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Ask HN: A check from PayPal to me was stolen and cashed. What can I do?

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Re: Ask HN: A check from PayPal to me was stolen and cashed. What can I do?

#41

Post by pengaru »

paypal_woes wrote: post #30
pengaru wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, if it's so clearly a case of check fraud and you have the images, at least report it to the police providing them the images, if you haven't already. You really should have done that immediately upon hearing it was cashed, definitely upon receiving the check images. Time is not on your side AIUI, and it's already such a small sum. Fucking paypal.

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]…

The thing is, many institutions won't take you seriously until the police are involved and there's at least a case number.

It demonstrates a willingness on your part to expose yourself to local law enforcement.

Having not done that, it implies you're possibly in on the fraud, and just shaking a money tree opportunistically to see if you can double your money. PayPal doesn't know you're not the person who cashed the check using a fake identity, or co-conspirator.

Involving the police doesn't guarantee a better outcome, but it improves the odds in my experience.

You really should have contacted them the moment you were informed of the fraud IMHO.

Re: Ask HN: A check from PayPal to me was stolen and cashed. What can I do?

#42

Post by paypal_woes »

pengaru wrote: post #41
paypal_woes wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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]…

The thing is, many institutions won't take you seriously until the police are involved and there's at least a case number. It demonstrates a willingness on your part to expose yourself to local law enforcement. Having not done that, it implies you're possibly in on the fraud, and just shaking a money tree opportunistically to see if you can double your money. PayPal doesn't know you're not the person who cashed the c…

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

Re: Ask HN: A check from PayPal to me was stolen and cashed. What can I do?

#43

Post by paypal_woes »

randombits0 wrote: post #38
paypal_woes wrote: post #2

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,…

If you have a name, go to the post office and tell them your story. They may help you, especially if the name is also a PO Box user, as it is a violation of postal law to open misdelivered mail, let alone cash a check fraudulently. They may also be inclined to help you to help dodge responsibility for misdirected mail.

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.

Re: Ask HN: A check from PayPal to me was stolen and cashed. What can I do?

#44

Post by beAbU »

1/ I find it personally shocking that it's still OK to use checks in 2023, and doubly shocking that it's possible for a random 3rd party to cash said check without any, as you say, checks and balances in place in order to verify the identity of the cashee, and to verify that they are indeed the intended recipient of the value of the check. If it's this easy to cash a check by a 3rd party, why don't we forgo all the pretense, and send each other regular cash by mail? What's the difference?

In my crappy country the last time we used checks was like the early 2000s maybe, and then you had to put the recipient's bank account details on the check. So it's not possible for a 3rd party to cash it. And if it gets lost, no biggie, invalidate the original check number with your bank, and issue a new one.

2/ You can either write that $270 to school fees for using PayPal, or you can go to small claims and lose your mind during the process. I vote for the former.

Re: Ask HN: A check from PayPal to me was stolen and cashed. What can I do?

#45

Post by hanniabu »

jupp0r wrote: post #12
hanniabu wrote: post #8

[flagged]

What makes you think PayPal would behave differently in case of a stolen Ethereum wallet?

Because you won't need to use Paypal, the functionality of sending money between 2 parties quickly and efficiently is built in to the protocol

Re: Ask HN: A check from PayPal to me was stolen and cashed. What can I do?

#46

Post by hanniabu »

paypal_woes wrote: post #15
hanniabu wrote: post #8

[flagged]

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.

> Ethereum would probably be the worst choice

I said Ethereum, not ETH/ether. Ethereum is a blockchain where you could transact many tokens including stablecoins.

Re: Ask HN: A check from PayPal to me was stolen and cashed. What can I do?

#47

Post by TheLoafOfBread »

beAbU wrote: post #44

1/ I find it personally shocking that it's still OK to use checks in 2023, and doubly shocking that it's possible for a random 3rd party to cash said check without any, as you say, checks and balances in place in order to verify the identity of the cashee, and to verify that they are indeed the intended recipient of the value of the check. If it's this easy to cash a check by a 3rd party, why don't we forgo all the p…

USA is using cheques a lot. I believe it is some kind of combination of regulatory capture which resulted in ancient and inflexible banking system.

Re: Ask HN: A check from PayPal to me was stolen and cashed. What can I do?

#48

Post by paypal_woes »

beAbU wrote: post #44

1/ I find it personally shocking that it's still OK to use checks in 2023, and doubly shocking that it's possible for a random 3rd party to cash said check without any, as you say, checks and balances in place in order to verify the identity of the cashee, and to verify that they are indeed the intended recipient of the value of the check. If it's this easy to cash a check by a 3rd party, why don't we forgo all the p…

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.

Re: Ask HN: A check from PayPal to me was stolen and cashed. What can I do?

#49

Post by warrenm »

paypal_woes wrote: post #29
warrenm wrote: post #26

How did you get a PayPal account in the first place without having a bank account attached? That was a requirement for years

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…

I've likewise had a PayPal account since before they IPOd (pretty sure I opened it in 99, but it might have been '00 - definitely pre-eBay acquisition)

You had to have a bank account then to open it :)

Re: Ask HN: A check from PayPal to me was stolen and cashed. What can I do?

#50

Post by effingwewt »

paypal_woes wrote: post #28
PopAlongKid wrote: post #25

>Their broken website refuses to let me add a bank account for withdrawal, It would be interesting to find out more about this. Somehow I thought you had to have some other account (checking, credit card) linked to your Paypal balance to even get started. If you had it to do over, would you have tried some other way to get access to the money (such as transferring it to a friend's account, or using to to pay for some…

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 mo…

What a lot of companies (pp included) don't tell you is that when they use a phone as verification many only allow them from the Big 4. Tmobile Verizon ATT Sprint.

Verification will fail not only with VOIP numbers but prepaid plans including Metro.

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