Not sure if this is the right place for this or what exactly I should flair this as, but here's the rundown of the situation:
A week ago I received an email from PayPal that said suspicious activity had been detected on my account. I log on to PayPal and see a $7,500 charge to a jeweler in Germany (I'm from the US, have never been to Germany, sent money to Germany, or purchased anything from Germany). I immediately reported this as an unauthorized transaction and called PayPal. They told me that if it was unauthorized, the full amount would be refunded to me.
I then called my bank to see if they could freeze my account or deny this charge coming through, since at this point it hadn't even shown up in my account transactions. They said they could not freeze my account, but that if the charge did come through that all I would have to do is dispute the charge. I assumed there was no way that PayPal would deem this as an authorized charge, so I didn't push hard on the freezing of my account and then just waited.
The next morning my case had been resolved and PayPal decided it was authorized. I called again and told them this was an unauthorized transaction. I told them, hey, you're the ones who flagged this transaction as suspicious, I told you it was unauthorized, now you're telling me it's authorized, how can this possibly be? They basically told me that since it was likely a breach on my computer (it absolutely was not) and not someone logging in from another location that I was essentially fucked and they wouldn't do anything for me.
I called my bank and asked them to contest the charge. They told me they couldn't do that until the charge actually went through, and that freezing the account would not stop the pending charge from going through.
I called PayPal again the next day. They told me my only other option was to declare my item as "not delivered", and that I would have to hope the merchant who received my $7,500 didn't have the proper info for the order (tracking information and whatnot to prove they had actually shipped the merchandise).
PayPal told me I should contact the merchant. I looked up the merchant and it seems to be a fake number. I assume the merchant is completely fake, as the merchandise I supposedly bought was listed simply as "thank you for your purchase".
I called my bank once again and asked them to contest the charge.
I called PayPal again and explained to them my suspicion that the company is fake. Regardless, the address that the item is being shipped to is not mine, so wouldn't the merchant just be able to fake the information to claim my item had been delivered? Both the merchant and the delivery address are in Germany. PayPal guaranteed me that if they are not a legitimate company and this is not a legitimate transaction they will not be able to provide the necessary information and I will get my money back, but the fact that this farce has played out so long makes me skeptical.
The company has provided them with the information they asked for, and now I have been told by both my bank and PayPal that I just have to wait while they review the case. My bank is expected to deliver their decision on the charge on the 6th (via mail, for some reason) and PayPal expects to have a response by the 16th. I have very little faith that PayPal will resolve this matter in my favor, and I fear that my bank does not plan on helping me either.
My question is, what recourse do I have here? Am I just out $7,500 because PayPal fucking sucks? Should I be filing a police report? Would that even do anything? Any advice is appreciated
Submitted May 01, 2022 at 11:24PM by floppybeef https://ift.tt/yTDA23H
