I have an Airbnb unit and decided to use a Paypal account for payments to me to insure security. What a mistake!
I was contacted by Paypal to verify my account, which I did by verifying 2 small deposits. After that, I had deposits to my account from Airbnb. However, there was a withdrawal on 9/18/2018 of $.30. Then there was a withdrawal of $7.28 in October. Then there was a withdrawal of $200 on 10/1 and 2 withdrawals of $200 on 10/9/2018. All were from Paypal with Paypal Id's.
I notified my banking institution and they put some restrictions on the account and I contacted Paypal on 10/10/2018. I was told by the customer service rep. that all would be taken care of and my $600+ would be returned to my account within 24-48 hours. An investigation would take place but that I had nothing to worry about. All funds would be restored.
I watched my account daily and nothing happened. I called Paypal again on 10/12/2018. Although there were some notes on my account, there were no notes as to an investigation or the return of any funds. The representative started over. This was infuriating. Nothing was done. My account was still vulnerable to hackers.
As I was speaking to the customer service rep. I noticed an update on my account of a deposit of $1.24 on 10/12/2018 as I was speaking to Patrick, employee # 47975. The hackers were "testing" my account 5 days after I had reported the fraud.
Here's the kicker: Paypal rep. Patrick employee # 47975 told me that he couldn't find anyone using my bank account number to withdraw funds from my account from within Paypal. He said that it must be from by debit card. (I have verified through my bank that it was an ACH transaction and not an ATM transacation). It was someone who had my account information and Paypal had all of that information. Paypal (i.e. Patrick #47975) said that they saw no transactions from my account to anyone who has a paypal account. In other words, they either don't acknowledge it, or they are oblivious to fraud. Either one is horrific. Paypal is not interested in your security but only in the fees they collect. I am cancelling my account immediately after this posting, I will post on social media, and I will engage an attorney to find out how to proceed against paypal.
Beware. Cancel your account ASAP.
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