Receiving odd $1 payments out of country

[ECCR2016]

I’m receiving out of country donations via PayPal for $1. Something seems off with this, we aren’t a worldwide business. Very tiny non profit in US. Could be scam or trying to hack account?

[PayPal_JonK]

Hello @ECCR2016, 

Welcome to the PayPal Community Forum! I'm sorry to hear you've received potentially fraudulent transactions. If you receive a small transaction you were not expecting, it may potentially be someone trying to complete a test for a larger transaction and they just happened to choose your account to complete that test. However, there may never be a known reason as to why those small transactions are being received. Normally the best option is to complete a refund for any unexpected transaction you receive. If needed, please feel free to reach out to our Customer Support teams for assistance. 

Best wishes!

 - Jon K

[ECCR2016]

I appreciate that however when I try to refund, we are losing money. When they make the payment, there is a .52 net and .48 fee. When I refund that, it refunds .97 to them and .03 fee. They have done about 10-15 of these now over the last 3 days. If I start refunding them, I’m paying them more in the return. That’s not fair I endure the costs of this. Usually they refund exactly the same as they come in. So can I count on PayPal to refund it as it came in or pay these extra fees?

[PayPal_Meghan]

Hello @ECCR2016, 

Thanks for reaching back out! 

I understand you'd like more information about refunding the payments and fees. I apologize; we cannot guarantee the fees will be refunded, but to inquire if it is a possibility, I recommend reaching out to Customer Support by selecting 'Contact' at the bottom of any PayPal page. You can also find Customer Support on X (Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram private messages. When you have some time, I also recommend referring to this article on our Help Center to learn how to prevent these payments in the future. 

I hope this helps! 

- Meghan