PayPal Community

If your PayPal account was actually spammed by someone, I would call PayPal, have all the orders voided (and hopefully deleted from the invoice record, since it'd prevent you from seeing most legitimate transactions), and have them blocked from sending any further payments.   Any credit card company worth their salt would prevent someone from trying to making automatic rapid payments like that over such a small period of time, and I'm sure PayPal itself would freeze them as soon as they even attempted it. I don't think you have anything to worry about, since for all practical purposes doing something like that would be impossible.   I would still urge caution with customers attempting to make multiple purchases of virtual items in a short period of time, however. ... View more

Ah,  unfortunately as it's been over a day I can't edit the post; it was a bit dumb of me to discuss such a thing publicly. All the same, sometimes it does help in preventing fraud if you know a bit more about the IP they're coming from. If someone makes an order in the states and has an IP coming from, say, Ethiopia, you can generally assume that something funny is going on.   If any admin would be kind enough to filter out the more compromising bits of my first post in this thread, you'd have my gratitude. ... View more

Even if he got your address, I don't think there's really much he could do with it.   If your customer was indeed a fraudster, I think it's rather unlikely that he's going to drop in for a personal visit after attempting fraud.   If he wasn't a fraudster, he's probably just scratching his head and will leave it at that.   You don't have anything to worry about, in my honest opinion.     ... View more

Hey there, sorry to hear of the mess you're in at the moment. 😞   I help run a virtualware business where we sell online game items, so I've had a decent amount of experience in dealing with frauds and chargebackers. As far as I know, officially, Paypal protects neither buyer OR seller when it comes to transactions involving intangible goods.   Your ability to win this is going to depend on two factors: 1. The saviness of the scammer and 2. The amount of investigative effort Paypal puts into the case. When someone makes an unauthorized transaction claim, they are claiming that their account was compromised and that someone else got into it illegitimately. The screenshots of the transaction probably aren't going to help you (unless they contain personal identifying information that only the real Paypal account holder would know), because they're not claiming they didn't get the goods; they're claiming that the person who bought those items from you wasn't them!   *removed by poster request*   The best move you can do on your part is to make sure PayPal does the investigative legwork they need to do on your case. If that account was *actually* compromised, they need to treat it very seriously and make every effort to locate and prosecute the person responsible for stealing that Paypal user's identity. If the account *wasn't* compromised, they also need to take it very seriously, as you have a user of their system fraudulently claiming their account was compromised in order to steal from others without consequence. Either way, there's fraud going on, and you should take every effort necessary to ensure you're informed of the results of their investigation.   Best of luck to you in this matter!   ... View more

Hey there. Sorry to hear about your situation.   Did you make the charge through a credit card? If so, you might be able to call up the credit card company and dispute the charges made. If this is the case, it's your best avenue at the time being.   I don't believe it's possible to make an article dispute with a payment that's gifted through PayPal. It *is* possible to make an Unauthorized Transaction claim, but I think it may be very difficult to make a case.   Unauthorized transaction claims are generally only made when someone has stolen your account. Unless you made the transaction while masking your IP in a different state or country, PayPal will see that you made both the transaction and Unauthorized Transaction claim at the same IP, which will significantly diminish your chances of a successful chargeback. You should keep in mind that they might also freeze your account for awhile to investigate.   If all else fails, you do have his PayPal email; if you can find any more information on him you could try to press criminal or civil charges, though it would be difficult considering the uncertain circumstances of the transaction. ... View more

Wow, MUCH appreciated. This is everything I needed to know.   Thanks for the response, PayPal_Frank. ... View more

PayPal offers protection to neither the buyer or the seller when it comes to virtual items.   If they did chargeback on you, they could only do it through one of two ways:   1. Make the purchase through a credit card on PayPal, they call their credit card company and have the charges reversed. If this happens, you're usually in a very bad place since PayPal will rarely fight a credit card company for you.   2. Claim the transaction was unauthorized. Yes, there are some people brazen enough to either steal a PayPal account from some unsuspecting shlub, and there are also people brazen enough to make FALSE claims that their account has been hacked into without their permission.   If you have any doubts about the transaction I'd suggest you ask to speak with your buyer personally on the phone. Most online cons don't want you to know their phone number. 😉 ... View more

Bah, that sounds like a pain.   I'd recommend hanging onto the money until the 45 day period passes. If there are no chargebacks issued until that period passes, I'm pretty sure you'll be in the clear.   When making sales with virtual items, it sometimes helps if you ask the person you're selling to if you'd be willing to chat in person on the phone before making the transaction. Frauds will almost never want to talk to a person in real-life, as it makes it a tad too personal for them (plus you have their phone number!).   For MAJOR transactions with virtual items ($50-$100+), I generally ask that my buyers send me a scan or picture of their driver's license or similar ID (I allow them to block all the information aside from the name and address). That way, I can personally verify that they are in fact the holder of the PayPal account. If they make a chargeback claim and you present that evidence, they'd need to demonstrate that whoever stole their PayPal account ALSO stole their driver's license... hardly likely. 😉   Best wishes of success to you in this matter! ... View more

Heya there. Sorry to hear of the problem you're having.   I actually help run a virtualware business myself, so I know a little bit about how chargebacks work regarding virtual items.   From what I understand (and from what I've experienced), PayPal offers protection to neither the buyer or seller when it comes to intangible goods. In such a situation, I can see only one of two measures of recourse, at least as far as PayPal is concerned.   If you made the purchase with a credit card through PayPal, it is possible you can reverse the charges by calling your credit card issuer and claiming that you didn't receive the goods purchased. In most cases PayPal will not fight a credit card company on a seller's behalf in a situation involving intangible goods, since receipt and delivery of such items are difficult to establish (which is awful news for me, but might be great news for you in your case!).   If the purchase wasn't authorized through a credit card, you might still be able to make an unauthorized transaction claim, but if PayPal has half a brain it is unlikely to succeed unless you can conjure up evidence that someone else has taken hold of your account (as such, I wouldn't recommend it). It has at least a chance of working, but would also likely get your account frozen for a period of time, among other undesirable possibilities.   If all else fails, you could take it up with the seller in small claims court and/or other legal action. ... View more