Received invoice from one seller which I didn't make any purchase. Is it a scam?

[MichaelCHK]

Hi all. I received a notification from PayPal that someone sent me an invoice to make a payment of USD 500 for purchasing a anti virus software which I didn't make. Could I just leave it like that with out paying or how do I cancel or report this?

[sharpiemarker]

@CRosella530 

No you won’t get charged. Invoices don’t work that way, have to take action to pay it in order to get charged. It’s a bogus, fake invoice sent by bad actors abusing PayPal Invoicing functionality.

[CRosella530]

Thank you so much for the reassurance. I had a full blown panic attack from this situation so I really appreciate your response and knowledge.

[Medearave]

I had the same reaction this week from my fake invoice. I called PayPal support didn't seem concerned that the money would be taken out. They said their fraud team is good at what they do. I said apparently not since this is happening right now. They told me it would fall off the account after so many days, I get a different number from each person, so I'm not optimistic about it. They could not tell me how to cancel or remove it myself. 

[CRosella530]

I've had the invoice request on my account for 4 days now, recieved my paycheck and processed a bunch of transactions. It appears that while it's stressful, the money won't be taken from your account unless you physically click pay on the invoice and confirm it. So rest assured your money won't be taken and try your best to just literally ignore it. I hope this gives you some comfort.

[Sylectra]

Thanks for weighing in that you are also having the problem - me too! It makes me super nervous that it is sitting there every time I log in. Why can I not refuse the transaction so I can quit seeing it in my account? The Dispute button didn't do what I was hoping for it to do, I guess because it's not actually a charge that went through.  I would appreciate better, clearer explanation from PayPal on what I can do, as we all would, it seems.   This is about our money, so a response like "it will eventually disappear from your account" does not seem like the kind of thing I would expect to hear from any reputable financial institution. What's PayPal's plan if a bunch of these fraudsters start carpet bombing us with fake invoices until we cannot see our real charges?  

[CRosella530]

I absolutely agree! I've utilized PayPal for all my financial needs since 2015 but this experience leaves a sour taste in my mouth. There's no user support because you cannot dispute it since it's only a pending request. There's a phishing email but you don't get any response. The only comfort and reassurance I received is from the community, but not from the company itself which doesn't make me feel very secure. I don't feel I can depend on them if something goes wrong. I totally feel the same way as you--everytime I log on I see the invoice and it gives me anxiety. There's no way to remove it. No support. I'm actually looking to switch companies because of this experience.

[ebster27]

Thank you so much for posting about this and solving the problem. I have had the same thing happen and went into a panic, I don't have $500 to pay off some other persons charges against my account. I will call PayPal in the morning to confirm but I will be able to get to bed easier because I was able to find this.

[sv-shopper]

You know what the biggest issue here is?

That I can't identify who sent me the invoice (or estimate) so I can report her/him and ask PayPal to get this user blocked!

[EdBurk]

I just encountered this same bogus invoice.  It is ridiculous that PayPal provides no means to quickly and easily rectify this.  This has to affect and needlessly worry a great many PayPal users, especially those that are unable to find out that they should ignore the charge.  This is completely unacceptable.  

[jimboom006]

I got this same message, and I don't even have an online wallet or interested in crypto. Strange how I can't dispute this outright.