Sent money to a family member's phone number, but it went to someone else. What can I do?

JasmineBritt
New Community Member

What the title said. I've sent an amount of money to my sister, and the phone number is the correct one. But instead it went to someone else using the same number, and because of the kind of transaction (family and friends), I can't make a dispute. Now the payment is still pending on my bank account, and it cant be disputed in that state. But I need to talk to someone on Paypal about what can be done, since this shouldn't have happened. I've sent the money to the correct number, just to now lose that amount, without being able to dispute it and I'll severely lose trust in the service if something like that can just happen, making it unreliable, and extremely frustrating to deal with. Please let me know if it's possible to undo the transaction.
I've contacted the email address of the person, and haven't got a response still, and I'm not counting on it. Please help me.

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3 REPLIES 3

kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@JasmineBritt 

 

How can 2 people have the same phone number???


Advice is voluntary.
Kudos / Solution appreciated.
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Temp20231204Y
Contributor
Contributor
Same thing happened to me it's ridiculous and can't make a claim it's from a gig work app
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PayPal_Meghan
Moderator
Moderator

Hello @JasmineBritt, @kernowlass, @Temp20231204Y

Thanks for stopping by the PayPal Community! 

I understand that you've both sent a payment, @JasmineBritt, and @Temp20231204Y, and it went to the wrong account. I'm sorry to hear that's happened. It sounds like your recipients may have new phone numbers, and whoever had the phone number before them still has the number on their account. When a payment is sent, it will go to the account that the phone number is confirmed on, so if it hasn't been confirmed on your recipient's account, that's likely why it went to the previous owner. 

There is not an option to file a dispute on a Friends & Family payment. Since these payments are intended as gifts, they do not have Buyer Protection. When you click on your transaction within your PayPal Activity page, you should have the option to message the recipient. I recommend messaging them and asking them to refund the transaction since it was sent in error. If they do not respond, you may have to look into options outside of PayPal for reimbursement. 

I apologize; I know this isn't the answer you were both looking for. I hope the recipients refund you both right away. 

- Meghan


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