paypal_woes

Ha, I was just wondering about this, or rather, whether there was any way to disable receiving funds. Not that I could find, anyway.

I also coincidentally am having a spat with Paypal at the moment, hence my new username.

I mean, I have a bank account, of course, I just never wanted to give it to PayPal. Finally, after decades, I decided to semi-cave and open a new account just for them. Then they don't let me add it, because my phone number isn't good enough. The check becomes the only option, and then this happens.

Fuck yeah!

I think it's because the alternatives all suck. One is PayPal. Another is Venmo, which is owned by PayPal. Yet another is Zelle, which has its own problems I can rant about if you like.

The difference between sending cash and a check is that when a check gets stolen, the sender can report that to their sending bank, which will contact the receiving bank, and sort it out. If it is reported and dealt with in a timely manner, this usually results in the funds transfer being reversed.

In this situation, however, the sender is flat out refusing to take the simple step of informing their bank -- most recently about an hour ago.

The name is not really legible, at least not to me: Here is the back of the check in question: https://i.imgur.com/ICBydCo.png

Nevertheless I will try to talk to someone at the post office about it. I had covid all last week, so didn't want to do it then.

The USPIS is police, and I did contact them immediately. They did not seem to take any interest, however.

I would be more than satisfied if I had to eat the loss, but PayPal lost their license to act as a Money Services Business, at least in my state.

Thanks, I had already filed with the AG (to no avail, at least so far) but didn't think of the CFPB, I will do that now.

PayPal provided me with an electronic copy of the canceled check, as per my OP.

The measures I have taken to prevent mail theft include renting an official USPS PO Box. That is where the check was mailed to.

You ok, man? I'm a little preoccupied with this PayPal nonsense at the moment, but if you need someone to talk to, I will make some time.

My understanding is that the US Postal Inspection Service is the only police agency with jurisdiction over this. I did report it via their website immediately[1], which said that there would be a later opportunity to provide documentation if and when a criminal investigation were actually opened -- but that did not happen.

I will try to report it to the local police as well, I suppose. I will stop by later today.

[1] Immediately, meaning immediately upon learning of the fraud, which, thanks to PayPal's negligence and incompetence, was about 4 weeks after the fraud actually occurred.

It's never been a requirement AFAIK. I've had this PayPal account for 20 years and have never attached a bank account, only credit cards.

When I tried to attach a bank account, they wouldn't let me: they required a phone number to proceed, but refused to accept mine.

Also noteworthy for anyone else reading this, there are two ways to add a bank account: directly, by providing the routing and account numbers, and then confirming two small deposits, OR, the "easy way" where you log into your bank and allow API access.

If you choose the second option, read the fine print very carefully: they state that they will have access not only to transfer funds, but also e.g. see your full transaction history for the past 12 months.

Regardless, I tried both methods of adding the account, and they both failed with the same mobile phone number issue.

I had only had credit cards linked to PayPal before, never a checking account. There is no option to transfer the balance to a credit card. When I tried adding a checking account it insisted I provide a mobile number, which I did, and it refused to accept, telling me to just "try a different number," lol. This is an actual cell phone number from a US carrier (Mint Mobile).

Yes, in retrospect I should have sent the money to a friend and asked for a Zelle payment in return.

Sure, if I'd had the option of receiving these funds via crypto instead of PayPal, I 100% would have taken that.

Ethereum would probably be the worst choice of any major crypto, though. Still better than PayPal, of course, but even mostly obsolete Bitcoin would be preferable to Ethereum.

I use Firefox on Linux with uBlock Origin, as well as Enhanced Tracking Protection.

Unfortunately, it works fine in the browser -- if it didn't, I'd be $270 richer right now!

No, the payee on the front of the check is me. The endorsement field contains the following, handwritten:

<thief's signature>

MOBILE DEPOSIT ONLY

PAY TO THE ORDER OF

<thief's name>

I don't "accept" it either, but I also don't know what I can do about it, hence my question.

Forgot to note two other interesting facts:

1) The check was addressed to my USPS PO Box -- the kind inside an actual post office. It seems extremely unlikely that a random person could have accessed it; more likely, it was misdelivered to another PO Box customer at the same office.

2) The check appears to have been cashed via Capital One's mobile app -- "for mobile deposit only" is written in the endorsement field, along with the thief's name and signature (but not mine, not even a forged one).

Putting these two together, it seems not unlikely that the thief could have been easily found, if PayPal were not actively obstructing even the most basic steps toward an investigation.