# PayPal weirdness - fraud or glitch? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2009, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paypal-weirdness-fraud-or-glitch/498024 "2009-05-29T13:19:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paypal-weirdness-fraud-or-glitch/498024/1 "2009-05-29T13:19:12Z")
I just made a PayPal payment and had to switch my address via the Shipping Address button. One of the addresses that came up on screen belonged to someone who is - not me, - no one I’ve ever shipped to, - no one I recall dealing with _at all_. Naturally I didn’t select the address. But when I when back to Street Address a bit later, said address was gone. I then tried a dummy transaction and clicked Shipping Address. The unknown address returned. The name and address did check out with Google and [WhitePages.com](http://WhitePages.com). The person is apparently a social worker with expertise in the prison system. :dubious: Is it possible some clever con grabbed his social worker’s address and is using it for nefarious ends? And why wouldn’t an email address turn up that went with it? (I recognize all the emails that come up in the Send Money list.) [WhitePages.com](http://WhitePages.com) did bring up a street map. I noticed the unknown person’s address is close to (but not _on_) a street in their town that has the same name as the street I live on in my town. Could there be some glitch in PayPal associating one address with the other? If anybody’s had anything similar turn up on PayPal, I would like to know about it. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paypal-weirdness-fraud-or-glitch/498024/2 "2009-05-29T14:23:05Z")
**Contact Pay Pal without delay for assistance to determe if fraud had been perpetrated!** ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paypal-weirdness-fraud-or-glitch/498024/3 "2009-05-29T16:05:40Z")
I’ve heard of this happening before, with ebay transactions - I can’t remember the details, but I do remember a phase where wacky shipping addresses were showing up on loads of people’s Paypal accounts. In some cases the system wouldn’t let them change them back: when you changed the address back to your own, it defaulted straight back to the wacky one. It was a glitch. Do contact Paypal about it, though. I’d also check out the ebay discussion boards to see if this is happening to lots of people (a lot of Paypal problems get discussed there). ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paypal-weirdness-fraud-or-glitch/498024/4 "2009-05-29T16:35:46Z")
Thanks **ew**. One poster on the eBay PayPal board wrote in Jan '09: > [@](#): > > There have been well documented glitches where PayPal has giving out the wrong address. They supposedly have fixed this, but it does still sometimes occur. In the past not only were they giving out old addresses, but sometimes an address not even related to the buyer in any way. Doesn’t sound like fraud, but I will describe the problem to PayPal and report back if they have anything to add. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paypal-weirdness-fraud-or-glitch/498024/5 "2009-05-29T17:37:45Z")
I would try asking at [Alt.Online.Marketing.Ebay](http://groups.google.com/group/alt.marketing.online.ebay/topics), if you don’t have usenet you can access it via Google Groups. These people know all the scams and such of eBay and PayPal. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paypal-weirdness-fraud-or-glitch/498024/6 "2009-05-29T17:44:01Z")
Sooner or later, someone’s gonna’ wind up clicking-through with the weird transaction destinations, and send a PSP to a 53-yr-old granny that only uses Ebay to buy sewing pattern. About 30% of online shoppers never proofread or double-check ANYTHING. I’ve got no end of textbook customers selecting 21-day Media Mail shipping for textbooks they need in 2 days… meanwhile they’re ordering from San Diego and I’m shipping from Akron, Ohio. Good one, Ebay. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paypal-weirdness-fraud-or-glitch/498024/7 "2009-05-29T23:34:06Z")
Sounds like it might be benign, but in all cases of suspected foul play like this, it’s a good idea to change your password the moment you suspect anything to be amiss - it can limit the damage and inconvenience in genuine cases of identity theft. You’d think an account hijacker would do this themselves, in order to shut you out, but from everything I’ve read, it seems they don’t - maybe it buys more time for them to carry on unnoticed.