Friend used my ebay and paypal account and has left it in a mess. Help!

am3 · #1 05-06-2010

Long story short, a friend of mine was having problems with his ebay and paypal so me being a good friend let him use mine as a temporary measure. (I know big mistake, but I am one of those helpful people). Anyway everything was fine for the last 4 months, now all of a sudden he has disappeared and is not managing the accounts. This has resulted in several disputes and chargebacks for items he never sent out. The ****head has used up all the money in paypal by withdrawing to his bank or sending to other paypal addresses. Both ebay and paypal are owing money for his sales of items. I have been sick with worry and more stressed out then I have ever been :( What can I do? He wont return my calls and I cannot get hold of him

jamblix · #2 05-06-2010

Hire a shady bounty hunter.

am3 · #3 05-06-2010

Should I tell ebay what has happened?

art888 · #4 05-06-2010

did you have your ssn on your paypal account? where you id verified on ebay? if you answered yes to 1 of those questions then the amount due on your paypal and ebay account will go into a collection agency and have a negative on your credit report. if answered no to the 2 questions then just buy the steal book and create a stealth account. you dont have to worry about anything if you dont have your ssn on paypal and weren't ebay id verified.

am3 · #5 05-06-2010

I've had both my ebay and paypal accounts since 2004 with my home address and rarely used it. It's only been used a lot the last 5 months. Both the ebay and paypal account are now limited. Paypal is limited asking for verification, invoices etc and ebay is on hold for account fees and activity or something. All I can remember is the accounts were created and verified in 2004 and not since then? does this help in anyway?

BooMer · #6 05-06-2010

You may try to plea a case of stolen identity. Tell them your account was hijack and that you haven't used it in a long time and you don't know who did it. They can see where the money was sent to from your paypal account to prove your innocence. This is very common because there is a lot of phishing scams for ebay and paypal. Tell them you may have responded to one of those emails in the past.

Hope this helps. And DON"T CALL YOUR EX-FRIEND! GO PAY HIM A PERSON TO PERSON VISIT!

BooMer

am3 · #7 05-06-2010

Thanks for your email boomer, I really appreciate it. I will give that a shot.... and my so called friend will definately be paid a visit

needhelpplease · #8 05-09-2010

Or you can do nothing and let it go to collections and get a copy of that "prove this is my debt" letters and send it with signature confirmation to the collection agency once you eventually get that letter. Although Paypal has heavy weight online, alot of things are actually NOT LEGAL that they do SUCH AS TAKING YOUR MONEY OUT OF YOUR ACCOUNT FOR WHATEVER REASON THEY WANT TO......so once the collection agency gets your "prove this is my debt" letter, LEGALLY they can DO NOTHING to go after you for the money NOR put it on your credit report. In the mean time make yourself a stealth account and start over. That way is alot easier and alot less headache..but if you have the time and patience I guess going through the "stolen identity" scenario would work for you. Good Luck!

#9 05-09-2010

I would not allege that your entire identity was stolen. I would state that I have not used my account for quite some time. After a certain amount of playing completely dumb, I would gradually get more educated and eventually 'suspect' that my account was hijacked. Not my whole identity. Just my accounts.

A good (bad) keylogger or rootkit could conceivably (and often does) gather all that info.

Suppose I get hit by a rootkit. I don't know it yet. I log in to my bank. Check my credit cards. Do some ecommerce. Visit some pr0n sites. You know, normal stuff.

All that data would be packet-sent to a server somewhere. The invader might not touch my data for six months. Then BOOM, they use all the information to hijack my online identity. Not my real life identity. They would not have my ID cards or my CVN numbers. But they could take over my ecommerce related resources.

So, play dumb, then less dumb, then undumber, then not so dumb.

Don't admit that you allowed anyone to do anything.

If it becomes necessary later, you can still do the thing with the credit agencies.

needhelpplease · #10 05-10-2010

Also....paypal will require you get a police report...in which case that would be your preference. There is a WHOLE process that you have to go through if you are going to claim stolen identity or even stolen account etc. If you can be patient, my best advice would be the whole letter to the credit agency thing once you get that letter. It would be a WHOLE lot less work for you with more of a gaurentee.....paypal likes to tell you one thing and do another.....so even if they buy your stolen identity/stolen account scenerio it is NOT a gaurentee that they will do anything for you....they could still try and tell you that you are responsible for it.....try not to worry about it to much again because as long as you take care of it, they really cant do anything to you or your credit! Good Luck!

am3 · #11 05-11-2010

Thanks for the info guys has given me a lot to think about.... the problem with the identity case is some funds were taken out of my account for fees and then paid back as well. The rest of the funds were sent to his bank a/c and other paypal addresses. It's a complete mess which I wish I never was in

GreenBean · #12 05-11-2010

There's no problem with the identity case because it is not strictly that sort of case. It's a business arrangement with a friend that has gone bad.
As such some advice is not really applicable for you to deal with this in a realistic way.

am3 · #13 05-11-2010

Okay just to confirm I can't use stolen identity or hijacked account for my situation?

Dude · #14 05-11-2010

"I have been sick with worry and more stressed out then I have ever been :( "

If you had such strong feelings about your eBay account you should have never given it to him. eBay will not accept it, u either got to pay up for his mistakes or move on.

am3 · #15 05-11-2010

Yeah I know what you mean, all I was doing was helping a friend out. I haven't used Ebay and Paypal much so didn't know how much was at risk but now I have learnt my lesson.

I do want to move on but not pay for his debts and why should I. I guess the reality is I will have to pay :-(

am3 · #16 05-13-2010

Guys does anyone know with regards to Ebay fees, will ebay use the current address on the system to collect the money or the address which was used when creating the account? I'm hoping it is the current addresses because that way my so called friend will have to pay for the fees at least? There is no paypal account connected to the Ebay account as I removed it as soon as I saw what was happening. Any advice would be highly appreciated.
Thanks

GreenBean · #17 05-13-2010

Do you not realize that there is still a record at ebay's end of the address that was there. ebay/paypal are the same company. If the fees are of a high enough amount they could chase for the fees.

Apart from coming here hoping to get a bail out what have you done?

#18 05-13-2010

The debt belongs to the person who is responsible for the account. The name. You.

They will check the current address on file to locate you. If the amount is significant, they will trace back through previous addresses on file. They might enlist the services of a skip tracer and a collection agency.

Grab your 'friend' by the short hairs and squeeze the money for fees out of 'em. Then fix it. You'll still have a ding-mark on your account though.

am3 · #19 05-13-2010

Greenbean I have contacted Paypal about the situation and they have said it is a civil matter and they will not do anything. I am also in process of writing a statement and contacting the police. I have managed to contact the guy who used my account and he gave me the same bs that he will sort it out. When I asked when he will pay he replied soon....? Is there anything you can suggest that might help? I'm clueless on a situation like this?

Vicvelcro the guy took ownership of the ebay account and put his name and address on there. Does this make any difference?

I'm really loosing hope on getting any help in this situation :(

#20 05-13-2010

How does one change the name on the ebay account?

Please, 'splain me this.

You can change the address. You can change the phone number. You can change the fee payment source. But how, pray tell, does one change the registered name or the ownership????

am3 · #21 05-13-2010

I remember seeing him change the registered name and address? Is this not possible?

#22 05-13-2010

Am I incorrect? Somebody tell me it can be done. I've not seen it. I can log into my US and Non US accounts to find out. It will take some time, though. I'd rather hear from somebody who doesn't have to do it the hard way.