Stop the "Unusual Paypal Activity" email

[walkman]

Hi,

Our conference director is freaking out about the "Unusual Paypal Activity" emails. The Registration Manager has confirmed that everyone is paid, but that's not stopping him from pestering us daily.

Can we either stop these emails from being sent, or send them to the registration manager? There's no disable button for this particular email.

Thanks,
Dave

[asmecher]

Hi Dave,

Have you looked into why they're being sent? The conditions are implemented in plugins/paymethod/paypal/PayPalPlugin.inc.php:

• A duplicate transaction already exists
• The queued payment entry corresponding to the incoming payment is missing
• The payment amounts don't match exactly
• The queued payment couldn't be fulfilled
• PayPal notified OCS but OCS didn't understand the notification

There should be further details in the email.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

[walkman]

Hi Alec,

I'm pretty sure that OCS isn't understanding the message back from Paypal. Everyone is registered and paid, but the "Paid" field isn't being filled in. The Registration Manager is doing that manually.

I've gone through a few fixes found in the fora but nothing has worked. Since the registration and payment is fine, we're not going to spend a lot more time trying to resolve this - we just need the conference director not to get these emails, or to have them go to the registration manager.

Here's the email, though:

Open Conference Systems has encountered unusual activity relating to PayPal payment support for the conference Together Against Stigma: Changing how we see mental illness. This activity may need further investigation or manual intervention.

This email was generated by Open Conference Systems' PayPal plugin.

Full post information for the request:
Array
(
[mc_gross] => 350.00
[protection_eligibility] => Ineligible
[payer_id] => [redacted]
[tax] => 0.00
[payment_date] => 14:48:50 Feb 29, 2012 PST
[payment_status] => Completed
[charset] => windows-1252
[first_name] => [redacted]
[mc_fee] => 10.45
[notify_version] => 3.4
[custom] => 267
[payer_status] => unverified
[business] => [redacted]
[quantity] => 1
[verify_sign] => [redacted]
[payer_email] => [redacted]
[txn_id] => [redacted]
[payment_type] => instant
[last_name] => [redacted]
[receiver_email] => [redacted]
[payment_fee] =>
[receiver_id] => [redacted]
[txn_type] => web_accept
[item_name] => Conference Registration; Together Against Stigma:
Changing how we see mental illness; Early Bird - Standard
[mc_currency] => CAD
[item_number] => 1
[residence_country] => US
[receipt_id] => [redacted]
[handling_amount] => 0.00
[transaction_subject] => 267
[payment_gross] =>
[shipping] => 0.00
[ipn_track_id] => [redacted]
)


Additional information (if supplied):
Confirmation return:

Server vars:
Array
(
[CONTENT_TYPE] => application/x-www-form-urlencoded
[HTTP_HOST] => www.togetheragainststigma2012.ca
[CONTENT_LENGTH] => 909
[PATH] =>
C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;
[SystemRoot] => C:\Windows
[COMSPEC] => C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe
[PATHEXT] => .COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC
[WINDIR] => C:\Windows
[SERVER_SIGNATURE] =>
[SERVER_SOFTWARE] => Apache/2.2.17 (Win32) PHP/5.3.5
[SERVER_NAME] => www.togetheragainststigma2012.ca
[SERVER_ADDR] => [redacted]
[SERVER_PORT] => [redacted]
[REMOTE_ADDR] => [redacted]
[DOCUMENT_ROOT] => C:/wamp/www/togetheragainststigma2012.ca
[SERVER_ADMIN] => [redacted]
[SCRIPT_FILENAME] => C:/wamp/www/togetheragainststigma2012.ca/index.php
[REMOTE_PORT] => 21346
[GATEWAY_INTERFACE] => CGI/1.1
[SERVER_PROTOCOL] => HTTP/1.0
[REQUEST_METHOD] => POST
[QUERY_STRING] =>
[REQUEST_URI] => /index.php/omas/tas12/payment/plugin/Paypal/ipn
[SCRIPT_NAME] => /index.php
[PATH_INFO] => /omas/tas12/payment/plugin/Paypal/ipn
[PATH_TRANSLATED] =>
C:\wamp\www\togetheragainststigma2012.ca\omas\tas12\payment\plugin\Paypal\ipn
[PHP_SELF] => /index.php/omas/tas12/payment/plugin/Paypal/ipn
[REQUEST_TIME] => 1330555734
)

[asmecher]

Hi walkman,

Thanks for the detail.

This indicates that PayPal contacted OCS with an IPN (Instant Payment Notification), but when OCS attempted to contact PayPal back to validate the IPN, it's not able to complete the validation. (This is important if e.g. someone attempts to impersonate PayPal to fake a payment; OCS would then contact PayPal directly to validate the payment and PayPal would deny knowledge of it.)

If you apply the patch linked at http://pkp.sfu.ca/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=7188, then the next time you receive one of these messages it'll have a little bit of additional information that will help to debug. If I had to guess, I would suspect that the CURL library isn't installed or isn't working properly in your PHP installation.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

[walkman]

Here's another Unusual Activity email after the patch was installed.

In php.ini, extension=php_curl.dll is on/uncommented.

Full post information for the request:
Array
(
[mc_gross] => 260.00
[protection_eligibility] => Ineligible
[payer_id] =>
[tax] => 0.00
[payment_date] => 09:56:22 Mar 01, 2012 PST
[payment_status] => Completed
[charset] => windows-1252
[first_name] =>
[mc_fee] => 7.84
[notify_version] => 3.4
[custom] => 274
[payer_status] => unverified
[business] =>
[quantity] => 1
[verify_sign] =>
[payer_email] =>
[txn_id] =>
[payment_type] => instant
[last_name] =>
[receiver_email] =>
[payment_fee] =>
[receiver_id] =>
[txn_type] => web_accept
[item_name] => Conference Registration; Together Against Stigma:
Changing how we see mental illness; Student
[mc_currency] => CAD
[item_number] => 1
[residence_country] => CA
[receipt_id] =>
[handling_amount] => 0.00
[transaction_subject] =>
[payment_gross] =>
[shipping] => 0.00
[ipn_track_id] =>
)


Additional information (if supplied):
Confirmation return:

Server vars:
Array
(
[CONTENT_TYPE] => application/x-www-form-urlencoded
[HTTP_HOST] => http://www.togetheragainststigma2012.ca
[CONTENT_LENGTH] => 894
[PATH] =>
C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;
[SystemRoot] => C:\Windows
[COMSPEC] => C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe
[PATHEXT] => .COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC
[WINDIR] => C:\Windows
[SERVER_SIGNATURE] =>
[SERVER_SOFTWARE] => Apache/2.2.17 (Win32) PHP/5.3.5
[SERVER_NAME] => http://www.togetheragainststigma2012.ca
[SERVER_ADDR] => 74.82.207.34
[SERVER_PORT] => 80
[REMOTE_ADDR] => 66.211.170.66
[DOCUMENT_ROOT] => C:/wamp/www/togetheragainststigma2012.ca
[SERVER_ADMIN] => admin@localhost
[SCRIPT_FILENAME] => C:/wamp/www/togetheragainststigma2012.ca/index.php
[REMOTE_PORT] => 11644
[GATEWAY_INTERFACE] => CGI/1.1
[SERVER_PROTOCOL] => HTTP/1.0
[REQUEST_METHOD] => POST
[QUERY_STRING] =>
[REQUEST_URI] => /index.php/omas/tas12/payment/plugin/Paypal/ipn
[SCRIPT_NAME] => /index.php
[PATH_INFO] => /omas/tas12/payment/plugin/Paypal/ipn
[PATH_TRANSLATED] =>
C:\wamp\www\togetheragainststigma2012.ca\omas\tas12\payment\plugin\Paypal\ipn
[PHP_SELF] => /index.php/omas/tas12/payment/plugin/Paypal/ipn
[REQUEST_TIME] => 1330624585
)

[asmecher]

Hi walkman,

Are you sure the patch was applied? It should've added a "CURL error" line after the "Confirmation return" line in the debugging information, and I don't see it there.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

[walkman]

These are the code changes. Did I do the patch right?

// Create POST response
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $this->getSetting($schedConf->getConferenceId(), $schedConf->getId(), 'paypalurl'));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, Array('Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded', 'Content-Length: ' . strlen($req)));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $req);
$ret = curl_exec ($ch);
$curlError = curl_error($ch);
curl_close ($ch);


// An unknown confirmation response was received; notify someone.
$mail->assignParams(array(
'schedConfName' => $schedConf->getFullTitle(),
'postInfo' => print_r($_POST, true),
'additionalInfo' => "Confirmation return: $ret\nCURL error: $curlError",
'serverVars' => print_r($_SERVER, true)
));
$mail->send();
exit();
}

[asmecher]

Hi walkman,

Yes, that looks correct. Is it possible that the email was sent before the change was applied?

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

[walkman]

Additional information (if supplied):
Confirmation return:
CURL error: SSL certificate problem, verify that the CA cert is OK. Details:
error:14090086:SSL routines:SSL3_GET_SERVER_CERTIFICATE:certificate verify failed


Security certificate issue. Should the site have a certificate?

[asmecher]

Hi walkman,

The problem is that your server doesn't trust PayPal's SSL certificate. There's a good guide on how to fix this at http://unitstep.net/blog/2009/05/05/using-curl-in-php-to-access-https-ssltls-protected-sites/.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

[walkman]

Implemented. Hope that stops the emails!

Thanks for your help Alec!

[edrota]

I am new in this system and I received the message bellow. I read the other posts but I am not sure how to proceed and what the meaning of this is.
Array
(
[mc_gross] => 1.15
[protection_eligibility] => Ineligible
[payer_id] => Y8FN2NBUUHRUW
[tax] => 0.15
[payment_date] => 11:10:46 Feb 05, 2013 PST
[payment_status] => Completed
[charset] => windows-1252
[first_name] => Ed
[mc_fee] => 0.33
[notify_version] => 3.7
[custom] => 13
[payer_status] => unverified
[business] => eduardo.rodriguez@iqanalytics.com
[quantity] => 1
[verify_sign] =>
Ad-KIQOOlj5-Zue-vhAxT90.zOABApoUoVwOlEdMoGxFUJE9.-X2Vem2
[payer_email] => edrota12@gmail.com
[txn_id] => 07J499243A883513F
[payment_type] => instant
[last_name] => Rod
[receiver_email] => eduardo.rodriguez@iqanalytics.com
[payment_fee] =>
[receiver_id] => XE9RUTEQVMF2Y
[txn_type] => web_accept
[item_name] => Conference Registration; Analytics and Related Disciplines 2013; Special Needs
[mc_currency] => CAD
[item_number] => 1
[residence_country] => CA
[receipt_id] => 2505-3467-8531-8430
[handling_amount] => 0.00
[transaction_subject] => 13
[payment_gross] =>
[shipping] => 0.00
[ipn_track_id] => c70a4c85a42ca
)


Additional information (if supplied):
Granted amount: 1.15
Queued amount: 1
Granted currency:
Queued currency:
Granted to PayPal account:
Configured PayPal account:

Server vars:
Array
(
[CONTENT_LENGTH] => 853
[CONTENT_TYPE] => application/x-www-form-urlencoded
[DOCUMENT_ROOT] => /home/iqanalyt/public_html/iqanalytics.org
[GATEWAY_INTERFACE] => CGI/1.1
[HTTP_HOST] => http://www.iqanalytics.org
[PATH] => /bin:/usr/bin
[PATH_INFO] => /analytics/akerm/payment/plugin/Paypal/ipn
[PATH_TRANSLATED] =>
/home/iqanalyt/public_html/iqanalytics.org/conferences/index.php
[QUERY_STRING] =>
[REDIRECT_STATUS] => 200
[REMOTE_ADDR] => 173.0.81.1
[REMOTE_PORT] => 14872
[REQUEST_METHOD] => POST
[REQUEST_URI] =>
/conferences/index.php/analytics/akerm/payment/plugin/Paypal/ipn
[SCRIPT_FILENAME] =>
/home/iqanalyt/public_html/iqanalytics.org/conferences/index.php
[SCRIPT_NAME] => /conferences/index.php
[SERVER_ADDR] => 173.255.131.138
[SERVER_ADMIN] => webmaster@iqanalytics.iqanalytics.com
[SERVER_NAME] => http://www.iqanalytics.org
[SERVER_PORT] => 80
[SERVER_PROTOCOL] => HTTP/1.0
[SERVER_SIGNATURE] =>
[SERVER_SOFTWARE] => Apache
[UNIQUE_ID] => URFZONHsRxsABcLCGwcAAAAV
[PHP_SELF] =>
/conferences/index.php/analytics/akerm/payment/plugin/Paypal/ipn
[REQUEST_TIME] => 1360091449
[argv] => Array
(
)

[argc] => 0
)

[asmecher]

Hi edrota,

The problem is the following part of the information you provided:

Granted amount: 1.15
Queued amount: 1

The payment OCS expected was 1 (dollars / euros / whatever); the amount PayPal reported was 1.15.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team