I suppose it had to happen at some point, I’ve spent thousands online over the past fifteen years or so, and I’ve never had any problems at all. Until now.

I looked at my Paypal account today and spotted the was an open ‘dispute’ – which was weird as I’ve not sold anything, or opened a dispute recently. I clicked on it to discover there was a dispute raised yesterday about a transaction on the 8th January for £61 for an engine for a Ford Fiesta, it was sold to someone in Northampton! Look..

Paypal Fraud

 

What. The. Actual. Frack? I don’t own a Ford Fiesta, or know anyone in blummin’ Northallerton

I immediately called Natwest, who weren’t overly helpful, they told me as I was a Paypal user, I had to speak to Paypal, if the outcome of that wasn’t successful they gave me a ‘Visa Unauthorised Transaction Line’ to call. So I’ve filed a complaint with Paypal, and they’ve emailed the seller asking for more details which they’ve got 7 days to respond to, then they’ll hopefully refund it. The purchase WAS through eBay, although the item is no longer there, and it wasn’t via MY eBay account, although the payment was made via my Paypal account on the Paypal Mobile App!

The weird thing was around that time I had a few emails from Paypal saying there had been strange activity on my account and to change my password just in case (which I did!). I didn’t notice the transaction, and also I hadn’t been emailed about the transaction either.

All in all I’m a bit cheesed off I’m £61 down, and a bit puzzled how it’s all happened! Will keep you updated with any developments!

The follow up is here

8 thoughts on “Bloody Hell! I’m a fraud victim!

  1. Sally says:

    Are you 100% sure the emails from Paypal came from Paypal? Sounds as though someone might have used a phishing email to gain access to your new password…

    • Kip Hakes says:

      Yeah, they were genuine e-mails, by logging in to my Paypal account directly (not via the links in the email) it told me about the security issue.

  2. Sarahmumof3 says:

    oh heck, it sounds to me like the emails you thought were real, which told you to change the password, due to suspicious activity, were infact scams… you inveritidly gave them your old password as you thought you changed it?.. I have heard of this happening to lots of people… hope you get it sorted tho

    • Kip Hakes says:

      Nope they were genuine e-mails, by logging in to my Paypal account directly (not via the links in the email) it told me about the security issue.

  3. Kirsty S says:

    I’ve not had a fraudulent transaction via PayPal but have always found them to be pretty good at sorting out other issues. Fingers crossed it gets sorted fast.

  4. Elaine Livingstone says:

    oh dear, hopefully though it will get sorted. If I get this type of message I check my paypal/bank.credit card account by logging in directly not through the link I am sent. I suggest you go and change your password if you havent already. I had it done a few years back and at that point made all my passwords different as they were all the same and somebody got into one account and I was worried they would access others. The con artists just keep evolving cleverer ideas as we all keep getting wiser.

    • Kip Hakes says:

      Yeah, I went to Paypal.com and didn’t use the links in the email, it still said there was suspicious activity on the account, just wished I’d looked at the transaction history! All my passwords are very different thankfully as I’ve been hacked before!

  5. Pingback: Bloody Hell! I’m a fraud victim! Part 2 | kiphakes.com

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