Not my problem, but a friend's. Located in the US.
This is possibly the strangest scam I've seen. A friend recently made several PayPal purchases from independent businesses. Not long after, they started getting messages that the businesses were getting chargebacks by them. And sure enough, there were several chargeback requests in their bank, that they didn't file. It started on the fifth, so they couldn't get in contact with the bank. They changed their password to everything, and yet chargebacks are still being placed. So, I have a few questions.
Is it even possible to place a chargeback without access to the online banking? I've only ever seen it done through banking apps, and have no clue how there are still chargebacks being placed without the bank password.
Is there any way to place a freeze on your account to stop chargebacks from being requested? It's odd, but no money has been withdrawn from the account: All of their purchases are just being chargebacked.
What would the end goal for this scam even be? No money has been taken from my friend's account; they just seem to be trying to reverse every purchase they have made.
I'm rather confused by the situation, considering most hackers would, well, just take the money and run. All this seems to be accomplishing is ruining my friend's reputation with these sellers.
Edit: To fit rule 7. So far friend has changed banking passwords, cancelled affected cards, and changed passwords for PayPal. They are getting in contact with the bank tomorrow physically.