor
Contributor

Ashley,

 

Thanks and again, you've been very helpful.  I should clarify my issue wasn't with this forum.  I recognize the moderator may not be able to respond immediately.  

My frustration was the unhelpful answers when I emailed Paypal directly.  In part that's because, to send an email, you are compelled to select a subject heading from Paypal's list that may not accurately reflect your particular problem. Paypal then seems to send an auto-response to the subject heading, meaning in my case the question I was asking was not addressed.  

In contrast you actually seem to read the messages in this forum and do your best to answer them.

Login to Me Too

TXGRunner
Contributor
Contributor

Ashley:

 

Several of the users in this thread posted they attempted to contact PayPal support. Most received replies that made no sense in the context of the issue. A few were told the <removed> number is PayPal, but even they were told the customer service reps knew nothing about the issue. Personally, I tried repeatedly to contact PayPal via email. The back and forth exhange went through five or six exchanges. They simply could not understand what I was describing and they refused to forward my inquiry to somebody in your IT security department despite my repeated requests they do so. I gave up.

 

What you just wrote is the opposite of what you wrote previously. Now you are saying we can just ignore the texts and the payments will go through regardless of whether we text 'yes' or not. That matches the behavior we see on our accounts. So, then what is the point of the system if transactions are not blocked?

 

V/r

Brian

Login to Me Too

PayPal_AshleyM
Moderator
Moderator

Hey TXGRunner,

 

I completely understand what you're saying. If I had the answers for you, I would provide them here; however, these aren't questions I have the answers to as the issues you arose aren't how this feature is intended to work. As I said in my last response, I'm going to ensure we forward this feedback through so that hopefully these problems are resolved soon.

 

In response to your other question about how the feature works - there are two kinds of text messages we send out related to this thread and this feature: one to confirm whether or not a completed payment was authorized by the user, and one to confirm if an attempted but failed payment was authorized. We ask if, "Yes," the payment was authorized by the user, or "No," the payment was not authorized by the user.

 

If the payment was already completed and we identify that it might be suspicious, we'll send the text and ask if that was done by the user. If they reply "No," then we file an unauthorized case against the transaction. If they reply "Yes," the payment is not affected. This is to prevent declines on PayPal's end against "false positives."

 

If the payment was attempted but failed to send, and we notice unusual activity regarding logins or payment activity on the account, we'll send the text and ask for authorization. If users reply "Yes," the account is unaffected and they can attempt the payment again. If users reply "No," we restrict the account to ensure additional transactions aren't attempted or approved through the account.

 

In this way, payments themselves aren't blocked or approved - it affects the status of the account and the completed transaction if we're notified the payments weren't authorized. This is to notify customers of transactions that we suspect may not be approved - even if they don't respond to the text, they'll be notified of the payment and be able to log in to dispute it if they didn't initiate or authorize it. I hope this helps shed some clarity on the process. 

 

Regarding your question about contacting PayPal customer service, I apologize if incorrect information was provided. As I said in my initial response to this thread, this is a fairly new feature and some agents may not be aware of it yet. I wasn't there for the conversations that were had, so I don't have a way to verify one way or the other what information was given. All I can do is ensure the correct info has been provided here to the best of my ability.

 

As far as our email responses, the initial emails are typically auto-generated, as we often have customers with basic questions that can be answered with our FAQ responses. You can tell whether you received a response from an agent or our response feature by whether or not the email is signed (i.e. "Sincerely, Ashley, PayPal Customer Support"). If you don't see a name, this was an auto response. After responses come to those emails, they are generally forwarded to an agent for review. I'm sorry to hear they didn't understand your inquiry when you contacted us there, and I can assure you we'll escalate this feedback internally.

 

I know that was a lot of text - I hope I was able to answer what questions I could to help clarify the situation. Thanks for taking security as seriously as we do and bringing these issues to our attention so that we can look into them.

 

- Ashley M


If this post or any other was helpful, please enrich the community by giving kudos or accepting it as a solution.
Login to Me Too

CursiveTea
Contributor
Contributor

My problem I'm having is I have not used PayPal in 2 years and I received a text message to confirm my security code on a phone number I just got a month ago. For me to even reply here I had to update from my OLD number, put this one in and then received on this phone another security code. What the hell is this? How is PayPal even getting a number I just got?!

Login to Me Too

PayPal_AshleyM
Moderator
Moderator

Hey CursiveTea,

 

It sounds like your number may have been connected to someone else's PayPal account before you got it from the phone company. I would advise contacting us so that we can ensure it's marked in our system as no longer belonging to that individual. I hope this helps!

 

 - Ashley M


If this post or any other was helpful, please enrich the community by giving kudos or accepting it as a solution.
Login to Me Too

Haven't Found your Answer?

It happens. Hit the "Login to Ask the community" button to create a question for the PayPal community.