PayPal makes it incredibly easy to steal money from anyone. You do not even have to get off the couch, except to intercept a snail mail from PayPal. All you need is an email account and someone's bank account PIN.
Someone I know was living with a retired family member. This person was able to open a PayPal account and, with the other family member's bank account PIN, was able to steal over $27,000.00 from her relative's bank account in less than a year. Apparently, her family member did not notice, as she thought she would have enough money to live on for a while. Some might say that the other family member should have watched her bank account more carefully. Perhaps, but she should not have had to, as she was raised to trust people, especially family. But I digress.
The point is that PayPal made it very easy for the other family member to almost wipe out her other family member's entire savings in a fairly short period of time. This person even tried to change the name on the PayPal account to her own. Luckily, I found out about this and had the bank terminate ALL electronic transactions against the bank account. I also moved most of the remaining funds to another account.
The bank could not help much, and PayPal would not help at all since the PayPal account was not mine. I have written dozens of emails to PayPal pleading for help. I just got the run-around. They are really, really, really good at this. It goes something like this: I email to get some information regarding this situation. I am told that since it is not my account, they will not help me. I explain again that the bank account IS mine (held jointly with the other family member), and PayPal forwards my request to someone else. This person tells me that they will not help since it is not my PayPal account, and they forward me to someone else... This went on for about 6 months. Not every day, mind you, but it was drawn out way too long. I think this is their tactic: they just wear you down. I fear my next step is to get my lawyer to subpoena them for records.
Apparently, PayPal is NOT a bank and therefore is not regulated as a bank.
Has anyone else had this type of thing happen to them?
P.S. Later investigation revealed that the PayPal rip-off was not the only rip-off. My advice is to protect your ATM card and PIN with your life! Another $17,000.00 is gone forever, via ATM withdrawals!
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