Someone opened an account using one of my email addresses and I need to shut it down.

[bhsinsd]

I received a "Please confirm your email address" message from PayPal (not spoofed) at an email address I do not  use for PayPal. I did not click the confirmation link.

I then received further emails from PayPal, one of which indicated that an address had been added to the account -- an address I haven't lived at for a few decades. I conclude that someone has set up an account using a burner phone, and is preparing to use my identity for fraudulent purposes. I haven't found any way to shut the account down. 

I know that the perpetrator does not have access to the email account in question, as that account has 2FA tied to my phone (it's a gmail account). But I'm concerned that they could somehow attempt to conduct PayPal transactions with just the burner phone number and an unconfirmed email address.

I can't reset the password on the account -- PayPal requires a social security number before they'll proceed with a reset, and whomever did this used someone else's SS#.

So, how the heck do I get PayPal to shut this account down before damage is done?

And, by the way, I froze all my credit reports years ago. But it's still easy to obtain prior addresses, among other things -- so that's how they found an ancient postal address to add to the account.

Suggestions?

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@bhsinsd 

Read the solution by a paypal moderator Ayesha on this thread?

https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/Security-and-Fraud-Archives/My-Email-Address-is-being-used-by-an...

[bhsinsd]

Unfortunately, that solution probably doesn't apply, though I will try forwarding PayPal's "confirm your email address" email to the unsolicited email address at PayPal. I say it doesn't apply because it's obvious this was NOT a typo -- the person who created this account went to the trouble of finding an ancient address of mine and adding it to the account.

[kernowlass]

@bhsinsd 

I think the point of that solution was that the person may have meant to type an email address but made a typo and it ended up being your email address by mistake.

[bhsinsd]

You're quite right. Somehow, the [Removed] team is a lot more responsive than the phishing at paypal.com  team. They did quickly disable the account and I was able to add it to my real PayPal account.

Thanks!