On December 29th, 2018 Someone gained unauthorized access to my paypal account and stole $650 USD from my linked bank account.
Minutes later they issued a bogus refund - I'm unsure of why, but I assume as some sort of stalling tactic.
I reported the fraudulent activity immediately and On Dec 31, 2018 Paypal found in my favour that yes the activity was indeed unauthorized and stated that "We've issued refunds for certain unauthorized transactions covered under PayPal Purchase Protection."
Having not received the refund for some time, I contacted Paypal Customer Service via phone on January 3rd who informed that it is policy to wait until the fake return issued by the criminal had failed three times, before they would issue the Paypal Purchase Protection refund (even though paypal had already claimed this refund would be issued back on Dec 31st via the resolution centre).
Having still not received the refund, I contacted Paypal Customer Service via phone again January 14th, and was told that the refund should have already been sent to my bank account some time around the 7th. I checked my accounts again and still do not have the money in my bank account. I have contacted my bank and spoke with their customer service and they additionally do not show any incoming amounts pending. They've suggested that this kind of refund can take 3-5 business days, but it has already been 8+ business days at this point, and the funds are still not present in my account.
I would very much appreciate an update on this situation from someone who is well informed and able to properly address this, rather than continually being told either to continue waiting or that "the money should already be there". It absolutely is not already there, and it's been ~18 days since the money was stolen.
Any help you can provide would be appreciated. I would like to resolve this as soon as possible.
