PayPal fraudster stole my identity and more than £6k of my cash

DURING May and June I was a victim of fraud and my Lloyds Bank account was wiped out.

The fraudster stole my ID, used my debit card details, made direct debit purchases and even set up a credit account in my name on PayPal. The total lost came to more than £6,000.

I can’t talk to anyone at PayPal as I don’t know the security details of the account. The purchases were signed for by an M. Patel in East London.

I am a 58-year-old supermarket worker and my husband, who is 60, has a heart problem.

After many phone calls, Lloyds refunded me the debit card transactions, but I am still owed around £1,300.

D. S., Wirral, Merseyside. I TOOK your problem to Lloyds bank and PayPal. unfortunately, while you gave permission for Lloyds to speak to me, you did not do the same for PayPal, so it cannot comment specifically on your case.

I need permission for a company to speak to me otherwise it is prevented from doing so under the General data Protection regulation (GdPr).

The wording can be simple. In this case: ‘I provide PayPal and Lloyds bank with permission to speak to Tony Hazell of the daily Mail about all aspects of the attached complaint.’

However, with help from Lloyds, I have got to the bottom of the issue. between January 23 and May 28 the fraud on your Lloyds account amounted to £6,870.91.

This came via a PayPal account which you could not access because the fraudster had changed the security details.

In all there were £5,502.75 worth of debit card payments, some of which were refunded by PayPal and some by Lloyds.

This left £1,368.16 of direct debits outstanding. Lloyds has now refunded these and apologises for not doing so sooner.

It also added £67.19 for loss of interest on the debit card and direct debits, as well as £300 compensation. It deducted £16.80 tax from your interest compensation. I doubt you should be paying this, unless your total interest earned this year is more than £1,000, so you should contact HMrC to ask for a tax rebate.

Lloyds has apologised for suggesting the payments were genuine. Information sent by PayPal showed the deliveries were made to shops in the London area, whereas you live in Merseyside.

a PayPal spokesman says: ‘We never lose sight of the fact that we are entrusted to look after people’s money.

‘We take this responsibility very seriously and use advanced fraud and risk management tools to keep our customers and their payments safe. We take all incidents of fraud very seriously.’ LAST year, I cashed in a private pension as I needed the money to buy a property.

My financial adviser said I would have to pay a lot of tax. I then received a letter from HMRC saying I had paid too much tax and was refunded £2,231.25.

In July, I received a letter from HMRC saying I had paid too little tax and owed £1,809.60. It added that this will be deducted from my wages every month from next April.

I can’t understand why I received a tax rebate and now HMRC is claiming it back. G. J., Dinas Powys, Vale of Glamorgan. THIs one is really quite straightforward. It’s just a case of HMrC catching up as it receives information on your transactions. When it provided the rebate this was based on your previous income.

after the information regarding you cashing in the pension reached HMrC, it became clear you had not paid enough tax.

This might sound a little muddled but, if you think about it, it’s actually rather good that it paid the refund so promptly rather than sitting on your money.

HMrC says it will work with you to make sure the amount you have to repay is manageable. It has also spoken to you to explain the situation and apologised to you for any inconvenience. I RECEIVED an estimated gas and electricity bill from E.ON which said I was £364 in credit. I phoned and asked if I could have £250 back but the firm then said it had not charged me for my electricity since February. Coincidentally, this was when a smart meter was fitted. The installer could not make a connection to the meter so left without completing the job.

I have since read both of my meters and been told I owe £214. This seems stupid as it means I will have used £578 worth of electricity since February.

I am a pensioner and live on my own in a small bungalow.

E. G., Leicester. IT seeMs there were two problems. The first was the daft meter that was installed, and the second was that your direct debit was set too low, because it was based on previous usage and you have been using more energy of late. This means you fell into arrears.

an e. ON spokesman says: ‘Mrs G now has fully functioning smart meters which were installed in mid-November.

‘Previously, there was a delay in sending an up-to- date bill, for which we have apologised.’

e. ON has also outlined the support it can provide in helping you to manage your account, and any financial assistance on offer, such as the Warm Home discount.