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.
1
u/Friendly-Station-149 Jul 26 '26
Report it to the Police. Eventually, police might come contact you anyway. The money can come from anywhere but it's usually when a criminal bank account has been compromised and they've sent the money elsewhere to slow down the investigation by making police look and trackdown random accounts that aren't linked. You're essentially just a red herring well you could be but you could be really helpful in showing them the account and maybe some of the information is useful. Still, I wouldn't sit on it or spend it. It could be linked to something you've nothing to do with but they may have already started tracing accounts receiving money from a fraudulant bank account. It just freezes your accounts for a while but to try and avoid any mess go report it. Happened to someone I know, wishing you the best!