Mistake to blame for overcharge at Richland gas station

PayPal, the company that issued a debit card that tried to charge Juan Zamora more than $81 billion this week, is blaming it on a simple misunderstanding.

Somehow the vendor's ID number was recorded as the purchase price, explained Sara Gorman of PayPal on Friday.

But Zamora said he doesn't need an explanation: He's closed the account.

Zamora bought $26 in fuel for his Camaro at the Conoco service station at Stevens Drive and Highway 240 in Richland early Tuesday -- only to learn later that PayPal had recorded the transaction amount using the 11-digit number that identifies the merchant.

That left Zamora with a serious overdraft of $81,400,836,908 instead of $26.

Gorman, a spokeswoman for PayPal, said it was their mistake and it will be corrected. She said the two numbers must have gotten switched, or perhaps Zamora misread them in an e-mail asking him to call PayPal to verify the purchase.

But Zamora said there was no misunderstanding, and that he clearly heard a PayPal representative say the exact dollar amount in billions and millions.

"It was an automated phone call to verify charges," he said. He noted he was supposed to press 1 if he made the transaction or 2 if he didn't.

"I pushed 2 a whole bunch of times: beep, beep, beep!" Zamora said.

Eventually, he was connected to a company representative, who Zamora said repeatedly asked if he had bought the gas. After about 15 minutes of getting nowhere, he said, he ended the call.

"Our records show he was actually charged ($26) the correct amount, Gorman said Friday. She also said PayPal has no record of the phone call.

"We are trying to sort it out as to what was said," she said.

But Zamora does have a recording of the first phone call that clearly said $81 billion. He said he played it back to another PayPal representative Friday.

Zamora said the $90 that was drained from his PayPal account to pay for the huge overdraft was restored. But he quickly withdrew the remaining money and closed the account.

Zamora said his story went far and wide, prompting calls from news reporters throughout the country.

"My brother in the military called from South Dakota. He said I was on MSNBC, that I'd been holding out and he wanted to borrow some money!" Zamora said.