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Original poster

Paypal payment mistake

146 replies

Frannyhy · 22/06/2021 14:02

Some weeks back I received a mystery payment of almost six hundred pounds to my paypal account. I had no idea of what it was for, and didn’t know the sender.

I didn’t touch the money - I waited. The following day I received an apologetic email from the sender, saying that the money was for his sister who has the same name as me - he’d made a typo.

As the money was sent by friends and family he can’t reverse the transaction himself, and asked me if I’d do it.

I replied, that he needs to process the refund through paypal. I’m not sending the money back myself in case it’s a scam. However, Paypal won’t get involved.

He has written a couple of nasty emails to me. I’ve blocked him and taken legal advice and was advised that as long as I don’t withdraw the money I’m fine.

I do remember seeing someone who had made this mistake and was wondering if he or she is still here? I’m wondering what happened about it, and if a solution was found. I want the money to go back if the guy is on the level, but won’t risk sending it back myself.

OP posts:
Clymene · 22/06/2021 14:18

Have you received any communication from Paypal? Has he opened a dispute as you haven't refunded the money?

Bufferingkisses · 22/06/2021 14:19

Contact PayPal. Ask if you can simply reverse the transaction (you should be able to) and, if that happens, is it certain that the payment will go back to the original sender.

I honestly think you're making an issue where there isn't one?

SummerBreeze1980 · 22/06/2021 14:21

I had this situation with PayPal. Once the sender has contacted PayPal about it they froze the money meaning I couldn't withdraw it but also couldn't send it back to the person. The refund was done by Papal although took quite a long time. I'm surprised PayPal won't get involved.

NavigatingAdolescence · 22/06/2021 14:22

@Frannyhy

That’s what I feel. Why wouldn’t he just do a bank transfer to his sister.
Because money going through a bank account is seen by benefits agencies etc whereas on PayPal it isn’t?

Because she only has a joint account with an abusive partner and her brother wants it to only be accessible to her?

Loads of reasons.

Original poster
Frannyhy · 22/06/2021 14:22

No I’m not making an issue. I’ve just found Paypal were very helpful.

They said don’t reverse the transaction under any circumstances and to leave it with them.

OP posts:
Blossomtoes · 22/06/2021 14:23

@Frannyhy

He has my email address because he can see it in his paypal history of the transactions he made.

I am happy to return the money but only if paypal is involved.

Why? It’s not your money. Surely you can see it came from his email address? I’m not surprised he’s pissed off.
Original poster
Frannyhy · 22/06/2021 14:23

They’ve frozen the money.

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 22/06/2021 14:24

So, after several weeks it's sorted in 9 minutes

Cantthinkofabettername12345 · 22/06/2021 14:24

I’m sure I’ve heard of this scam. They send you money, then when you send money back they cancel their original transaction leaving you out of pocket. Call paypal and have then reverse the payment.

Original poster
Frannyhy · 22/06/2021 14:29

@Soupdragon Exactly. What I don’t understand is why the sender didn’t do all this himself rather than sending me shitty emails.

OP posts:
WiddlinDiddlin · 22/06/2021 14:30

How would he have your email address...

Very easily if your email address is a few letters different to the one he intended to send money to! I routinely get emails for someone with the same email address as me only her's has an M in the middle that due to our names (same first and surname) is routinely misheard. I could easily get a paypal payment for her if that were my paypal email!

If you reverse the transaction, there can be no scam. The scam is when people make a NEW transaction, and then the original sender reverses the original transaction as well.

Original poster
Frannyhy · 22/06/2021 14:30

@Cantthinkofabettername12345 I’ve heard of something like this myself, which is why I was so cautious.

OP posts:
daisyjgrey · 22/06/2021 14:30

@Frannyhy

That’s what I feel. Why wouldn’t he just do a bank transfer to his sister.
Nonsense, I send money to my fiance on paypal all the time.

You're being absurd, give him his money back and stop making an issue where there isn't one.

plodalong12 · 22/06/2021 14:34

This seems to be resolved so my reply might be pointless, but I used to work for Paypal and this doesn't seem like a scam. It actually sounds like a common occurrence.

You can make Paypal payments in two ways and one of those is personal/Friend & Family. So often we'd have people ringing saying "Please help, I bought an item from someone and they told me to send it as a Friends and Family payment and they haven't sent it and now won't respond." This happens SO OFTEN. We used to reply with (politely) "oh dear, what a shame, please don't do that again unless you know the seller". If the payment was made via credit/debit card, we might advise them to get into contact with their bank for advice.

But that isn't the scenario for you as there was no promise of a gift or any conversation before the payment. I'm guessing he sent it as a F&F payment if it was for his sister, so there would be no dispute to open up like @Clymene suggested.

I'm only going by the info you've given here, but it doesn't sound like a scam to me. I personally wouldn't make a new payment to the same email to send the money back but I wouldn't hesitate to click on that transaction and hit the refund button. There is literally zero chance of a scam doing it that way.

BradPittsLeftTit · 22/06/2021 14:34

You're totally right to do it this way OP

My friend got scammed this exact way! Someone accidently put money in her paypal account and she was messaged with an apology asking for it to be returned.

She returned it but the money hadn't fully cleared and the person then reversed the payment too. So he reversed the original payment and she transferred it back meaning she was in debt to paypal for £200

She was really lucky that as she contacted them so quickly afterwards they managed to resolve it but she was told it's a well known scam and to always contact them and they will freeze the money and unpick it themselves

Cantthinkofabettername12345 · 22/06/2021 14:35

From memory they send you money but it’s frozen in your account, so when you send them money back it doesn’t send back the frozen money, it sends your money. So when they cancel their transaction they get the frozen money and your money. Then they delete their paypal and there’s nothing you can do.

bungaloid · 22/06/2021 14:35

Yeah I don't quite see the scam logic if you are simply cancelling / reversing a transaction, all within PayPal. If they were asking you to send the same amount of money to a different email in a new transaction then that screams mega scam, but simply "refusing" the money they sent seems OK to me. Never had to do this exact process in PayPal so maybe there is a dodgy loophole there.

plodalong12 · 22/06/2021 14:35

@Cantthinkofabettername12345

I’m sure I’ve heard of this scam. They send you money, then when you send money back they cancel their original transaction leaving you out of pocket. Call paypal and have then reverse the payment.
You can't cancel a F&F payment nor request a refund once it's sent.
Compoundinginterest · 22/06/2021 14:36

I would definitely NOT send the money back. Let Paypal reverse the payment.
If you go over to MSE you will see loads of instances where people have been scammed in exactly this way.

TotorosCatBus · 22/06/2021 14:38

You are right to want PayPal involved. This smacks of being a scam tbh and I wouldn't want to be out of pocket when the other person manages to get their money back as well as money from me or something.

MiniCooperLover · 22/06/2021 14:40

Is he asking you to send jt to a different account or back to the original account? I'd be worried about money laundering.

TotorosCatBus · 22/06/2021 14:40

There are a lot of scams when it comes to paying for cars on eBay /PayPal etc You we're right to involve PP

Meme69 · 22/06/2021 14:41

I wouldn't do anything. Let him report it to PayPal. It sounds like a scam

TulipVictory · 22/06/2021 14:41

Refund it back! It's not a small amount of money, he must be really worried

roliepopsock21 · 22/06/2021 14:43

It could be legitimate but I do also remember a scam similar to this (not 100% sure of the details) so would be cautious myself

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