An example:
The system has no balance. We can all see in the luxurious mansions of the wealthy San Francisco that only a few blocks away from the poor tents of the homeless. We can well feel this in individuals and certain businesses that do nothing better for civil society but earn ridiculous amounts of money. We can understand this by looking at those who are just as eager to spend money, and on the other hand, we are witnessing a very difficult situation for those whose debts have crushed their souls.
original text:The system is rigged. We all can see it in the opulent residences of the rich in San Francisco which lie blocks away from the squalid tents of the homeless. We can feel it in the way that certain people and businesses do little to better civilization yet make ludicrous amounts of money. We can hear it in the frivolity with which certain people spend money and the morbid gravity of those whose souls are crushed by debt.
This was indeed a plagiarism. Paraphrasing is changing the whole context, from the positioning of the parts and figures of speeches to the whole context itself, onto your own vocabulary and your own word styling, AND indicating your idea's source (This is a common issue in academic papers and researches). The text you've accused didn't paraphrased at all, but rather
synonymized [1] other words yet remains most of the literal words used, the idea, and the parts of speech.
[1]
synonymizeto give or analyze the synonyms of (a word).