SOMEONE HELP: someone is using my name and address thru paypal!

[danrahamim]

Los Angeles, CA


I just got a disturbing phonecall from paypal saying that i owe them 1,414.00!
They gave me my real name, address and old bank account number on the phone.(along with my last four of my SS#) My number is unlisted, yet they HAVE IT! they said my number was different on this so called account. These people were harassing and threatened to put this on my near perfect credit score. Can they do this? Someone has obviously opened a paypal account in my real name and something was ACTUALLY delivered to my house and accepted!! Can they actually ruin my credit score with something like this?! They told me to fax them a police report. The collection agency i dont believe will stop there as they will probably move forward & report this to the three agencies and ruin my credit! Once that happens, i belive i can refute the situation, but wont it have ALREADY DAMAGED MY CREDIT SCORE? There is so much internet frraud out there, HOW can a credit agency take the word of these lowlife ***holes!? I have never had a paypal account! (and never would!) Someone please let me know if i have to present this to an attorney or not! Im just trying to protect my credit score by any means necessary! I want to make sure that i can find out my rights BEFORE this reaches my credit report! Thanks!!

 

[danrahamim]

Re:

They had ALL my info!

They were paypal for sure. "How" they got my cell number is beyond me. They gave me some other dopey number that someone listed.

They had my address, apt #, and OLD bank account number. They said a pkg was delivered to my apartment confirmed and signed for.
I need to know if im screwed here in the sense of this going on my credit report and messing with my score.....??

 

[JETX]

They said a pkg was delivered to my apartment confirmed and signed for.

If they can present sufficient 'evidence' to support their claim that delivery was made and you signed, then yes, you are 'screwed'.
Ask them to send you proof of delivery and signature... when/if they submit it, then contact the police.

 

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

Have you checked your credit history lately? Do you have the bank statements for the time frame they are talking about? Do you review your statements every month?

 

[JETX]

Do you have the bank statements for the time frame they are talking about? Do you review your statements every month?

Ignore all of that crap!!! Bank statements have absolutely NOTHING to do with PayPal.

 

[moburkes]

They had ALL my info!

They were paypal for sure. "How" they got my cell number is beyond me. They gave me some other dopey number that someone listed.

They had my address, apt #, and OLD bank account number. They said a pkg was delivered to my apartment confirmed and signed for.
I need to know if im screwed here in the sense of this going on my credit report and messing with my score.....??

I'm trying to figure out how someone would have your address, social security number, bank account # (which, by the way, paypal does VERIFY as belonging to YOU before they accept it as your bank account), without you knowing? Are you married? Was it your wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, etc?

How was your bank account verified?

 

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

They gave me my real name, address and old bank account number on the phone

The OP mentioned the bank account. I ask because you have a certain amount of time to protest charges made with it. If he is possibly a victim of identity theft, he needs to be proactive and see if there are any other items lurking out there.

 

[danrahamim]

Re:::

They never said it was a verified bank account. No one but myself lives here.

They actually never used the bank account in question and this paypal account was supposedly open for over a year. The attached "Bank account" was only attached as the account number, but whomevber pulled this off, couldnt acess further verfifyable info in order to "Verify the paypal account".

What i haver stated whats most important to me is the fact that i need to rectify this "BEFORE" this all hits my credit report and MAKE SURE im not going to suffer in a drop in credit score. How is it possible for person A to access someones personal info and have person B suffer and that at the hands of a crooked online company like paypal who have the authority to turn this over to collections and then the CC agencies! Is not the credit bureau aware of all the online fraud that goes on? Are they not sympathetic? I was told by paypal to fill out a police report and fax it to them. Thats all i have so far! Any more advise?

 

[moburkes]

I don't understand how paypal is at fault, but did you fill out the police report?

It is interesting that something was delivered to your house AND received by someone, don't you think?

 

[>Charlotte<]

It really can't be stated strongly enough that this could still easily be a scam. Getting your old account number and other information isn't beyong the realm of possibility. Anyone could go through your trash, or that of someone to whom you once wrote a check. It's not uncommon to hear of some large cache of vulnerable, personal information being found in a dumpster that some financial institution mistakenly disposed of improperly.

I'm just saying that there are a lot of scams out there, and a lot of them seem to involve Paypal accounts in some way. The potential problems with your credit are too serious to just ignore, so I'm not saying you should just dismiss it as a scam. I'm just warning you to be extremely careful in how you deal with these people, or the information you give to or verify for them.

 

[danrahamim]

Re:

Jesus!

Seems that there are just a bunch of bored people out there looking for converstaion and forming opinions! Im trying to get in the solution of a dilemma , Not debate the fact that i already know my info has been compromised! Instead i get responses that of "Youre screwed then", or How did that happen?" WHO CARES how, ITS HAPPENED! I googled this forum thinking there was some people who knew something about legalities within the credit bureau and what my rights are. Instead - i get yoyos telling me "How" my stuff could have been compromised or How i could have let it happen. ONE LAST TIME - if anyone knows anything regarding credit bureau procedures, and what my rights are;youre help would be appreciated.

 

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

I guess I'll ask the same question again. Have you checked your credit report? Rightfully, you are concerned about that this 'phone call' from Paypal. I guess what strikes me as odd is that you make no mention that you received any mail from them. most creditors send letters to begin with; they don't seem to start with phone calls.

On a security standpoint, you might want to do a mail-forwarding to a post office box. If there is mail that did come from these folks, but someone is pilfering them before you get the mail, it would show up this way.

Ask them to send you proof of delivery and signature... when/if they submit it, then contact the police.

JETX gave you a very legal answer here.

did you fill out the police report?

moburkes asked this one. You have to do this if 'paypal' sues you for the money and it turns out to be identity theft.

 

[>Charlotte<]

Jesus!

Seems that there are just a bunch of bored people out there looking for converstaion and forming opinions! Im trying to get in the solution of a dilemma , Not debate the fact that i already know my info has been compromised! Instead i get responses that of "Youre screwed then", or How did that happen?" WHO CARES how, ITS HAPPENED! I googled this forum thinking there was some people who knew something about legalities within the credit bureau and what my rights are. Instead - i get yoyos telling me "How" my stuff could have been compromised or How i could have let it happen. ONE LAST TIME - if anyone knows anything regarding credit bureau procedures, and what my rights are;youre help would be appreciated.

I couldn't answer your question about credit bureau procedures, but you seemed to be convinced it couldn't be a scam and I was simply trying to explain how it could, in fact, be exactly that. I apologize for trying to help you. Jerk.

 

[JustAPal00]

Everyone on here so far has tried to help you! Right now the facts are that you or someone that knows enough personal information about you has opened a paypal account and charged over $1400 dollars. Since the person had enough critical info to convince them that they were you, you now have to prove it wasn’t! The first thing to do is to investigate the signature on the receipt of the package. If it’s nowhere near yours, you might be able to convince them that you didn’t sign for it! Stomping your feet, throwing a tantrum, and insulting people trying to help will accomplish nothing! You need to understand how paypal works. They either attach their account to a checking account or a credit card account. This attachment is verified by paypal through a couple of small transfers. They also offer a credit card. You need to find out what kind of account was opened. Contact paypal and explain what happened. Get all the account information they have, and make sure the account is closed. After all the account is in your name. See if the delivery person from the shipping company remembers a description of the person who signed. It maybe an at home neighbor that was watching for the delivery and went out to meet the truck when it pulled up. If all you want to know are the legalities, here they are: A person that knew your SSN, name, address, birth day, and checking account # opened an account and ordered something by mail that was delivered to someone at your address. You will be required to pay for it and your credit will suffer if you don’t!

 

[CraigFL]

I'll jump in this melee with another statement that Dan doesn't want to hear...

So far I see SCAM.... I don't think the people that called were from Paypal. First... Paypal would never take money from an account that didn't exist and wasn't verified. They also wouldn't notify the seller unless the money actually transferred. The OP says it was an "old" account which leads me to believe it wasn't a good account. The purchase only works if the person selling the goods got his money. How did they get his money from an old account?? The real scam was confirming the questionable information that they had which is typical of the spoof emails that are sent out. The telephone call is a new one but the rule is always -- Don't give info to anyone that YOU didn't call.

Solution: YOU call Paypal and see what they say...