Seller initiated refund scam. Seller pretended to be me

[JoeyLynneP]

My husband purchased a guitar off FB marketplace. Seller requested he use goods & services to protect us both so it seemed legit. 5 minutes after the transaction was completed my husband received an email saying his request to file a dispute was received. Immediately after that he received an email stating he accepted the seller's offer of a $1.00 refund. He paid $1,000 for the guitar why on earth would he accept a refund of $1?! He immediately tried calling paypal but of course theyd just closed. When he contacted paypal the next day they informed him he had already accepted the refund so the case was closed. He has repeatedly tried explaining he was not the 1 who initiated the dispute or accepted the partial refund. Apparently, all someone needs to pretend to be you & file a dispute as you is your phone number & the amount of the transaction which the seller had. How in the hell is there no further security requirements to prove it's really you??!! My husband has gone back & forth with this & paypal absolutely refuses to do anything about this. He's since gone to his credit card company to try to dispute through them. The credit card company initially issued a refund but sent a request for proof of delivery to the seller. The seller replied with a photo of a basic sales receipt with the most basic info as proof of delivery. No tracking number or anything. The credit card company accepted that as proof & recharged our card. We've disputed 3 more times with the same results. I'm so angry about this. Paypal buyer protection is a joke! They HAVE to know about this scam as I've found other posts about it online. At this point I'm very seriously considering contacting an attorney to sue Paypal. I don't care if it costs me a ton more than 1k to sue them simply on principal alone. This is absolutely not ok!! Has anyone else had any luck getting their money back on this kind of scam?

[PayPal_Meghan]

Hello @JoeyLynneP, 

Welcome to the PayPal Community Forum! 

I completely understand your frustration with not receiving a refund when a dispute case was opened and then closed without your husband's permission. PayPal accounts cannot be verified by only using an email and name. Additional information is required, such as the last four digits of a payment method. This information is never shared with a merchant during the checkout process by PayPal, so they should never have been able to verify the account if they called Customer Support. 

Did your husband receive any emails that the password was reset on his PayPal account or that there were any suspicious logins? If the person managed to log into the account, please have him file an unauthorized dispute following these instructions. I also suggest he reset his password using these tips and enable 2-Step Verification. If a chargeback is opened at the bank, a case cannot be reopened on the same transaction with PayPal, as the bank has hierarchy. However, I understand you mentioned that they're not processing a refund. Please reach out to Customer Support again through one of these options and request that the account be reviewed for unauthorized access around the time of that case being opened and closed. 

I hope this information helps and a refund is received! 

- Meghan