If You Get A Call From PayPal, Hang Up.
I just got a very odd phone call from PayPal. They wanted to “verify” some activity on my account. (Clock Tower Law Group allows its clients to pay by PayPal as well as by credit card.) I initially suspected that the call might be fraudulent. In fact, if you are called by someone claiming to be from your bank or credit card company, then you should hang up and call them back at a phone number listed on their website. (You might also want to check GetHuman’s website for details on how to navigate their phone system.)
In any event, after I confirmed that, yes, there had been deposits and withdrawals recently, and yes, we are a law firm, I asked a simple question: What prompted your call? I did not get an answer. The caller first said that PayPal “verifies all transactions,” but I said that that can’t be true since I’ve been a customer for years but had never been called previously. The caller also made references to dollar amounts, frequency, and the fact that we provide “services.” At one point I said, “OK, you are now hinting at reasons that might have prompted your call, but what are those reasons? The amount? The frequency? The fact that we provide services? Some combination of the above?”
The caller refused to give out her own name and would not connect me with a supervisor. She said that I’d have to call back at their toll-free number 888-221-1161. Note that PayPal’s toll-free customer support number is not listed on its website. It’s as if PayPal was going out of its way to try to look fraudulent. Long story short (if that’s possible). I spent 40 minutes on the phone speaking with two supervisors and still didn’t get a simple answer to my simple question about why PayPal called. One supervisor mentioned something about money laundering. I then gave PayPal some free advice on how to look more legit – like including “PayPal” in the callerID string, giving a phone number that can be verified, letting customers speak to a supervisor when asked.
Oh yeah, and not treating your best customers like money-laundering criminals.
In the spirit of full disclosure, GetHuman is/was a client of Clock Tower Law Group and is mentioned in this article.
