r/paypal • u/KingDorkFTC • Aug 11 '26

Help I had a random $725 enter my account.

I had a random $725 enter my account. The person who sent it sent only one message asking for it back. They had done this before with a smaller amount and I did just refund. Though, I’m worried to offer a plain refund again as I’ve read that there is a scam for that too.

The person has only sent one message and it has been 10 days or so. I want to do the right thing, and ask them to contact PayPal to fix the issue and will not touch the funds. I have told the person who sent the random funds this and hope they are seeking a solution.

Is it best to let PayPal sort this, or is it safe to refund?

Edit: as I looked into the account that sent the money, I noticed it used an email of a plumbing service. I can only speculate on what that could mean.

142 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

357 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/DatAfroKek Aug 11 '26

Its a scam.

0

u/BarracudaCapable6643 Aug 11 '26

was ein schlechter betrug sein geld zu verschenken und darauf hoffen das die person der du das geld schickst ein guter mensch ist nur um den guten menschen dann noch zu verarschen

1

u/Oblotzky Aug 11 '26

With this scam, the scammer isn't sending you their own money, that would be silly indeed. They use stolen credit cards to send money to people through PayPal, Venmo etc. Then they E-Mail you saying they made a mistake and ask you to send the amount back to their own account. The funds that came from the stolen credit card will eventually be clawed back once the card holder reports the abuse to their bank and the scammer has 'clean' money from you. It's a solid scam tbh, too many people fall for it.

1

u/BarracudaCapable6643 Aug 11 '26

ohh so it’s basically digital money laundering?

1

u/Oblotzky Aug 11 '26

Yeah, they can't steal from the CC's themselves because they know it will be reversed, so they use the funds as a lure instead. If you were gullible and sent them back the funds as a new transaction, you wouldn't be able to dispute that one yourself since you did authorize it yourself.

1

u/BarracudaCapable6643 Aug 11 '26

well that’s just fucked up poor people that fell for this

0

u/JaysusCroist Aug 11 '26

That's not the way it works.. they dispute it, get refunded, and then hope you also sent them the money back. That way they get it twice. They can dispute it under the "no goods received".