Fraud via guest account

[PSF543]

Someone took 100USD from my Paypal account, but it does not show up in my transactions. I filed a claim and Paypal contacted me that they would reimburse me. They say a guestvaccount was used .............. Now I received a message from Paypal that I received the goods ordered and the case is closed.
I live in the UK and I have never ordered something of 100USD. I do not know the person, probably from Kenya with the name: " Margaret Wambui Wanjiku".
Filing a claim with Paypal does not seem to work anymore .... and I cannot get them on the phone.
How would you recommend to proceed.

[Hamham24]

I can only underscore this response. I was recently compromised with a vendor in Germany that I have never worked with. Someone had my IBAN number and email and was able to access my bank account for a purchase without any authorisation required. Furthermore, the transaction doesn't even appear in your Activity. When I got the confirmation email from this vendor about my "order" I assumed it was a phishing email - and checked my PayPal to confirm that no transaction had been made. I was totally shocked to see it clear my bank account two days later. This is unbelievable. PayPal customer services encouraged me to file a complaint, but it is outrageous that someone can directly access your bank account with only your IBAN and email...and I suppose a vendor without verification protocols in place. 

For anyone still reading, I filed a legal complaint against PayPal directly with its regulator (CSSF) in Luxembourg. They cannot both facilitate fraud AND hide the transactions from users. This cannot be legal. Wish me well!

[VerenaP1]

I don't understand why you insist that it doesn't exist. It looks like I really need to find links for you where this problem is described by others. https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/Kontosicherheit/Betrug-mit-Gastkonto/m-p/3163869

[kernowlass]

@VerenaP1 

I gave you a PAYPAL link that explains what a guest account is. If you don't believe a paypal help page then that's your problem.

[VerenaP1]

i have just searched for ‘guest account’ in english and the term ‘guest checkout’ appears here. this is different from a guest account, which can be opened by a user. it seems that the possibility of a guest account and therefore the associated problem only exists in some countries, in my case in germany and italy. (and now i finally understand, why the fraudsters openend these guest accounts in italy and germany - because this option is not available everywhere)

then i will write in these forums. because of course you can't know what i'm writing about if it doesn't exist in your country.

by the way, i don't need any direct help with the problem, my card is blocked anyway and i have spoken to both the customer service in italy and the one in germany. they have blocked the guest accounts in question. it's just scary when you know that this can happen to you or others again and again if your credit card details are leaked.

that means i'm only concerned at this point that paypal sees that the problem affects many people - although it looks like not in english-speaking countries. every voice more counts.

[Jayt83]

And if you were so knowledgeable and not so arrogant and rude, you will notice that at the bottom of every PayPal page it explicitly says that it's not to be used for any financial purposes of advice.... So like the customers have been saying, this is fraud, it should be 100% reported, and I think you need to brush up on your PayPal knowledge as well as country laws that vary from country to country. For everyone else in this conversation, obviously continue to ignore whoever this voluntary person is and just report it to your trade commission or whoever regulates PayPal in your country, simple as that. This site and company could care less about its customers and until people continue to report this to the correct agencies none of this is going to change.

[Hamham24]

I think it is also important to understand this dynamic for anyone using PayPal for payments for their business. All someone needs is your business IBAN (which is on every invoice and many email footers!) and your email address. With these two pieces of information, hackers can directly access your business bank account with PayPal via this Guest Account function. BUYER BEWARE!

This is totally preventable - but I guess PayPal makes more on the Guest Accounts than they lose in customer damages.

[DanTdr]

But what can be done to protect against this? Just deleting my IBAN from my Paypal account is not enough, right? Or even instructing my bank to block all transactions to Paypal as if Paypal still blindly makes the payment in my name then they will try to get the money from me. 

[Jayt83]

Continue to contact your regulation agencies in your country. This problem is getting worse and worse and isn't going to stop until PayPal is held accountable.

[VerenaP1]

@DanTdr

That's a good question. We can at least draw attention to the problem by writing about it and complaining. In the Paypal forum, on review portals, with regulatory authorities, consumer protection, etc.

In the meantime, the problem is being publicised online by the media in Germany, as many people are affected here. I will now write to the European Consumer Protection Centre in my country, perhaps you would like to do the same for your country. The more people talk about it, the more likely it is that a solution will be found.

As for the rest: go through the account slips every day or at least every week, so that you can immediately see and complain about any unknown debits. Of course, this is not really satisfying, as you never know if/when it will happen.

[DanTdr]

Danke! I also live in Germany (German still in progress). What I did is: request my bank to cancel the SEPA Mandate to Paypal and reject any transactions to them and sent Paypal an email to immediately disable this "feature" and if they make any such "guest" payments they are responsible for the loss of funds. But yeah, what a circus. Paypal clearly lost it...