Thread: Paypal - Acting Fraudulently - Huge Fraud Ongoing

Hi, I may be on the wrong forum, if there is a more suitable forum would some kind person move this to where it should be. It may be the right place.

Happy New Year too you. I have discovered a huge fraud, so huge that it seems unbelievable but I do have the proof and I have pursued it

I have always purchased off of ebay, but after Christmas just gone I got an email which said clear your clutter and make some money.

I though umm I've got clutter so I listed a few low value items. I've got excellent feedback 100% on 150, My paypal account has been verified and I've passed all the credit checks, never had a problem I buy once or twice a week from ebay on average.

The first item sold for 12.00 I got the money via paypal no problem. The next item sold for 120.00 I got my money from Paypal no problem. I made several other sales a lovely man came to collect the table and chairs no problems.

I woke up one morning to an email telling me Paypal were placing a hold on the fund in my account for 21 days. Apparently they do this to millions of people everyday.

I wrote to them asking them where my money was being held whilst it was being frozen what assurances of its safety would they give me. They refused to tell me. I contacted the Banking Ombudsman this is illegal. If another party holds money in a client account they cannot use it, they cannot lend it to another bank or anyone else, they have to safeguard the money and if they gain interest they have to pay it to you. Ie another cannot benefit from another person's money ie keep their interest without written authority.

I wrote to Paypal asking them for the interest they had gained and asked them again where they were holding my money. I have researched this and there are thousands upon thousands of horror stories of people having their money snatched for 180 days or more on the most flimisiest of excuses.

I spoke to the FSA and the Banking Ombudsman and they say that they are investigating, but anyone who thinks they have a claim should put it in writing to the Company ie paypal. Think about it all the years 6 years of money kept and used by them. If they have used the money to buy assets or have lent it out on inter deposit rates illegally then all those whose money has been used are entitled to a share of this. If its held in a client account why won't they give the details of it as legally required to do so. If they have nothing to hide.

I began researching the legal issues surrounding what they are doing. Most people said oh they are so big who can touch them that's why they get away with it. My answer is so was Goliath, but David beat him.

I am looking at putting a team of people together to help me expose this and win back money for all the people affected - would you be interested in joining me do this. I have access to High Court Barristers, I have through my work secured help to put together letters. But if this is going to be successful then a few people all working with our heads together will stand a better chance. To give you some idea there are about 143 million accounts worldwide and over half of those are thought to be frozen or limited or have been frozen at some time. Paypal need to generate income at the moment and by freezing money on more and more accounts for 21 days they are earning millions and millions of other people's money.

They try to say its to safeguard everyone, but thats just an excuse to allow them to do it. If you use Ebay, in most cases you have to now use Paypal. If you have a dispute on ebay, ebay are supposed to have their own dispute systems in place, but no Paypal wade in as big brother and seize the money. In pricipal Paypal freezing money if items are in dispute does have some small merit.

But they are not doing this. They are withholding the money for 21 days whether there is a dispute or not. Paypal say they will consider giving money before 21 days if they see good feedback and you provide proof that the goods were delivered and the buyer is happy. But its up to you to put your case to Paypal and then its at their discretion. If the buyer gets the goods and does not leave feedback, or the item is picked up in person then Paypal will hold the money even longer in most cases.

The banking ombudsman says that they have to stick to strict rules on holding clients money and they have to disclose to you where your money is and if its earning interest what you will get back. They refuse to do this. That is unlawful. Solicitors, banks, clubs, charities etc all hold money on account for others and they have to make it public where the money is and if its an account that pays interest make arrangements to pay the interest to the person.

If you are interested in joining me with this. I am not advocating personal disputes, My point is to win back all the money for those withheld illegally and to get interest paid back to all the people who are owed it. If we can get hundreds of people making complaints and asking for interest Paypal will have to act. They can't ignore the law if everyone demands they stick to it.

My arguement to Paypal is that this money is earning interest and they are not entitled to keep it for their own gains. Its basically ill gotten gains. They are collecting money and acting as judge & Jury and imposing fines by way of fees.

Thank you for taking the time to read. Lets make 2010 the year that we all fight back against this illegal practice.

In. Whats the latest on nailing these thieves?

Originally Posted by bode

"Many times i hear people say, "i'd take paypal to court but it's too much hard work now they don't have a UK office".

Well thats not true, i'm sure paypal would probably prefer not to tell you about it which is why they don't exactly shout about it but they do have a UK address where court papers can be served, that address is;

PAYPAL (EUROPE) LTD
WHITTAKER HOUSE
WHITTAKER AVENUE
RICHMOND
SURREY
TW9 1EH

And you can also ring this office on a standard landline number and then press one on the options to be diverted through to the dublin call centre, that way you pay the standars rate for ringing a landline instead of premium 0870 number rates,

The landline number is: 020 8605 3000"

There you go.

I'd like to see a class action suit for UK users and end their illegal practices once and for all.

Ah, thank you

I hope I am not too late for this: only last night after much of paypal's dilatory tactics I was informed via email that my paypal account is suspended and they will hold my money for 180 days; money amounting to circa £1000. My calculation is that all the time they had my account under limitation I had lost atleast another £3000 pounds in lost sale. And distress, humiliation and torture is priceless.

Count me in if you are still looking for victims to join your class action lawsuit.

Best wishes,

Humayun Raza

I'm glad soemone is doing something about this. They methods surely must be illegal.

I had been selling good second hand stuff for a few years when PP randomly swooped in on me for no reason whatsoever and "held funds", which btw also include postage costs. I'd sold about 10 items amounting to about £150. paypal pulled their now famous stunt of sitting on my buyers money until I had sent out and received feedback from them. I was so incensed by this injustice (I had a 100% feedback record), I instead refunded all my buyers their money and told them how Paypal had tried to steal THEIR MONEY and asked that if they still wanted their item, they could send the money another way, which, under the circumstances they obliged and paid me by Google checkout - they must have trusted me more than pp!

Issuing a refund is still permitted in this situation, and its one way to stop Paypal keeping our cash.

Why should we send out our items whilst Pp with-hold what is initally the buyers money and eventually the sellers money in the end.

Shortly after that I transferred some cash into my partners account, about £70. They froze the transaction "due to suspicious activity", refused to tell me what I had supposedly done, and still to this day I have not been able to retrieve my funds as they virtually disappeared in transit, no doubt into the bottomless pit of their own stolen stash of other people's cash. I think they make it near on impossible to get any sense out of their phone operators, who seemed to revel in sending me round in circles.

I discovered after that they store isp addresses and detect if more than one account is being used on the same computer. Another nonsense, if only one computer in household of say 6, how many "suspicious activity" accusations are they dishing out in one day?

I'm surprised they have got away with their underhand practices for so long, and I'm surprised ebay haven't cleaned it up either, as they must have lost sellers hand over fist.

I'd be overjoyed to join any force against Paypal.

I gave up trading on Ebay and using paypal over a year ago because of this type of thing. I wish you the best of luck in your quest and hope you nail the sob's.

Anyone who posted earlier this year, any success with law suits? Could you please PM me if you don't wish to publish your experience on the board? help urgently needed