General Question

gondwanalon's avatar

Have you verified your identity to PayPal lately?

Asked by gondwanalon (23238points) May 21st, 2013

If you have a PayPal account, then have you complied with PayPal’s request to submit your personal identity information as instructed?

Recently PayPal has been requesting official documents that contain my SSN (Federal Tax ID), DOB, name, address.

I prefer not to comply with PayPal’s request mainly because I do not trust PayPal with such information. Why should I trust them? They do not trust me to simply give them my information. PayPal wants proof with the requested information on special selected designated official forms.

A couple of years ago some guy in Dubai started charging items with my PayPal credit card which messed up my PayPal account. To say that it was a difficult ordeal for me to get that problem cleared up is an gross understatement (even though I have never been anywhere near Dubai). And another guy who sold me an item on ebay told me that PayPay screwed up his account and he refuses to ever do business with PayPal again.

FYI: PayPal sent me the following e-mail (3 times):

“What is the problem?

Apr 18, 2013 : As of April, 2012, new Federal Regulations require Money Service Businesses, such as PayPal, to verify the identity of a customer before we can provide various services or product offerings. As a result, PayPal must ensure we have collected and verified important data such as customer name, address, date of birth, and national tax ID or social security number. Because we were not able to fully confirm your identity based on your current account information, we need to request additional supporting documentation from you.

You will continue to have full access to your PayPal account, but until we are able to confirm your identity, we may be unable to process certain types of customer initiated requests such as adding funds to your PayPal account.

(Your case ID for this reason is XXXXXXXXXX)”

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

10 Answers

chyna's avatar

Contact Paypal, not through that email, and ensure they sent this to you. It could be a scam.

chyna (51637points)“Great Answer” (2points) Flag as…
bookish1's avatar

I concur with @chyna. I’ve had a paypal membership for a few years and I have not received any such emails from them recently.

bookish1 (13159points)“Great Answer” (1points) Flag as…
Pachy's avatar

I think I was asked recently to verify my email address, but no other info. My personal rule is, if I feel the slightest bit uncomfortable about a request from an online company I either check it out with them or ignore it. This has proved wise in two cases I can recall.

Pachy (18610points)“Great Answer” (3points) Flag as…
YARNLADY's avatar

I receive those emails all the time. They are totally fake.

YARNLADY (46625points)“Great Answer” (2points) Flag as…
hearkat's avatar

I often get similar spam. We do not have a credit line with PayPal, so they have no business knowing our SS #s. We just have them linked to a regular credit card.

hearkat (22922points)“Great Answer” (3points) Flag as…
Bellatrix's avatar

This sounds very dodgy @gondwanalon. Don’t respond to the emails and yes, as suggested, contact Paypal via their site directly. Send them a copy of the email.

Bellatrix (21317points)“Great Answer” (3points) Flag as…
RocketGuy's avatar

Yes, dodgy. Don’t click on any link in those e-mails. Go to https://www.paypal.com and log in to see if you have any messages like that waiting for you (probably not).

RocketGuy (15550points)“Great Answer” (1points) Flag as…
gondwanalon's avatar

Of course I verified PayPal’s request through its web-site. I see the exact same request for my personal sensitive information as in the e-mails to me.
Why I’m being singles out and harassed by this outrageous request? Why is PayPal acting like an arrogant schoolyard bully? I do not know. Perhaps PayPal found out that I’m a conservative Republican. HA!

gondwanalon (23238points)“Great Answer” (1points) Flag as…
hearkat's avatar

You said that you have a credit line with PayPal, which is what makes your account different from many people who simply have their PayPal linked to a separate bank or credit account.

hearkat (22922points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
gondwanalon's avatar

I had a PayPal credit card several years ago. I canceled soon after it was being used illegally. I currently have my PayPal account linked to my Citi Master Card and my checking account. (nothing fancy). There is nothing complicated with my account. I don’t own a business that utilized PayPay. I just use PayPal to buy or sell an occasional item on ebay.

I haven’t withheld any information that might be considered negative about me or my PayPal account. I have a perfect credit rating. I have no debt and my car and home are fully paid off.

Anyway it looks like I’m going to be banned from PayPal because I refuse to comply as directed. Who is going to be next? You?

gondwanalon (23238points)“Great Answer” (1points) Flag as…

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