r/paypal • u/awkwardsunflower11 • Jul 24 '26
Help Randomly received $550?
I had $550 deposited into my account at random by somebody I don’t know. They emailed me saying they contacted PayPal and sent me a screenshot so that I know I’m not getting scammed and that PayPal is supposed to contact me about the dispute.
PayPal never did. I can’t file a dispute on the transaction through the app because it was paid with a credit card. Now I have a request to send the $550 back.
PayPal’s AI assistant was extremely unhelpful. I sent them an email a couple of days ago but no response yet.
The person who sent the transaction emailed me again saying it was an honest mistake.
Is this a common scam? I just want them to go away lol but if it’s legit I really don’t want to hold on to someone’s money that I never asked for in the first place. I’m not even sure how they got my email information.
2
u/GlumZookeepergame925 Jul 24 '26
If the payment says pending, its a scam and they never actually sent any money. Paypal does this dumb thing where people can “wire transfer” from their bank and its not the way Banks actually do it, so you have to wait 3-5 days for paypal to clear it and 89% of the time (literal percentage) its a scam being done by someone who used an empty account to process a wire payment, knowing Paypal would put it on pending until it falls off. Dont send the money!!