Money sent to my PayPal in error

Dave!

Hey folks, I got this email a few hours ago, and just want to make sure I aint being scammed in some way


Hello David

I sent 239.50 Euros via Paypal on 21 May to this EMail address
I should have sent it to *email address*
You will note it has a 5 in it which I left out by mistake
The funds have gone astray
Could you please answer this EMail and send the funds back to me via Paypal
The funds should be sent to [his email address].

Thankyou for your help


It seems alright, and I do have the money in my account (which I didn't previously), and it shows up in the history.

But -- I'll get charged by PayPal if I send it to him, won't I? So, assuming it is legit, would it be reasonable to send him back 239.50 - the amount I will be charged? It was bout a 10er for him when he sent it

Sherifu

You won't be charged. He just won't get the full amount. He'll get the moeny back - any paypal fee.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=583

Genghiz Cohen

Not gonna starve for the lack of a tenner are you?
Just send it and forget about it.

Xavi6

Ignore it, keep the cash.

Honesty ftl

Sherifu

Xavi6 wrote: »

Ignore it, keep the cash.

Honesty ftl

Have you learnt nothing from the Euro sweepstakes?

ImDave

Xavi6 wrote: »

Ignore it, keep the cash.

+1

Xavi6

Sherifu wrote: »

Have you learnt nothing from the Euro sweepstakes?

I wasn't stupid enough to transfer money to the wrong account.

Sherifu

Xavi6 wrote: »

I wasn't stupid enough to transfer money to the wrong account.

But you relied on honesty.

RobertFoster

Personally, I'd give the money back. Give PayPal a ring/email and see what they say about the charges etc.

Wertz

How did you wind up with a payment in your account without accepting it?
Log in to your paypal account...you should be able to reject the payment and it automatically get's credited back to the account of whoever sent it...

Dave!

Wertz wrote: »

How did you wind up with a payment in your account without accepting it?
Log in to your paypal account...you should be able to reject the payment and it automatically get's credited back to the account of whoever sent it...

huh.... good question.... I just checked and it has actually been accepted Any way you can send money without it requiring the receiver accept it? Or does it get automatically accepted after a certain amount of time? He did send it a while ago..

I certainly didn't accept it, I haven't used PayPal in months.

pontovic

It could be a scam. Thats the first thing that came into my head reading your post. Did you click on a link in the email ? Are you sure you are logging into paypal and not something like http://secure.paypal.somenigerianscammersdomain.com?youraccount ?

Wertz

I've only ever received paypal payments for eBay sales....perhaps payments that fall outside of the eBay auction linked system with payapal work differently, possibly automatically accepted. Usually you would receive an email telling you that a payment has been sent, you'd then log in to your account and retrieve it...the payee then receives a receipt by email.
Since the payee in question had an address for you, they must have received a receipt, which probably means that it was automatically accepted. I don't know, I'd contact paypal and ask what gives before I just pay the money back to the other party...not sure how it could be a scam but ther'es no shortage of paypal scams these days. Most likely an honest mistake but no harm in being cautious...

Oswald Osbourne

Sounds dodgy if (like you say) it's accepted without your acceptance. You should sit on it for a week or so and contact paypal.

Voodu Child

Yeah, sounds pretty dodgy. I hope you didn't log into 'paypal' via a link in the email...

Leanan Sidhe

I would leave it for about a week tbh, and find out info from Paypal whether or not its dodgy. That way you won't be doing yourself out of it..

DonJose

All you need to do is click on "Details" then scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "Issue Refund". Don't send any money, just issue the refund and thats that.

Duiske

Xavi6 wrote: »

Ignore it, keep the cash.

Honesty ftl

Its Sunday afternoon, on a bank holiday weekend. Take yourself down to your nearest atm, stand in front of it and mutter the following repeatedly ...beer or honesty, beer or honesty.
Your conscience (or lack thereof) will guide you in making a decision.

123

gimme ze money

:D

nah if i was you i'd give paypal a ring and ask them to verify your paypal balance, if its what you see on the net, then he made a legit error in sending it to you and the only honest thing to do would be to refund him the money(who knows what financial state he may be in)

Or failing that
refer to the top of my post;)

MooseJam

send the money back, do the decent thing

kowloon

I thought you have to accept a payment; the payment doesn't just turn up in your account. By not accepting it nobody gets charged as nothing is ever sent.

Xavi6

Duiske wrote: »

Its Sunday afternoon, on a bank holiday weekend. Take yourself down to your nearest atm, stand in front of it and mutter the following repeatedly ...beer or honesty, beer or honesty.
Your conscience (or lack thereof) will guide you in making a decision.

AFAIK the OP doesn't drink so kinda throws that idea out the window, unless you substitute 'beer' with 'tea'.

Random

Provided the payment was actually in error.

Login to paypal.com by typing it into your browser. Go into the transaction. Click the refund button.

Job done.

You could always just wait until he disputes it with paypal and he'll get it back anyway.

Dave!

Xavi6 wrote: »

AFAIK the OP doesn't drink so kinda throws that idea out the window, unless you substitute 'beer' with 'tea'.

I do indeed drink!

Cheers, didn't know bout the refund option. I'll do so later.

</thread>

Wertz

Xavi6 wrote: »

...unless you substitute 'beer' with 'tea'.

An offence punishable by death.

griffdaddy

Wertz wrote: »

An offence punishable by death.

unless you're drinking some kind of old lady variant of a snake bite

elmolesto

Xavi6 wrote: »

Ignore it, keep the cash.

Honesty ftl

+2:D

What could happen?

zuroph

forward it to my account and i'll send it back to him for you

FarmerGreen

DaveMcG wrote: »

Cheers, didn't know bout the refund option. I'll do so later.

</thread>

Then he cancels his payment for 239.50 Euros ?

Random

The refund is linked to the payment. It's the one transaction ID. You are refunding a certain transaction and paypal will see this if it is disputed later on. Do not create a new transaction, make sure you open the old one and chose the refund option. It will not cost you anything other than time.

But if you're in doubt and things don't seem right just email (or call?) paypal.

Adam

123 wrote: »

gimme ze money

:D

nah if i was you i'd give paypal a ring and ask them to verify your paypal balance, if its what you see on the net, then he made a legit error in sending it to you and the only honest thing to do would be to refund him the money(who knows what financial state he may be in)

Or failing that
refer to the top of my post;)

Are you lookin for more feckin money?!

Senna

I wouldn't refund it, there are so many scams going on that you can never be sure. I'd email him and tell him to contact paypal and let paypal contact you. If paypal do contact you about it, then it wont be a scam.
Also make sure its definably in your account and not some bogus site. Dont ever click on paypal links, just type in paypal in the address bar.

AlmightyCushion

Moved from After Hours.

123

Mirror wrote: »

Are you lookin for more feckin money?!

why yes, yes I am

Doodee

I had this happen to me recently with an item i was selling.
The buyer paid for the item twice.
Paypal do charge your account for receiving the fee's, so if you are sending the money back just make sure to cover your own costs.
No reason to be out of pocket yourself

Random

Doodee wrote: »

I had this happen to me recently with an item i was selling.
The buyer paid for the item twice.
Paypal do charge your account for receiving the fee's, so if you are sending the money back just make sure to cover your own costs.
No reason to be out of pocket yourself

The refund option refunds the fees aswell.

Dave!

i refunded it folks. I didn't have enough money in my account to refund the full amount (it does charge fees), so just gave the rest and told him to get PayPal to contact me if there's any problems.

Cheers chaps!

Random

DaveMcG wrote: »

i refunded it folks. I didn't have enough money in my account to refund the full amount (it does charge fees), so just gave the rest and told him to get PayPal to contact me if there's any problems.

Cheers chaps!

If he sends you €20 and you pay €3 in fees then when you click to refund the full payment the €17 comes out of your account and €3 comes back from Paypal.

So you're saying you spent some of his money? it has nothing to do with fees !

Bondvillain

Aye. Random speaks the truth.

If you , for instance just sent him the €20.00, then the entire €20.00 comes from your account, but using the "refund" option will simply take the €17.00 - €20.00 without the fees - from your account, and the portion originally paid in fees (€3.00) will be refunded by paypal.

A Dub in Glasgo

DaveMcG wrote: »

i refunded it folks. I didn't have enough money in my account to refund the full amount (it does charge fees), so just gave the rest and told him to get PayPal to contact me if there's any problems.

Cheers chaps!

Paypal do not charge fees for a refund so it must have been spent as others have said