Direct Debit cancelled by PayPal and unauthorised charge on my account

[EFULL]

Hi,

I'm currently unable to use my Pay Pal account at all so I'm hoping someone here will be able to help me sort the problem out.

I had a Direct Debit payment set up via my PayPal account which, until February was paid every month no problem. In February PayPal stopped paying this monthly Direct Debit and the first I knew about it was when the company who was meant to receive the money, contacted me to say they hadn't been paid.

When I tried to look into the problem I checked my email account and I found an email from PayPal about a Payment Receipt for a company I had never heard of. The email said that I had sent a payment to this company and gave me the amount of the payment. The email then said, that 'the seller asked to provide more information about this payment.'

I don't understand why the seller was asking for more information because they are the people trying to take money from my account without authorisation! Th email also said that if I hadn't authorised this charge I could cancel my payment and get a full refund by clicking on the link in the email. I tried to follow the link but I couldn't because I got a warning message that it might be harmful to my computer.

Fortunately this money hasn't gone out of my account yet and it has been a few weeks now. However I still want to cancel this payment completely so that I can be sure it never happens. I am also unable to use my PayPal account at all at the moment so I need to get this resolved. Obviously clicking on the link that PayPal put in the email is a complete waste of time!

The amount of the Direct Debit and the amount of the unauthorised charge are two completely different amounts.

Please could someone tell me how to cancel the unauthorised charge (without clicking on the link) and also how to restart the Direct Debit that PayPal cancelled. I'm sure the two things are linked because they happened on the same day.

Thank you.

[Crus4d3r]

Be very careful! I have had a similar problem with my account being accessed on the 16th, paypal said they had stopped the payment but I dicovered it has gone from my account on the19th. Their system seems to be open to hacking at the moment. My bank has returned the payment under the direct debit protection which will take until Tuesday. I would delete your bank details and start from scratch. Contact the company you are dealing with direct and explain what is happening. I have had no response from Paypal, they seem to be failing dismally.

[EFULL]

I've had no response from PayPal either. It is very hard to talk to anyone there it seems which is why I tried this forum. Yours is the only response I've had though. I haven't actually delted my bank details and started from scratch yet. I did contact the company I was dealing with and I've set up the direct debit with them again but they are now having to take the money from my credit card.

I don't want to risk buying anything from a website that uses PayPal until I have this properly resolved. Have you had a response from PayPal yet?

[PayPal_john]

Be very careful! I have had a similar problem with my account being accessed on the 16th, paypal said they had stopped the payment but I dicovered it has gone from my account on the19th. Their system seems to be open to hacking at the moment. My bank has returned the payment under the direct debit protection which will take until Tuesday. I would delete your bank details and start from scratch. Contact the company you are dealing with direct and explain what is happening. I have had no response from Paypal, they seem to be failing dismally.

Ok, just to be clear, the PayPal system has never been hacked ever.

Now in regards the original query, are you referring to a subscription to a different company? Your Direct Debit mandate with PayPal allows you to make payments using your bank but it's not a monthly charge.

I don't understand why the seller was asking for more information because they are the people trying to take money from my account without authorisation! Th email also said that if I hadn't authorised this charge I could cancel my payment and get a full refund by clicking on the link in the email. I tried to follow the link but I couldn't because I got a warning message that it might be harmful to my computer.

This is a spoof e-mail, PayPal do not send e-mails with links to cancel a payment.That's why you get that warning message. If you have supplied any information I would report it immediately and change all passwords if they were entered.

[EFULL]

Dear PayPal_John,

Thank you for the reply. I haven't checked the forum for such a long time because I wasn't expecting to ever receive a reply from PayPal!

I didn't say that PayPal had been hacked; that was someone else on the forum.

I opened the mail I mentioned in my original posting and clicked the link but never gave away any passwords. The email looked official and I've never been fooled by fake emails before.

I have just checked my email account again and found one from sectpp at noreps.com. The email said that my account access had been limited because, 'We have reason to believe that your account was accessed by a third party.' The email also gave a Case ID number. I'm going to assume that this is an official email from PayPal.

In my original email I was referring to a Direct Debit that I arranged with another company. It appeared as though PayPal stopped this Direct Debit without warning. However having recieved the email from sectpp it looks as though PayPal was trying to protect my account. I will follow the link in this email and hopefully get all this resolved finally.

[Crus4d3r]

EFULL ,  Sony thought their site was secure. I have never accessed web sites via e mail so there can only be one explaination, my account was hacked no doubt about it. I only enter my payment details when carrying out a transaction and then remove them straight after. This is the only safe way. Remember PayPal is not governed by any banking regulations and are therefore a law unto themselves. Remember if an unauthorised payment leaves your account/card PayPal cannot stop it. Only your bank can do this. Sony have admitted that they cannot guarantee their site as secure so I don't see how anyone else can, do you? Be Safe.

[PayPal_barry]

Hi there, in terms of security, PayPal’s site has never been hacked. If someone has accessed your PayPal account, it is because they have somehow got your username and password. I would suggest running an anti-viral scan through your system and avoid logging into PayPal from unknown/unsecure locations.

Even if someone logs into your account and payments are made. Those payments are 100% covered by PayPal once the fraud has been confirmed. If you go to your financial information in the “Profile” section, you will see only the last 4 digits of your password/bank account, no full card or bank details are revealed.

We are regulated by the CSSF in Luxembourg, whose laws and regulations are amongst the most stringent in the world.  We also work with the financial authorities in every territory we operate in.