I have 2 debit cards, my bank card, and my Paypal debit card. Then difference is, I get money back from my Paypal card, so I use it for online purchases mostly, but was going to use it to pay for stuff while in the UP this past weekend.
So, as we were leaving on Friday, we stopped and got breakfast, Paypal card worked fine.
Got gas at Meijer, Paypal card worked fine.
Went in to get 2 pops, Paypal declined.
Weird, but okay.
Got to the motel, and same thing, declined. Something weird is going on.
We go get some lunch, and while waiting for the food, I look for a phone number for Paypal on their website/app. Nothing, just something to “chat” with their virtual assistant. So, I google “Paypal customer service number” and a screen pops up on my phone with the Paypal logo, and says press here to call Paypal, and an 800 number comes up.
I call it, and a man with a very heavy Indian accent answers. That should have been my first clue something was wrong. Not that the man had an Indian accent, many call centers are based in India, but that a person answered Paypal’s phone right away. You can never get a hold of a person at Paypal.
I tell him I want to know why my card is being declined. He gets my account email, and then says a security code will be texted to me, that this is so he knows I am who I say I am. He never asked for my password or SS#. I give him the security code, then he starts telling me that charges had been added to my account from overseas, there are 20-25 devices connected to my account (?), and there are $300 worth of charges that I will get refunded. I had looked at my account before I called, and there were no charges on my account that I hadn’t made, so I’m starting to be a little suspicious. I’m having a really hard time understanding him, between his accent, background noise, and trying to eat my lunch.
He then comes on and says that I need to connect my device to the Paypal server. I’ve been with Paypal for years, and never heard of such a thing. He wants me to put him on speaker phone to walk me through how to connect my phone to Paypal’s server. At this point, all my suspicions are raised, and I tell him I can’t put him on speaker, and that I’m heading out to the middle of nowhere. He tells me that they will call me back within an hour and I need to be sure to answer. He then gives me a phone number to his “direct” line, then tells me his extension. Again, ?. If he has a direct line, why the extension?
I hang up and immediately google the number he gave me to call back. Scam. I google the number I called, also scam.
I check my email, and sure enough, there’s a notification that my Paypal password had been changed, and that if I hadn’t changed it, to call Paypal fraud at a 402 area code number.
With Paypal, if you want to change your password, they send you a security code via text to the number that they have on file, then you put that code in. That’s why he wanted me to give him that code. I immediately changed my password to something no way he’d be able to figure out, then I get another email from Paypal saying that someone had logged onto my account from an unknown device in Delhi, India.
I’ve been checking my account. Luckily, when I called, my Paypal account was overdrawn for some weird reason (the gas purchase for $17.00) and because of that, no charges of any kind can be made on my account. If it hadn’t been overdrawn, he probably would have charged $300 immediately to my account, since he had already set up to me that amount had been charged to my account but would be refunded.
I’ve been trying to get through to Paypal to talk to them about it since Friday. I press the numbers to get to fraud, and finally get an automated voice saying they are too busy to help me, and hangs up.
Don’t think I’ll be using Paypal too much in the future.
