# Fuck PayPal… **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 13, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-paypal/596164 "2011-09-13T15:54:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-paypal/596164/21 "2011-09-13T22:23:15Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > To be fair, the dude in Ontario recieve the donation - I don’t actually know if he’s the one who set up the fake account and ran the scam. For one thing, my card was never out of my posession so I don’t know how some dude from Ontario got the number anyway - I assume from some online purchase I made. It’s entirely possible that the person in Ontario is not at all involved. I know someone that runs a small non-profit, which accepts donations online. They have found that credit card thieves like to use their site to verify that the credit card numbers and info they have is still valid. Make a small donation to a non-profit. If it is accepted, the card is valid, and can be sold as a verified valid card. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-paypal/596164/22 "2011-09-13T22:35:24Z")
The more I think about this scambag the angrier I get, I got so pissed off a little while ago that I went out to the garage, grabbed my Stihl MS-180 chainsaw and went to town on a few logs that had the temerity to annoy me by existing, as I fired up the saw, and the 39cc engine screamed away, biting into the soft, yielding wood, shredding it down into nice little chips of wood, I visualized the log as certain pieces of scambag’s anatomy, the merciless chain, racing by at 65 MPH chipping out pieces of wood and throwing them clear It was quite relaxing Now, to boot up Left4Dead 2 and do some zombie shredding with the chainsaw… (yes, yes, I _know_ how this sounds, you think I’ve snapped, don’t worry, it’s nothing more than my sick sense of humour…) ---
**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-paypal/596164/23 "2011-09-13T22:53:25Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > \ > As far as I’m concerned, criminals have _NO_ rights, they gave them up when they committed the crime Well. Go fuck yourself then. Rusty chainsaw and all. So if it’s against the law to criticize the government, and you do it, you lose your rights? No wait, that’s different, because it’s not a crime against _you_. This kind of bullshit won’t fly pal. Criminals have rights precisely because they are innocent until PROVEN guilty. You just may have the wrong man. Considering the level of incompetence you’ve faced, I commiserate with your frustration, however you must realize that they may have fucked up and given you the wrong person’s information, or perhaps the criminal used someone else’s identity. And maybe, just maybe, he was making what he thought to be a legal purchase and somehow PayPal fucked up and used your account, or he entered the credit card information incorrectly and it used your card, etc. Or maybe he’s a dumb as shit teenager who thinks he can get away with it. So let’s just take away his rights, throw him in jail, and fuck him up the ass for life. Rather than finding out whether he did it because of legitimate ignorance, and perhaps his life could be salvaged, naw fuck it. Fuck him right? He stole the wrong guy’s money, so now he gets hit back three times as hard. Seriously, take a chill pill, and hope to God \*you \*don’t ever need the protections afforded criminals. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-paypal/596164/24 "2011-09-13T23:10:41Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > More fucking red tape… You know what might get the attention of both the police departments and the financial institutions? The media. Local news loves to beat up this type of story. The possibility of two types of indifferent institutions–financial and governmental–will have them champing at the bit. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-paypal/596164/25 "2011-09-13T23:57:32Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Using a checking account for PayPal means that someone can drain all the money out of it, and the bank will just shrug and say “sucks to be you”. Using a credit card means that you have more legal protections. > > I almost never use PayPal. I don’t think I’ve used it this year, in fact. I used to shop on eBay, now I don’t, even though there’s things that I’d like to buy. ::starts rummaging for login information, cursing self for having this blindspot:: ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-paypal/596164/26 "2011-09-14T00:27:46Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > I don’t know how some dude from Ontario got the number anyway It’s a federal program that is a subset of the equalization program – we Ontario bastards are each given the credit card information of three Albertans. The only problem is that that there are so many of us, that each Albertan ends up with several Ontarians using each card. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-paypal/596164/27 "2011-09-14T01:04:22Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > It’s a federal program that is a subset of the equalization program – we Ontario bastards are each given the credit card information of three Albertans. \ l KNEW IT! ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-paypal/596164/28 "2011-09-14T01:29:50Z")
Should have had someone kick him in the dick. I have never had a Paypal account and now I won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-paypal/596164/29 "2011-09-14T01:41:00Z")
I’m really glad I’m not **MacTech’s** neighbor with a dog who likes to shit in his lawn. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-paypal/596164/30 "2011-09-14T02:10:00Z")
[Been there, done that](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=472048&highlight=paypal). To say it sucks is an understatement. Good luck getting it all straightened out. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-paypal/596164/31 "2011-09-14T05:00:55Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Good luck with that (seriously, I wish you luck). I hate PayPal and wish people wouldn’t use them (VISA works perfectly fine for any purchases I want to make over the internet, with reliable security to boot), but some people insist on using these scammers. > > My credit card just expired, so I’m taking this opportunity to leave my expired credit card number with PayPal and hope I never have to update it. As long as you are careful not to use the credit card payment option, they’ll never know. I went 5 years or longer with a bank account that no longer existed, and they didn’t figure it out until I screwed up and didn’t select it when I paid something else. I even added and took away various cards. Just make sure you change from the default payment option every time, and they won’t know the account is fake until someone tries to use it. Of course, that’s if you ever actually use it again, anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-paypal/596164/32 "2011-09-14T15:32:03Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I don’t give them my credit card number. Any transaction comes out of my checking account. You can further limit access by transferring cash into the account prior to purchasing an item. Can you actually prevent them from hitting your checking account? In the case of the OP: I don’t know if the OP has any ability whatsoever to press charges, as he’s not out a dime. The credit card company which took the hit, and/or Paypal, are the true “victims” here. I’m actually quite surprised they gave you as much info as they did. Our one time of being cc fraud victims, I only found out info about the perpetrator through sheer dumb luck. In a conversation with someone at the doctor’s office billing department (major university hospital near here), I mentioned I’d paid X service through a credit card (when he was trying to tell me I’d written a check). I rambled on “and I know I did - I have the statement right here because I’m in the middle of disputing a charge at Nordstrom”. The guy said “wait - what? where?? when???”. Then he told me that someone from their office had been ARRESTED the week before… for taking patient credit card info, phoning in orders to stores such as Nordstrom, and picking the item up at the store. So he forwarded my info on to the police department that was investigating the woman, I spoke briefly with someone, and that was the last I heard of it. The credit card company took the matter up with Nordstrom, who had to eat the charge because they didn’t have my signature on file, and my account was credited. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-paypal/596164/33 "2011-09-14T15:37:09Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Using a checking account for PayPal means that someone can drain all the money out of it, and the bank will just shrug and say “sucks to be you”. Using a credit card means that you have more legal protections… Yep! In fact we have my Paypal account linked to my personal checking account, which at present has a much larger balance than usual - 30 dollars - for this very reason. A thief couldn’t get a whole lot of money. I do have an overdraft line of credit, but even that would limit the thief to 500 bucks. I don’t choose to trust Paypal to handle a fraud investigation in a timely-enough manner or with the correct result, and I don’t want to open up our main accounts to that kind of exposure. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-paypal/596164/34 "2011-09-14T15:41:07Z")
OP, serious question: Are you an idiot? ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-paypal/596164/35 "2011-09-16T20:47:37Z")
Damn, I sold an item for about $800 a few weeks ago and I just now realized that Paypal doesn’t automatically transfer the money into my bank account. I have to log in to Paypal and do it myself. This will probably cost me a few bucks because my bank has a minimum balance you have to have for free checking, otherwise there’s a monthly fee. Anything to sit on that money and collect interest. Oh, and they say it takes 3-4 days to transfer the funds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-paypal/596164.md?page=1)