Paypal is charging me a chargeback fee for a transaction I had nothing to do with.

[crm39]

Recently someone sent money to my Paypal account in error - I have no idea who they are or who they were trying to send a payment to. I processed a refund and now Paypal is charging me a chargeback fee for a transaction I basically had nothing to do with. There is no option to decline a payment that may have been sent in error. I have filed an issue in the resolution center but have been told there is nothing that they can do. So - I am being charged for someone else's error. It makes no sense and feels like a fraudulent practice. This issue has nothing to do with me and Paypal should be handling it with the payee but is refusing to take any action to resolve for my account. Help!

[Grimreepr]

Let me see If I have this clear.

1: You received money out of the blue that was in no way requested by you.

2: You then returned the money to the sender without contacting PayPal customer support

3: After the money was returned, they then disputed the charge and it was returned to them leaving you short the amount you refunded.

4: Paypal does not recognize the fact that the refund was issued and the charge back is therefore invalid?

Kind of feels like something is missing, as I have had something similar to this happen and Paypal support saw the money was returned and denied the chargeback.  (it was an attempted scam)

UNLESS:  Did you refund the money outside of Paypal?  or through Paypal?

[crm39]

I refunded through Paypal and the whole thing feels like a scam but Paypal is not helping at all.  Says its up to the credit card company - which makes no sense to me.

1) I got notified I received monies - and left the money in the account as I assumed that it would be reverted once payee realized their error

2) message with payment said "send refund"

3) Received notifcation from Paypal that the payee filed a dispute on the transaction and requested I refund

4) I immediately processed the refund and added a note that the payment must have been an error as I had no transaction and no contact with the payee

5) Paypal notified that I would be charged a "chargeback" for the transaction and has a charge against my account

6) I filed an issue with the resolution center and the continue to refer to the person as "your buyer" - and I had stated that I had nothing to do with this person and had no way to decline the payment that was made

Here is the latest note from the Resolution Center: 

I'm sorry but payment fees are irreversible. Based on the records, the transaction was sent to you by KIM ORTIZ on November 15, 2023. Since it's a goods and services payment, it was subjected for a fee. As this was disputed by the sender with their bank, we don't have access with that dispute. It would be best to communicate with the sender to have it resolved.

The whole thing feels like a scam but I am the one who is being charged/penalized by Paypal.

One additional note - the mailing address for the payee is invalid.

I need Paypal to take ownership and responsibility.  I have been a user in good standing for well over 10 years - this is ridiculous.