I may have been scammed by someone at PayPal

[talboc]

Okay, let's go through this one step at a time. Over the past 24 hours I have been through an absolute nightmare with PayPal, and it appears that I was targeted by a scammer who was working inside PayPal itself. 

A few days ago, I received the letter with my new PayPal debit card in it, because my old one was abut to expire. On it was a little sticker explaining how to activate it. Fine, so I do as the sticker says - I go to paypal.com/ActivateCard. Only that URL doesn't take me to an activation page, it just dumps me to the home page of my account. Confused as to why that happened, I went to the Live Help messenger and asked "Is my card activated" and explaining what happened. 

Five hours later, I get a phone call from someone claiming to be from PayPal. They say they're contacting me about my live help question about card activation. Okay. They ask me all the details about the card, including the card number. Upon me giving them that, they state that the number I have given them doesn't match the company records. So they're going to transfer me to someone in another department who can help me with that.

They then proceed to hang up on me. 

Doubly confused, I go to the live help window again, where I have still not received any response and ask about the phone call I just received. Again, no response. So, I go to the company's 1-800 number, note down the one-use security code and call. 

Upon reaching a human being at PayPal who I can ask about this, I explain what has gone on, and luckily, I had the number of the person who had called in my caller ID. I give PayPal the phone number, and I spent twenty minutes on hold while they do some checking. Well, the number wasn't PayPal's. They say they don't know who it was. They tell me it was likely a scammer. But if so, it was a scammer who knew what I was typing into the PayPal messenger window, meaning it had to be either a PayPal employee or someone working with one. This is a massive potential security hole, and I put them on notice about it. However, in the meantime my account had been compromised, they had my debit card number, and so I asked to have my debit card cancelled and replaced with a new one with a new number on it. 

The lady on the phone starts to do that and then tells me she can't complete the process of getting me a new card, because after she confirms my street address, she says the computer now isn't accepting it. She can't complete the process, so advises me to instead go onto the website, in my account, and order a new debit card from in there. FINE. I say goodbye and hang up the phone, go to the computer, log in and attempt to get myself a new debit card.

Only, the debit card sign-up process has changed. In order to get a replacement card, they now need to send me a text message via cel phone. Well, I don't have a cel phone. And they have blocked Google Voice, which is what I used instead. I can not sign up online, so back to the phone again. I call the 1-800 number again, I get a live human and I try to set up a debit card through the phone. They know it's me, they verified my phone number when I called in (there's a message saying so) and I had the security code from the website. THEY KNOW IT'S ME! But after twenty minutes of runaround, (She acted like she had never even heard of the concept of a landline before) I finally managed to corner the lady on the phone into admitting that there is no way for me to get a replacement debit card without a cel phone. 

So that's where things stand. I have no debit card. I have no way to access my money. There may be scammers working inside PayPal, using their systems to rip off customers, and I don't know if I even want to do business with this company anymore. I don't know if I can trust them. I don't know if I'm being given the runaround, because the tech support they're using has been compromised. I just don't know what to do. I can't just cancel the account because it's the mode of payment I use for my job. 

I'm stuck, I'm **bleep** and PayPal just isn't helping. 

It's like the entire system has been corrupted from within, to prevent customers like me from getting the help they need. 

Frankly, I'm disgusted by the whole mess. 

[PayPal_JonK]

Hello @talboc, 

Welcome! Thanks for visiting PayPal's Community Forum. I can certainly understand how concerning this situation must be. I think I may be able to provide a few recommendations for what next steps to take. 

Because that old card is most likely still waiting to be activated, your best step is to try reaching back out to our Customer Support to request a new card. To make sure you get to the right people, go to our Contact Us page, select PayPal Cards, then PayPal Cash Card (Debit Mastercard), then Card Replacement. Then, scroll down and click Call Us. You can login if you wish or click "Call us as a Guest". Either way you'll find the correct number for our Debit Card Support. They should at least be able to report the card you were supposed to receive as lost and then work on sending you a new one. 
 

While you're working on getting that card, yes, it is correct we normally do require a mobile phone to confirm our customer's identity on their account. For security reasons, systems such as Google Voice are normally not allowed to be used. My apologies for any inconvenience this may present, please understand it is to uphold the highest level of security.

Also while you're working on getting that card, I'd recommend reviewing the other ways to Transfer funds out of your PayPal account.

You may also wish to review changing your password and security questions if you are concerned someone else has accessed your account. 

If all else fails, you can reach out to our regular Customer Support teams to discuss ways to transfer funds out of your account and how to update your phone number or other information if needed. 

My apologies again for the inconvenience and concern this has caused, 

 - Jon K

[talboc]

The old card and the replacement card both have the same card number on them, and since that number is now in the hands of someone who PayPal has said is likely to be a scammer, I wouldn't want to activate that card even if it were still possible. 

Requesting a new one with the same number on it would be just as pointless. what I need is a new card with a new number on it that the scammer won't have. But that has been denied to me by bloody minded bureaucracy. 

Or maybe it's not just bureaucracy, maybe it's bigotry.

Considering that PayPal authenticates the phone number you call in from (and announces this when you call the 800 number), requires a security code for that call which can only be obtained by logging into your account, and that in order to request a card from your account you have to first log into it in the first place, the requirement for a cel phone in order to receive a new debit card feels less like a security measure, and more like a measure intended to block poor people from using the service by attaching a financial requirement: You must be well off enough to regularly pour money into this other product on a regular basis or we don't want you here. 

I'm also not sure the reaching out to customer support will be a good idea since, as I already pointed out, the scammer had information that only a customer support representative would have had access to. How can I trust a company where that has happened?

This entire situation is horrific. It has utterly destroyed PayPal's reputation in my eyes.

And they have done nothing to correct that.

[Jwiles1]

While attempting to delete an unauthorized transaction, Paypal agent ended up transferring me to his "private" number, walked me thru all my financial info, etc.  Thru this effort to clear the transaction, had me email his boss, go thru some maneuvers on my phone, to a location specifying "buy now" with a $100. charge, 2 times,  all the while telling me this was all being recorded and I would not be charged anything. I finally hung up on him.  It made no sense.  I have all the specification, email address, etc.

but no one at PayPal to talk to or provide info.  Had to shut down all my banking/credit cards, etc.  Extremely frustrating that there is no one to talk to or report this to.

[PayPal_Meghan]

Hello @Jwiles1, 

Welcome to the PayPal Community Forum! 

I'm sorry to hear about the poor experience you had when reaching out for help with an unauthorized transaction. From what you've described, I do not believe you were speaking with a PayPal Customer Service agent. PayPal Customer Service agents would never transfer you to private numbers, nor would they gather your personal details in that manner. I recommend reporting the number and any information you have on them through the Internet Crime Complaint Center using the link I've included. 

Regarding the unauthorized purchase, if you see the transaction on your PayPal account, you can report it by filing a dispute through this PayPal Help Center article. You'll also want to reset your password and security questions if you haven't already. If you don't see the payment on your account but received an email about it, it could have been a phishing email. Please check here for details on how to spot and report phishing emails. If you had clicked on any links in the email, you'd also want to reset your PayPal password, plus any accounts that had the same password. Once scammers discover someone's password, they tend to try it on quite a few websites. To add an extra layer of security to your PayPal account, I suggest setting up 2-Step Verification. 

If you see an unauthorized charge on your bank or credit card but not PayPal, please report the charge to your financial institution. Then, reach out to PayPal's Customer Support so it can be investigated on our side as well. (They may ask for the closed card or bank information in this situation, but only to find the account it was fraudulently used on.) You can find PayPal's Customer Support by selecting 'Contact' at the bottom of any PayPal website. We also have Customer Support through private messages on Twitter (X), Instagram, and Facebook. Please do not use any Customer Support information provided in emails or through Google, as there are a lot of fraudulent companies that pose as PayPal. 

I hope this information helps you report the unauthorized transaction and take control of the situation! 

- Meghan

[gfys]

paypal employes are all so scammer but the filth and paypal let them doo it grrr

[Temp20240501]

I totally agree with you on the fact that I also think there are scammers working inside paypal. Maybe its the people that paypal outsources to. Idk. But supposedly my Paypal Credit account was being used by somebody and they were making charges on the same day each month. from $80 - $500. In the description it says BIALIHET. Nothing even comes up in google when you search for it. So to me it sounds like someone from the inside is making transactions on people's accounts, and that description sounds Indian to me, which is where their customer service is outsourced to.

And the funny thing is people were also making payments on the account as well out of Alpharetta, Ga.

Paypal are all legit scammers. I haven't even used them in 8 years. Then I start getting letters saying my credit account was sold to Midland Credit Management and they're going to forward the account to lawyers and take legal action. I supposedly owe $1600. 

I just spoke with the fraud department and they're gonna investigate and send me a letter in 60 days. lol. What an actual disgusting company.

I honestly think with all these similarities we could probably file a class action lawsuit against them. I mean this is causing unnecessary stress and turmoil against innocent people. All because we're probably getting scammed from people on the inside from their security measures being complete sht.

On and to top it all off, when you call paypal credit, they ask to verify your identity by saying YOUR COMPLETE SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER. WHAT THE **bleep**???