Received random payments before an unauthorized purchase was made

[sgjumbo]

Hello,

I have just filed a report through Paypal's resolution center, but I am making this thread to document what has happened and find out if this has happened to anyone else. About 5 hours ago, I received 3 emails in rapid succession- the first two were nearly identical notifications that I had received $40USD from a random stranger (totaling $80 in unearned money). I am not a vendor of any sort, so there is no reason for me to have received this money. The third email was time-stamped a minute later and was an invoice detailing a $74.99 purchase in an unnamed subscription from Microsoft Corporation. I haven't purchased anything from Microsoft in years! Clearly, the random payments I received are linked to the random purchase I did not make.

Thankfully, I really only use paypal to buy textbooks-- so there was no balance of money to be taken out. However, I did have my debit card information in my account and I am wondering if this has been compromised. It is 2:30am here, and my debit account is through my parents (I'm still a poor college kid). The prospect of having to cancel my card is annoying (to put it lightly), but it is probably the way to go.

I'd appreciate anything anyone could add or suggestions anyone might have. Thanks!

[Terminaxe]

I too was hit by this. I have not used PayPal in a long time. I was hit with a charge totaling $81.90 after I was credited with two $40 credits. I have made sure to refund the people that had sent me money after they filed a dispute. Is the Microsoft listed going to respond so that I receive my money back?

The only reason I knew about this is I recieved a email from Paypal letting me know that I had a credit and I was charged. This entire mess is nothing but a huge hassle to have to deal with.

[Osi]

Paypal's resolution center is still BROKEN. It refusesto accept any valid transaction numbers. So it is impossible to resolve disputes, even fraudulent charges.

[zubo17]

On June 1 I sent money to an email address I entered.  $25.50   That person never received it and contacted me today.

Turns out that money went to an ebay seller that I paid on APRIL 18th!  There is NO WAY I had entered that seller's email address by mistake.  NFW.

I'm annoyed that they didn't just send it back to me because they received it in error.

I just opened a dispute but there is an obvious glitch in Paypal.  They have access to our funds yet we have no way to contact them for them to fix it???

[Raynond]

Just checked my email and found I have been charged and bank funds taken for an item I never bid on and did not pay for?  How can PayPal do this type of scam? Please some one tell me whats going on here?  

[DenominatorX]

Hello there,

This happened to me today and was quite weird - I received a payment of $100 dollars from someone in France (I'm in Tampa) and then sent a $74.99 payment to Microsoft.

It appears that the Microsoft company receiving the money is a Verified account. I don't see any additional email addresses on my account or bank accounts... and I have no idea how/why they were able to do this. 

I am wondering if this is a breach of PayPal system, or if my password was comprimised. 

I wanted to ask - do the people on this thread have an Android phone? The only sketchy program I downloaded in the last two weeks was an app called "Faceniff" which was featured on engadget.  I'm just trying to find a common theme here - very weird stuff going on.

[Damedus]

this happened to me last night, I filled a dispute on the 74.95 and the I noticed a 100 dolalr deposit on my account quite a few days back, it seems it took them from jan 3rd(day of deposit to jan 13 to actualy use the money) I know its sent to microsoft and whats more it creates a customer/seller link in your conected accounts area autorizing microsoft to charge my paypal (canceled this right away) they asked me to confirm my account via home phone wich I did and changed password and security questions. I own a ps3 and a iphone and a few mmo accounts just in case to find a common patern how they are getting into the paypal to send the money, I dont have the same pw as either email, fb or any other services so I cant think how is it that they aquired it. I havent received a dispute from the money sender and the money was sent on june 3rd. The dispute is on its way and im waiting for it to clear before I deal with the sent money, I never actualy got an email saying I have money or anything like that and before this i had no balance on the account nor my bank (i only deposit when I buy) but I recently purchased a game from steam. This is anoying cause I dont have money and if that money that got sent to my account is disputed it cant be sent back untill they clear the dispute with microsoft. what a hassle this is I feel bad for whomever sent that money, lol i wish it was a donation from his part to my poorness but I have no idea who the person is. Im just waiting for this to resolve.

[sgjumbo]

It looks like a lot of people are getting hit with this attack. I have had my conflict resolved, so I'll tell you what I did so that you guys can undo this theft. One thing I did not do is contact Microsoft. I don't think they have very much say in the transactions in question. Go straight to paypal instead.

As other commenters have mentioned, the resolution center is broken/not so great. Because of this, you are much better off calling Paypal. Explain to them the transactions in question were all made by someone else (for me, there were three transactions: two payments to my account and one large purchase). Explain that the purchase in question from Microsoft is not visible, so you don't even know what was purchased under your name. This should be sufficient information, especially since the paypal associate has access to your account and can follow along while talking to you live. The associate will tell you that the dispute will be solved in about 10 days. For me, it was less than this (it took about a week). My account is now back to normal. Hope this helps.

[escher]

Today I received $55 USD from unknown person, then that was followed by a recurring payment to "Microsoft Corporation" for $49.99 Disputed as well, posting to show this scam continues. password and security questions changed.

[KPDW]

Same here. Received $77.00 at 10:49 pm on 7/16 (Sat.) from a random person, whom I obviously do not know. The money was immediately followed by (1) a $75.74 payment to Microsoft Corporation (*email removed by mod*) and (2) a hold on the $77.00 that was sent to me. My account then end up with a -$75.74 balance.

I have opened cases to dispute both flows. I did reset my password and security questions, and also confirmed my ID, so now my account has been restored from being "limited" by PayPal. The negative balance remains. I guess I'll have to see how the investigation goes.