Re: PayPal Now A Huge Scam Waiting To Unfold Message #29 Posted by Vassilis Prevelakis on 17 June 2005, 1:38 a.m., in response to message #1 by I, Claudius
The following applies ONLY to the US. Other countries have their own laws and regulations so if you live outside the US do not read any further.
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In the US, FEDERAL LAW limits credit card liability to $50, while most serious credit card companies will refund all fraudulent charges on your CREDIT card.
The above does NOT apply to Debit cards or account transfers.
If you have a Paypal account under no circumstances should you allow your bank account to be known. Paypal wants this information, because if you are defrauded and your bank account gets charged without your concent, then YOU have to sort things out. If your credit card (NOT YOUR DEBIT CARD) gets charged without your concent, then the credit card company deals with Paypal.
Moreover, assuming PayPal is just facilitating the transaction (i.e. from buyer to seller) and the buyer having paid with a credit card complains to his credit card company, then the CC company will charge PayPal an ADDITIONAL fine. So if PayPal cannot extract the money from the seller, they will have lost both the payment AND the fine.
This is why the try to get your bank account, so that they can transfer the risk to you.
Also refunds to credit card payments are ALWAYS done via the credit card company. This is to prevent people from using their credit cards to get cash (you buy smth with your credit card, then return it for a cash refund and voila you have a cash advance without having to pay any fees or interest). If its a foreign currency transaction you can argue (in most cases successfully) that the debit and subsequent credit should be done in the foreign currency (so you do not pay any exchange fees).
Anyway, PayPal will do everything they can to get your bank account. One trick they will try is to send you a refund check (I got one for 50 cents). If you deposit it in your account, PayPal will get your account details as part of the electronic record. BEWARE!
So by all means go on using your PayPal account, but use it only with your credit card.
**vp
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