Skype & Paypal
Taken for a ride with Unauthorized charges from Paypal & Skype

On August 27th I had several unauthorized charges on my Paypal account. The charges were billed by Skype, a service I have never used.

I had been away from the internet for a few days, and wasn't aware of these charges until August 30th, when I went to withdraw money from my bank account (the same bank account that is connected to my paypal account) and the ATM machine said "Insufficient Funds". I was confused by the ATM machines message, because last time I checked my balance I had $125 in that account. I knew that it had something to do with paypal, because its the only thing I have setup that can take money from my (savings) bank account.

After investigation, I learned that my paypal account had been billed multiple times by skype. I printed out 3 pages of transaction details documenting unauthorized charges from skype to my paypal account on August 27th. The information was overwhelming and confusing, after reading over all the charges several times, I still couldn't make sense of it.

I also printed out my bank statement, showing 12 unauthorized bank transfers from paypal. After comparing paypal and bank details, I discovered that the unauthorized transfers initiated on the 27th, pulled actual funds from my bank account on August 28th.

Before August 27th, I had $125 and some change in my savings account and $24 in my paypal account. After the unauthorized skype charges of August 27th, and actual paypal fund transfer on August 28th, I had $1.22 left in my bank account and zero paypal balance. I have not accessed funds from this bank account since the 26th, the only charges shown from August 28th on my bank statement are these unauthorized charges.

I was taken for a ride for $148 and some change. I contacted paypal and they informed me that funds would be returned to my paypal account within the next 3-4 days after the bank transfer finished. It has been 3 days and so far only $40.00 has been returned. I am still missing $108... I have 15 transaction "Temporary Hold" and "Open for seller to respond". I am still in the process of recovering the money that was stolen from me.

Company: Skype & Paypal
Country: USA
State: California
City: San Jose
Site: paypal.com

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