All Richard wanted to do was sign up for eBay and PayPal and auction off a few things. But when he was hit by a Nigerian scammer, he says he got into a complicated ordeal with eBay as he tried to get his money back, and was then unable to re-list his item. [More]
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How To Confuse PayPal: When Chargebacks Attack
By 3.23.11
Debbie found a seamstress online to make her a custom wedding dress and sent payment using PayPal. She fell out of contact with the seamstress, became nervous, and filed a chargeback with her credit card company. After the chargeback, she heard from the seamstress again, and sent a new payment so the dress-making could go forward. Somehow, PayPal sent the seamstress two payments, and the actual nightmare began. This situation was beyond PayPal’s comprehension, and now Debbie is being hounded by PayPal collections. [More]
Visa Letting People Send Money By Credit Card Could Be Boon For Scammers
By 3.18.11
Visa is launching a new service that will let people send each other money from their Visa or bank account to each other’s Visa debit, credit or prepaid card, as we noted yesterday. But while this will open up new vistas of convenience, and offer a way for people who are sick of scammers exploiting Paypal’s refund system to conduct transactions, I would at the same time expect to see new kinds of advance fee fraud using the service. [More]
Worst Company In America Round One: Ticketmaster Vs. PayPal
By 3.17.11
Like having to choose between a punch in the face or a kick in the gut, there are no good guys in today’s early WCIA bout! [More]
Does Visa Have The PayPal-Killing Card In Its Wallet?
By 3.17.11
In news that should have perennial Worst Company In America candidate PayPal quaking in its boots, Visa has announced it is working on a service that will allow users to send money — from their Visa card, bank account or even cash — directly to another person’s Visa debit, credit or prepaid card. [More]
PayPal Resolves Dispute In Your Favor By Draining Your Checking Account
By 2.22.11
When Russell contacted PayPal about what appeared to be fraud on his account, he rather naively assumed that his being proactive would pay off, and keep his checking account balance safe from the fraudsters. Not so fast! He wants to warn others not to be naive enough to actually believe what PayPal says. [More]
Zombie Debt Collector Tries To Collect 11-Year-Old PayPal Balance
By 2.18.11
Christopher is currently being haunted my a small debt from his past. At least, it might be from his past: he’s not sure. A collection agency is after him trying to collect a $315 PayPal balance from the dot-com bubble era. He doesn’t remember owing PayPal any money, but who knows? That was a crazy time. He wonders what his next steps should be. [More]
PayPal Says Man Owes Nearly $300 For Dispute That He Won
By 8.30.10
Kentaro already went through a dispute resolution with PayPal for an HTC Droid Eris he sold on eBay. He says the reason for the dispute no longer exists, and anyway, he won and that was supposed to be the end of it. But now he owes $287, according to PayPal. [More]
Paypal's New Security Card Fits Inside Wallet
By 8.2.10
Like the idea of the Paypal security key fob, which auto-generates a 6-digit code that must be entered every time you use your Paypal account, but not so hot on its bulky shape? This year Paypal introduced a credit-card sized design that fits inside your wallet. [More]
Keep PayPal From Using The Default ATM Debit Setting
By 5.25.10
PayPal exists to make money, not to help you. That’s why the unregulated money broker likes to ensure that when you pay with a linked account, you pay via the ATM debit card setting, because it’s cheaper for PayPal. Of course, that “savings” is sometimes deducted from you in the form of a transaction fee by your bank, but PayPal doesn’t care. If you want to change that payment method the next time you use PayPal, be prepared to jump through a lot of hoops. [More]
PayPal + Sears.com = Headaches
By 5.14.10
Reader Cheryl tried to use PayPal to buy some polo shirts from Sears — and, well, we’ll let her explain it. [More]
Man Sells $500,000 In Raffle Tickets For House, Doesn't Hold Raffle
By 4.28.10
Last August, a homeowner in Massapequa, NY — the town that gave us the Baldwin brothers, Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Guttenberg, Marvin Hamlisch and Joey Buttafuoco — began selling raffle tickets at $50 a pop for a chance to win his 5-bedroom, 4-bath house. Eight months and 10,000 raffle tickets later, he still hasn’t given the house away. [More]
Worst Company In America Elite 8: Cash4Gold Vs. PayPal
By 4.20.10
Here it is folks, the final match-up of the WCIA Elite 8… And it’s a doozy. Hailing from sunny Florida is the king of undervalued bling, Cash4Gold! And flying in from the West Coast just to prove they know a thing or two about horrendous customer service and questionable business practices, it’s every Internet user’s frenemy, PayPal! [More]
Worst Company In America Sweet 16: U.S. Airways Vs. PayPal
By 4.14.10
It’s a battle of the squeakers in this year’s last Sweet 16 match-up. In its first round duel with Delta, U.S. Airways won by a hairline margin of 75 votes. Meanwhile, in its war with LifeLock, perennial WCIA contender PayPal barely edged out the competition. Now the slates are clean for both companies to prove their lack of merit. [More]
eBay Scammers Evolve, Use Live Chat "Customer Service Reps"
By 4.13.10
Grace almost got scammed on eBay. A fraudster cracked a high-value seller’s account and posted a fake listing for a camera and tried to make Grace pay for it using Western Union, a huge warning sign of a scam. That’s typical, but these criminals went the extra mile. “Above and beyond,” if you will. When she tried to ask some questions about the transaction, they directed her to a live online chat that was mocked up to look like a real eBay customer service chat and tried to assuage her concerns by telling her it was okay to use Western Union because she had “buyer protection!” Here’s her story and the chat transcript so you can learn and not get burned: [More]
PayPal, Debit, Credit… Which One Is The Safest Online?
By 3.22.10
The NYT breaks down the different security risks by payment type. The takeaway? No method is perfect, but credit cards have the strongest legal protections for consumers. [More]
Monoprice Not Taking New Orders During Fraud Investigation
By 3.10.10
Popular a/v cable site monoprice is back up but is not taking any new orders while it investigates the potential theft of banking information from its customers. Monoprice took its site offline this weekend after a few customers complained that credit cards they used at the site had fraudulent charges. [More]
Boston Bridal Show Was Massive Scam That Duped Over 6,000 Victims
By 3.3.10
This weekend was supposed to be the Boston 411 Spring Home & Bridal Show, but it was cancelled at the last minute. Now police are saying that the entire thing was an elaborate scam that pulled in money from attendees and vendors, raking in more than $150,000 over the past five months. The scammers used a website, Facebook page and Twitter account to promote the event, used PayPal to accept payments, sold fake hotel room reservations and issued fake conference passes. Boston police and the FBI are investigating, but so far nobody has been taken into custody. [More]
