posted on January 14, 2003 10:46:39 AM new
Paypal has restricted my account for several months. After complaining to BBB, they finally revealed the reason for the restriction is my account is linked to a person who owes Paypal $267.
The worst part is they said my account is linked to that person by IP ADDRESS. Now this is ridiculous because I lived on a college compus before and could have been sharing a public access computer with that person. Paypal refused to tell me what the IP address is, how many times I used that IP address, or even review the case.
All I am asking for, is a review of my account. I am sure the same IP address is from a public access computer. I am not sure how this can be verified, maybe they can take a look at my address and see it is on an University campus. I am 100% certain they made a mistake in linking me to this person.
Do you guys think this is unreasonable? If there are other users with similar experiences with restricted accounts, please let me know by replying to this message. I think if we can act together we could either force Paypal to change its review process or bring Paypal's lack of customer service to the attention of the proper authorities.
Since we are talking about freezing people's assets, I think Paypal should be very careful and carry the burden of proof. At the very least we should have someone to talk to who can actually do some investigation. It might be fine to use a computer formula to determine "suspicious" activities, but when people's assets are frozen, we should have access to the investigation team.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE A SIMILAR SITUATION!!! Either reply to this message or e-mail me at [email protected]. WE HAVE TO FORCE PAYPAL TO CHANGE!!
posted on January 14, 2003 12:51:34 PM new
I have already e-mailed Damon, but he has ignored me. I guess he is too busy reviewing other people's issues. I am ready to offer the Paypal investigation team some money to investigate this because I have about $3,300 locked up by Paypal. Is there such a service that exists? Sounds strange, but I actually like Paypal until they restricted my account.
posted on January 14, 2003 03:22:15 PM new
there could be other variables paypal uses along with ip address.
if two accounts both sell on ebay and share same physical addr,phone number,bank account ,credit card etc.
posted on January 14, 2003 05:29:16 PM new
OK, if it is me selling on Ebay with this guy, or share the same physical address, or whatever, then I would not claim I don't KNOW this guy. I am saying I never seen this e-mail address or this person in my life! Also, the response from the Paypal representative says it is the IP address. The bottom line is, if $3300 of my money is being held, I should be able to find out what the variables are. The money has been held for several months with no complaints from anyone who paid me.
I not upset about being restricted. Internet fraud is a serious problem and Paypal has the right to be careful. I am sure Paypal's fraud prevention system is right most of the time. I am upset because the system is dead wrong this time and I can't ask them to re-consider. I am sure there is something wrong with this system. Maybe $3300 is just a nothing to Paypal, but it is big deal for me!
IF YOU HAVE A SIMILAR PROBLEM PLEASE JOIN THE DISCUSSION OR E-MAIL ME AT [email protected]. Thanks.
posted on January 16, 2003 09:49:01 AM new
"if two accounts both sell on ebay and share same physical addr,phone number,bank account ,credit card etc."
two accounts cannot share the same bank account or credit card # with Paypal - its limited to one account (i.e. if my bank account is linked to one of my accounts, no one else can link it to theirs).
My husband and I have Ebay acconts, share the same ID info, IP address, with separate bank account, CC for each account.
posted on January 16, 2003 12:19:49 PM new
Paypal actions are all very logical. Just ask any Paypal cheerleader (definition: someone with a paypal account that has not been restricted - yet). Here is an example:
[email protected] lives in NY and owes paypal $37. He uses IP address 123.45.67.89. [email protected] lives in California and has a few thousand dollars in his paypal account. His IP address is 234.56.67.76. Thanks to paypal's wonderful fraud-detection software, they quickly realize that:
blackbeauty and whitehorse are both IDs that are relevant to equestrians.
both blackbeauty and whitehorse live in the united states.
both have a 67 in their IP address.
both email addresses end in .COM
It is obvious that this is the same scammer using two IDs and they are therefore justified in locking up whitehorse's thousands of dollars until blackbeauty pays the $37 he owes. But they will not allow whitehorse to know how much is owed because that would be revealling private information.
Aren't computers wonderful? They now allow one screwball to do more damage than a hundred screwballs could have done.
