Paypal now restricting accounts, ignoring emails; requests by customers

[4channel]

Some of you may have had your PayPal account restricted or frozen due to PayPal requesting further info When speaking to a PayPal consultant, the resojn given is that tthis is what Austrac is demanding of PayPal.  PayPal seems to be targeted some account holders and not others from what is evident aat his stage. PayPal's asking for sensitive info DOB, home address and other. This is then sent to Equifax for confirmation. So people who have had PayPal accounts for years are suddenly hit with this. So now residential and other sensitive info is going to be accessed by another external party, possibly two. It's understandable that people are concerned and uncomfortable with this. And failure to comply means that funds within PayPal are frozen. lucky for PayPal though, funds can still be paid in.and of course, you can't buy or sell using your PayPal account until that info is given.

So in this  (whatever you want to call it) the players are PayPal, Austrac and Equifax.

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AUSTRAC orders audit of PayPal Australia’s compliance with financial crime laws

24 Sep 2019

AUSTRAC has ordered the appointment of an external auditor to examine ongoing concerns in regard to PayPal Australia’s compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (the AML/CTF Act).

These concerns relate to PayPal Australia’s compliance with its International Funds Transfer Instruction reporting obligations, which require regulated entities to report the transfer of funds or property to or from Australia.

https://www.austrac.gov.au/about-us/media-release/austrac-orders-audit-paypal-australias-compliance-...

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And tnow there's another PayPal issue similar to this one that has been happening earlier

Some of you may have had your PayPal account restricted or frozen due to PayPal requesting further info When speaking to a PayPal consultant, the reason given is that this is what Austrac is demanding of PayPal.  PayPal seems to be targeted some account holders and not others from what is evident at his stage. The people targeted seem to be the folks that have a balance. A balance of a hundred dollars gets frozen.  PayPal's asking for sensitive info DOB, home address and other. This is then sent to Equifax for confirmation. So people who have had PayPal accounts for years are suddenly hit with this. So now residential and other sensitive info is going to be accessed by another external party, possibly two. It's understandable that people are concerned and uncomfortable with this. And failure to comply means that funds within PayPal are frozen. lucky for PayPal though, funds can still be paid in.and of course, you can't buy or sell using your PayPal account until that info is given.

So in this  (whatever you want to call it) the players are PayPal, Austrac and Equifax.

Regardless of wht you make of  that, haave a listen to the clip below by Mike Turber.

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PayPal Shuts Down Customer Service Freezing Accounts Leaving Many Without Money

571 views

•Jun 3, 2020

5X5 NEWS

1.34K subscribers

Get Your Money Out Of PayPal Now! Share This Message ASAP. We have been unable to confirm any information with PayPal because their customer service is closed and no one will respond to any of our enquiries. PayPal has shut down their customer service department and has left many of their customers stranded and without recourse or knowing what to do. While researching this we have found that many people are in the same situation where PayPal has taken their funds and tells the customer that they will hold it for up to six months with absolutely no explanation as to why. We reached out to PayPal for clarification about this policy and have not received a reply.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZhgvSK6eHE

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Again PayPal are not replying to people's requests!

[lyndal1838]

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@4channel wrote:

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

What nonsense!!

I have used paypal extensively for transferring funds between the USA, Canada and Australia and at times have had substantial funds in paypal.

Never during those times have I had my account restricted.

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It's not nonsense lyndal! Yes, may not have happened to you as this is something that has been taking place more now recently.

Yes, of course it has been happening more regularly now.  The authorities are clamping down on all the financial institutions who have been very lax in applying the law in respect to the Anti Money Laundering Laws.

When I was channelling large amounts of money through paypal the laws did not exist so my account was not frozen.

Once the laws came in  I had to prove my identity regularly, whether there were funds in paypal or not.   The trigger was whenever $10,000 had gone through the account, not how much was in it.

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

However, when I was using paypal to pay for ebay transactions I had my account frozen several times until I verified my details as my transactions were in excess of the amount allowed under the Australian money laundering laws.

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Well, you've had your account frozen in the past. Recently others have had this too. Funnily enough this has happened when they only have a hundred or so dollars (sometimes less) in their accounts.

As I said above, my account has been frozen on occasions but only until I prove my identity.  I have not been buying as much through paypal as I used to so it has been some time since I have had to do anything but I know it will happen again eventually.

Yes, people are being asked to verify their accounts with additional info, sensitive info like photo ID, home address etc..

I am at a loss to understand how your address is so sensitive when you are buying online.....every seller and his dog has access to it if you want to get your purchases.

And believe me I would have been happy to verify my identity with a photo ID...I do not have a drivers license or passport and only recently got a proof of age card.  I had to hand over Council Rates notices and utility bills, and my medicare card to prove my ID.

But these anti-money laundering laws have been in place for some time now as you're very well aware. And PayPal hasn't frozen / restricted accounts like it has recently. The concern that some people have is that PayPal haven't pounced on accounts until there is money in the accounts.

From memory the laws came in about 2005 or 2006 I believe.  As I have already said paypal (and all the other financial institutions) are being leant on by the Regulators because they have not been diligent enough in applying the laws....and it has nothing to do with money being in accounts and everything to do with money going through the account.  I never keep funds in paypal these days but I still get asked to prove my ID.

With PayPal's poor customer service and attitude towards its customers leaving a lot to be desired, people are loathe to hand that sensitive info over an internet  connection. This info is traditionally presented in person to a representative of a trusted financial organization such as a bank or building society / credit union etc. at their facility. PayPal is not a bank and from what I can see, not an organization that is trusted.

I can not agree with you about paypal's customer service....I have always had good service on the few occasions I have had to contact them so I have no problem handing over the documents they require.

It seems to me that the big banks are as much or more to blame for the current crackdown on all financial institutions as payal is.  While paypal is not a bank it is a registered deposit taking institution and subject to the same scrutiny as the banks etc.

If you don't trust paypal there are plenty of other money transfer services....but if they are reputable and registered they will have the same ID checks in place as you are facing now with paypal.

It will not be much longer before ebay will have everybody on managed payments and sellers can ditch paypal and start a hate campaign on Adyen.

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[4channel]

I see you've come out of hibernation to post. Don't see you much on line these days. Good to see this thread inspired you to come out.

As I mentioned and as it is obvious to you, PayPal is not in the same class as a bank. Yes I know that they have been directed to confirm accounts. But as I have shown, they have been selective about which accounts they have targeted. I have also found out that a person I know has had restriction well before the cut off date and have had some strange things happen to their account which could be described as stumbling blocks. Also money that should have been refunded back to the card back then wasn't. It was placed into the account.

Anyway, as the links I gave have shown, people who in the last year have provided sensitive photographic and residential address info to PayPal have not have had their money refunded and 6 months later, people are still trying to retrieve it.

I can personallly say that the PayPal customer service is way well-below standard and after talking to an automated robot and then finallly talking to a human being, the quality of service isn't much better.

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Trustpilot

Paypal
Reviews

koki

On the 25th of February 2020 PayPal closed my account and retained all my working capital.
Today is the 1st of November well past the 180 days PayPal said they would hold my funds before they would release them.
I am sure that no disputes have been filed against my account I attached to my email a photo ID and a proof of address, as you request with no response.
One thing that is more contagious than Corvid 19 is a smile. I go out every day to take my dog for a walk I smile and stick my thumb up to people I see, the biggest joke is PayPal advertising about how they are supporting Cancer Research UK blaming the corvid epidemic for the slowdown of cancer research.

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.paypal.com

--------------------------------------------------

Reddit

Posted by

u/leagueofyounwhatarmy

2 years ago

Terrible Company with Terrible Customer Support

I have just started using PayPal in lieu with my eBay account as I was trying to get rid of my laptop in order to pay my bills. Everything went well until PayPal placed a balance hold on my account because I, for one, am a new seller on eBay. But don’t get me wrong, this post isn’t a rant on how awful is their hostile policies towards their own sellers, it is rather something much more fundamental - so fundamental that a company wouldn’t be able survive thus far without it: customer service. After several attempts to reach out PayPal, I CANNOT wrap my head around on how PayPal had last this long. Their hotline is COMPLETELY DYSFUNCTIONAL as they would hung up on you the moment you try to connect to an agent, their social media team is SELECTIVELY UNRESPONSIVE to a vast majority of their own customers, and their email team, yeah, just imagine sending a normal email requesting for service to a similar company but having to wait 100 time longer. They are no different from Comcast that has completely undervalued their own bloodlines which allowed them to survive in today’s service-oriented world in the first place. After I receive my fund, I will no longer be using PayPal as well as eBay and will definitely not recommend anybody else using it. It should not be this hard for a multimillion corporation to be competent.

https://www.reddit.com/r/paypal/comments/94tcs9/terrible_company_with_terrible_customer_support/

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[padi*0409]

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@4channel wrote:

I have also found out that a person I know has had restriction well before the cut off date and have had some strange things happen to their account which could be described as stumbling blocks. Also money that should have been refunded back to the card back then wasn't. It was placed into the account.

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4channel, at best the information that you're providing is second-hand, why don't these people that are having problems with Paypal come here and give us their own story about those problems, or alternatively go to Paypal's community forums and air their grievances there. (Which could be a more appropriate place for their concerns).

https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/PayPal-Community/ct-p/en?country.x=au

There are plenty of "blocked account" threads in there...................

[4channel]

Perhaps some people may come forth and give testimonies here. The bullying and character assassination attacks that has been a bit of a culture here in this forum may add to the apprehensions of some.

[padi*0409]

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@4channel wrote:

Perhaps some people may come forth and give testimonies here. The bullying and character assassination attacks that has been a bit of a culture here in this forum may add to the apprehensions of some.

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In that case have those people gone to the Paypal forums for help ?  If not, why not ?

[silver-fox-bullion]

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@gewens wrote:
Hello,everyone. To be respectful is very important in your interaction with other members here. I'd like to remind you that content that is harmful, hostile, threatening, abusive, baiting, vulgar, defamatory, harassing, or includes hate or racist speech, name calling, or profanity will be edited or removed. Please read about our policy here: https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Feedback/Updates-coming-to-eBay-com-au-Discussion-Boards/... Thanks very much. 🙂

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Hi gewen

A lot are aware off these rules etc.   BUT there seems to be an issue with them been policed on some members.   I just seen YET another post by 1 of the 4 highlighted above where it a clear BAIT and hostile post against a NEW MEMBER to the forum.   And there a pattern of it.  If you want a point to the post PM me. As it been up for 24 hours now and not 1 MOD has pulled this member into line.   NO ONE should be baited abusived etc on here for asking a question or for getting help when the forum is here for this VERY reason.  

[lyndal1838]

[*tippy*toes*]

Changed my mind.........

[lyndal1838]

What can you say to a post like that Tippy?

[countessalmirena]

@4channel,

Just to clarify... I'm not in hibernation, and I do read quite a few threads.

I don't post as much at present because of a personal grief.

Anyone who is unable to access their funds in PayPal after having provided all of the necessary ID would be well advised to follow through with a complaint to the AFCA. (That's if the individual is Australian. I haven't researched US remedies; I'd suggest that Americans with payment grievances do the checking themselves or post on the US PayPal boards to seek for advice.

There are remedies. Isn't it a good thing that we have the AFCA? (Formerly FOS.)