A series of false PayPal disputes worth £3,741.03 led to tears after we investigated 197 transactions that were reportedly fraudulent. One customer initiated a total of 197 chargebacks with PayPal for a series of micro-transactions paid to a reputable Video Games company.
The customer alleged that his card had been stolen and someone had purchased game points using the debit card - yet he did not report the card stolen or attempt to contact the merchant. We analysed the use of the account for 14 days to record an audit trail. We compared this data to when the customer opened the account, during the period of the alleged fraudulent activity, and our 14-day analytical period.
Our analyst reported no discrepancies in the data we recorded, and there was a consistent login pattern. The customer made all payments on the same device used to sign up. We made further inquiries into the customer using our propriety software. We discovered that this individual was known to us already for reversing £500.00 worth of transactions to a donations website.
When we called the customer and outlined the evidence we had collected, he recognised us and began to cry, then stated, "Why does this always happen to me?" Our investigator gave him the well overdue wake-up call, ultimately resulting in the customer manually retracting the chargebacks.
Our client's money was returned by the customer's bank. We also educated the customer on the seriousness of their actions, and the impact they have on businesses.
