Someone ordered a watch with PayPal and put the whole thing on Hank Hu’s account. Does he have to pay $1,365 charge for a Tag Heuer timepiece he never wanted — or received?
Question
Someone made an unauthorized purchase of $1,365 using my PayPal email address. I have filed claims three times, and the first two times they claimed this transaction was “consistent with previous activity.” The third time the customer service agent said they would escalate this, but I never saw confirmation that a new claim was filed.
PayPal refuses to acknowledge that this purchase was fraudulent. But it was. Someone bought something on the Tag Heuer website and shipped it to Glendale, Ariz. I live in San Jose and have never been to Arizona.
I’ve been delinquent on my mortgage payment this month because this was such a large amount. I just want my money back. Can you help me? — Hank Hu, San Jose
Answer
PayPal should have removed the charge the moment you flagged it. The company promises to “monitor every transaction 24/7” to prevent fraud, email phishing and identity theft, according to the company. Surely, buying a luxury watch on the Tag Heuer site and having it sent to an out-of-state address would have raised some red flags.
Maybe, maybe not. Look, for all PayPal knows, you might have sent a new watch to a special someone in Glendale. The artificial intelligence PayPal uses to flag potentially fraudulent purchases can’t read your mind — at least, not yet. But still, it might have given you a heads-up that it was problematic.
How to dispute unauthorized PayPal charges
If you’ve been the victim of fraud and are trying to prove that a transaction on your PayPal account doesn’t match your usual spending habits, it might feel impossible. But it isn’t.
To dispute an unauthorized PayPal charge, here are the basic steps:
- Log into your PayPal account and file a claim via the Resolution Center.
- Provide evidence of fraud, such as shipping address discrepancies and your transaction history.
- Escalate to PayPal’s executive team if automated systems fail. (More on that in a minute.)
Companies like PayPal often rely on automated systems to flag potentially suspicious activity. But these systems don’t always get it right. If you’ve found yourself in this situation, here’s how you can demonstrate that a charge is indeed fraudulent and get the issue resolved.
Document your normal activity
Start by reviewing your PayPal account history for any patterns. Look at the types of purchases you typically make, the frequency, and the locations. For example, if you usually buy items from local stores or online retailers but suddenly there’s a high-ticket item purchased from a luxury brand like Tag Heuer, it can be a red flag. The key is to show that the charge is inconsistent with your past buying behavior. PayPal uses algorithms to identify suspicious patterns, but if it doesn’t have context on your history, it’s harder for it to flag a charge as unusual. (Related: PayPal problem: I have a broken Acer Chromebook — but no refund!)
Highlight geographic discrepancies
One of the easiest ways to prove the watch with PayPal purchase is fraudulent is to point out discrepancies in the shipping address. For instance, if a company ships a high-value item like a watch to an address far from where you live — or even to a different state — it can strengthen your case. So if you live in California but you’re shipping to an address in Arizona, that’s a geographic inconsistency. PayPal should have flagged it as suspicious. (Related: PayPal and Chase missing refund problem: “My money is nowhere to be found”.)
Emphasize payment methods
If the fraudulent charge was made on a third-party website (like Tag Heuer, in this case) and your past activity has mostly been with different merchants, that’s yet another sign that the transaction doesn’t match your typical behavior. PayPal has fraud detection algorithms that analyze spending patterns, but these systems might not be as adept at understanding that you don’t buy high-end goods from certain site.
Cite any fraud protection tools
PayPal offers fraud protection for situations like these. If you didn’t authorize the transaction, make sure you’ve opened a dispute through PayPal’s Resolution Center. Of course, you can also file an appeal to PayPal’s executives or through our advocacy team.
How do you get a refund for this watch with PayPal?
I reviewed the paper trail of correspondence between you and PayPal. The company has the audacity to claim this purchase was “consistent with previous activity.” I haven’t reviewed your previous activity, but I’m skeptical that you were buying luxury watches from Tag Heuer if you’re struggling to pay your mortgage.
PayPal had you in an endless loop. It’s hard to know where AI ended and a human agent began working on your case. But at some point, someone who appeared to be human acknowledged that you had a case under PayPal’s Buyer & Fraud Protection guarantee, and offered to escalate your dispute. That person may have handed it off to an AI again, where it languished.
I publish the names, numbers and email addresses of the PayPal customer service executives on this site. A brief, polite email to one of them might have done the trick.
There’s more to this PayPal watch case
The bigger question is: How did someone access your PayPal account and make these charges? I would immediately change your password to prevent another fraudulent charge. You say you have two-factor authentication enabled, which makes this case even more baffling.
And by the way, if you ever get an email from PayPal asking you to sign into your account, don’t follow the link from the email. Go directly to the site to sign in. I’ve almost been fooled by one of the PayPal scams making the rounds, and if it almost happened to me, it could probably happen to anyone.
I contacted PayPal on your behalf. It reviewed your case (this time by a human) and agreed that your purchase was not consistent with your previous activity and was covered under its fraud protection guarantee.
“We determined that the transaction was conducted on a third-party website and the provided delivery address was a web gift address,” a representative told you in an email. “Considering that there have been no previous claims or disputes of abusive behavior, we accepted the claim and issued a full refund to you.”
Loading ...About this story
I’ve been tracking PayPal dispute problems for years, but this was one of my team’s most egregious cases. It was so obvious that this reader didn’t order the watch, and equally obvious that PayPal’s AI mishandled this problem from start to finish. I will be curious to see how the poll turns out. This article was written by Christopher Elliott, edited by Andy Smith and his team, illustrated by Dustin Elliott and produced by Avinash Srivastava with help from Mel Smith and our incredible advocacy team.
Over to you. What would you do if someone ordered a luxury watch on your PayPal account (besides call us, I mean). Our comments are open. Keep scrolling for the comments section. It’s there. You just have to keep scrolling.
