I was scammed by an IQ test website called Brainety, please help me to get my money back

Katja42
Contributor
Contributor

I paid for their IQ test certificate for 2,16 euros and then a few days later they illegally and without my consent and participation debited 38,8 euros from my PayPal account and refused to refund the fraudulently debited money. Many of their customers, like me, have been scammed, their complaints can be found everywhere on the internet.
I didn't sign any acknowledgement of payments.
Unfortunately, when I made a small purchase of 2.16 euros from them, I did not realise that I was buying a product from a fraudster who then unauthorisedly set up an automatic debit to my PayPal account. I am asking you to help refund - 38,80 euros that the fraudsters charged my card illegally and without my involvement. In internet and in your HelpCenter  are many claims by other victims of this seller. 
But anyway I used PayPal just because you have security for us. I contacted customer support about this topic, but PayPal closed it. Does this mean PayPal is no longer secure if it ignores so many claims of fraudulent debits from the same seller? Or has PayPal any dealings with this scammer?

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20 REPLIES 20

kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@Katja42 


A lot of times what happens is people accept a free trial for a product and forget to cancel. As a buyer you must agree to a billing agreement/subscription before a merchant can take a payment from your PayPal account.
If you don't notice during checkout OR don't cancel then it auto renews. Be careful what you are accepting.

Check if you had a subscription set up and cancel it?
Click on the profile tab (icon next to log out) > Click on payments third option along on the thick blue band top of page > "manage pre-approved payments.''


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Katja42
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,
thank you so much for your quick response.
However, this seller does not provide any details about personal account and subscription. On their website there is no way to log in and check anything. All the proofs I sended to my request for PayPal about that scam.

And also please note: after the first purchase of their product in first they charged money without any informing me, and only after that my mailbox received a notification about the subscription, which does not exist, and which is not even possible to check on their website!

And the worst thing: PayPal service, which provides contractual protection against fraud, deliberately and actively ignores the appeals of its customers about scam from this seller only.

The actual actions of the PayPal service show that this system for some reason refuses to honour the terms of the contract to its customers.
And it also means that the service is no longer safe and cannot be trusted.
I work for a popular media publisher in Finland, and I will take the opportunity to ensure my safety and the safety of Finnish citizens who use the unsafe PayPal system.
Widespread reporting of the incident will help PayPal customers in Finland to make the right decision regarding the use of your system.
But anyway, I insist that you pass on my claim to protect my rights and help me refund the amount of €38.8 illegally debited to the fraudsters.

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kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@Katja42 

 

Whatever, you can believe me or not, you're call but suggest you go to where I advised and turn off that subscription you would have inadvertently set up.

Other than that you can contact whoever you want to complain about Paypal and your rights. 


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Katja42
Contributor
Contributor

It's unprofessional of you to ignore my message that on this scammer's site the authorisation system is not working and it's not possible to log into the account and also these scammers are not responding to messages.

However, you now report that their authorisation system is working properly. This implies that you have information that I do not.
In that case, could you please give me access to my account on this scammer's site? - I will gladly use my legal right to cancel a subscription that I did not make.

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kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@Katja42 

 

So glad i gave up my time to help you as you are so polite.🤷

 


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Katja42
Contributor
Contributor

I'm sorry, I didn't realise that volunteer help that has nothing to do with the problem being solved can be valuable.

Of course I am grateful for your attention and time, but if you can't help, why do you reply?

It would be very helpful in resolving the issue if you could give PayPal contacts who could help resolve this issue.
Can you share the contacts please?

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kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@Katja42 

 

No issue to resolve, you did a silly online test and inadvertently set up a subscription, once its a subscription paypal has to pay it for you as per your instructions by setting it up.

 

I told you how to cancel it and how it happened, so, you're welcome.

Learn from it and move on maybe? 


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Katja42
Contributor
Contributor

So what you are trying to say is that the customer could have subscribed to a subscription that doesn't exist, and access to it doesn't exist as well as the account for cancelling the subscription.
Am I understanding you correctly?

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mikegooglier
Contributor
Contributor

Yes, there is an empty legal window for this fraud. I paid $2.16 and 3x $38.80 in 3 months. I have an invoice for $2.16. The other automatic payments were a scam. And yes paypal can't do anything about it. Why? I don't know. It wouldn't be bad if they at least tried to solve this problem by saying that if any seller enters an automatic payment, they must inform you about this fact clearly and emphatically. But I have not any feedback.

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