Plaintiff Sues for Removal of Fraudulent eBay Charges From Her PayPal Account

Nhu Quynh Nguyen, a victim of identity theft, received PayPal notifications Jan. 19 indicating that her “deposit account” had been used to make nearly $45,000 in 19 fraudulent eBay purchases through unauthorized electronic fund transfers, said her complaint against PayPal Wednesday (docket 2:24-cv-00868) in U.S. District Court for Nevada in Las Vegas. Authorities believe Nguyen was the victim of a “parcel mule scam” in which perpetrators fraudulently bought the eBay goods using her account, and then hired “middlemen” to receive and repackage the fraudulently obtained packages, said the complaint. The plaintiff provided PayPal with a police report and an FTC report in support of her requests to investigate and reverse the fraudulent charges, but PayPal denied her requests Feb. 9, and later turned her account over to a debt collector, said the complaint. The Clark County, Nevada, resident alleges that PayPal’s investigation was “unreasonable,” it said. The defendant should have discovered from its own records and Nguyen’s police and FTC reports that the eBay charges to her PayPal account “were unauthorized and fraudulent transactions,” it said. PayPal lacked “a reasonable basis” for believing that the fraudulent charges were legitimate, it said. Nguyen alleges the company’s conduct violated Section 1601 of the Truth in Lending Act and Section 1693 of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act. Despite the plaintiff’s “persistence” in following up with PayPal and her willingness to help aid the investigation, it refuses to “communicate fully” with her and continues to hold her responsible for the fraudulent charges, said the complaint. With her efforts to be absolved of the unauthorized fraudulent transactions unsuccessful, Nguyen was “required” to bring her lawsuit against PayPal to “finally resolve” the dispute, it said. As a “direct and proximate result” of the defendant’s violations, Nguyen suffered actual damages by incurring the fraudulent charges and related fees, charges and interest, it said. She suffered further actual damages through the loss of use of her PayPal account, and through “lost time spent” disputing the charges with PayPal, eBay, financial institutions, the FTC and law enforcement, it said.