Billing Address Scam?

[melbennett]

I ordered a pair of shoes. Received them, but returned them. The transaction never appeared on paypal account. Several days later, I received the same shoes that I DID NOT order. Also returned them. The company issued both refunds … none of these transactions appeared on paypal account. The company said they issued the refunds to a master card (not belonging to me) and shared with me the billing address used on the order(s)…which was fake and a similar phone number to mine, but also fake/not in service. What kind of scam is this?

[kernowlass]

@melbennett 

If the transaction never appeared on your paypal account then presumably you did not log in to pay but used a card directly via the sellers card payment processor?

[melbennett]

No. I simply placed the order via PayPal with PayPal credit set as default. I did not know or see that a different billing address & credit card were apparently used that do not belong to me. This was around the same time a hacker accessed my paypal account and transferred $25 from my linked checking account to my paypal account (which I had reversed and then unlinked my checking account from my paypal account). Back on topic - after I returned both pairs of shoes, it was the shoe company that told me where the refunds were issued to (not to me), but apparently I was also not billed for them either. My concern is that someone has a credit card in my name - although it doesn’t appear on my credit report. But what is the goal of the scam? Place an order to somebody’s legit mailing address using a fake billing address & unknown credit card. Like, how would they even know I would send the shoes back for refunds? Also, if they have a fraudulent credit card, why not just use it for merchandise they would receive?

[PayPal_paula]

Hi @melbennett, 

As @kernowlass advices, it sounds like you used PayPal for your transaction but did not log in to your own PayPal account. Lots of people who don't have accounts use PayPal to pay if this is the option the seller offers on their website. We call these guest accounts. Sometimes you will see the option to log in to your PayPal account or pay as a guest. It sounds like you paid as a guest. This is why you are not seeing it on your PayPal account. Do you have the email you received when you bought the first pair of shoes? If so please give us a call so we can review the details for you. You can call us by clicking on the help/contact us link on your PayPal account. 

I hope this helps, 

Paula