Assitance identifying and resolving possible fraud activity on my account

[tenmiles]

Hi

I was contacted via email by an individual saying that a payment had been made to my Paypal account in error, and could I issue a refund. I logged into my account, and noted that indeed a payment had been placed on hold as I have not been active on my account for more than a decade.

I note that I can issue a refund, but I am cautious as to whether this was indeed an error and what the potential damage on my account might be if I issue the refund and the original transaction was fraudulent.

So my question is, if I issue the refund is there any way in which this could negatively impact me should the request for a refund be fraudulent?

Also, if I attempt to escalate this activity as a fraudulent transaction, Paypal's system won't let me flag the transaction as it has already been flagged as unauthorised.

Any assistance or guidance would be appreciated.

[kernowlass]

@tenmiles 

Don't issue a refund until the payment has cleared, if its on hold when you refund then the refund amount will come from your bank account and then reimbursed when the hold funds are released.

Make sure you use the 'refund' option that is on the details of the transaction and not send money option or a money request.

Lastly check if you were charged a 'fee' because if you were then the fee is not returned as part of any refund you make. So as it was not your fault you need to do a part refund minus the fee that was charged.