Fake account pretending to be me.

[peterabrunton]

How do I report a paypal account pretending to be me.

They have used my picture and mimicked my name. My sister was scammed into sending them money.

[PayPal_Meghan]

Hello @peterabrunton, 

Welcome to the PayPal Community! 

I understand someone else used your picture and name when creating a PayPal account, and I'm sorry to hear that. If you can locate the email or phone number associated with the account, you can report them by following the instructions located in this Help Center article: What is PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy and where can I find it? (This information may show on your sister's transaction.) If you are unable to locate the information, please have your sister reach out to our Customer Support teams by selecting 'Contact' at the bottom of any PayPal page. She can also reach out through X (Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram. If your sister sent the payment as a Goods & Services transaction, she might be able to file an Item Not Received dispute to receive a refund. 
 

I hope this helps you report the account! 

- Meghan

[peterabrunton]

Thanks Megan I have now successfully filed a report. I have 2 comments for feedback for you: 1. Finding this report option was way too complicated. I searched every avenue in PayPal and found no way by myself to report an account being fake without a fraudulent transaction taking place. If you hadn't sent me the link I would never have considered searching the name of that page you sent. 2. The report page says that PayPal can't legally give me an update because a person's account and details are private. But since it's a fraudulent account why can't I be updated? And how will I know if it's been properly dealt with? I don't want to endlessly be checking on this fraudulent account's existence. Thanks

[PayPal_Meghan · Accepted solution]

Hi @peterabrunton, 

Thanks for responding to me with your feedback! 

I'm sorry it was so difficult to find the information; I have forwarded your feedback to the appropriate team, which will hopefully lead to the search terms being optimized. Once you submit the form, it is immediately sent to the respective team. We are unable to provide any updates because we cannot legally provide details regarding another person's PayPal account. Even though the account was created fraudulently, we would still only be able to provide account-specific details to the account holder. I apologize; I know this can be inconvenient, but please understand that we do this for everyone to ensure accounts are kept safe. 

To help prevent anyone you know from sending payments to that account, I recommend advising them to always send you a payment using your confirmed email or phone number. Your family and friends may also find this Help Center article useful: How do I block another PayPal user?

Have a beautiful rest of your day! 

- Meghan