Scary Paypal Lockdowns

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief November 14, 2007 · 2 min read

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Just a few months after Paypal made huge waves in the Philippines, there’s already a horror story in our midst. Paypal lockdowns — yup, unexplained Paypal account cancellation without refund.

One of the well-known Pinoy bloggers around emailed me about the recent demise of his Paypal account. For no apparent reason, all his funds have been frozen — the $750+ amount was reduced to zero (nil, ziltch, nada)! With no explanation whatsover. (Can’t name the blogger as of the moment. He’s still filing an appeal.)

The only possible reason for this lockdown would have been an unverified account. That could be the reason. A fairly active account from a country where Paypal has only been recently delisted from the blacklist, it is possible that it was frozen due to such activity. More so that it hasn’t been verified by the account holder.

Frozen Paypal Account

Is there a way out of there? An appeal may be in order. It would be unfair if they would not reconsider it. The account should also be verified soon, either with a debit card from Union Bank’s EON or a credit card.

Just a fair warning to most of us who are overly ecstatic with Paypal in the Philippines. It does not come without its disadvantages.

For more horror stories about Paypal, visit AboutPaypal.org.

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

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54 Comments

Bill · 15 years ago

http://www.paypalsucks.com/

hamstringer · 18 years ago

helo how can i get epassporte here in philippines? i’m from pateros..

Pia · 18 years ago

I like PayPal actually I never heard of any scamming during “that” time. the aboutpaypal.org website is obviously a black propaganda because whoever made that website must be promoting “Real merchant account”- http://www.free-merchant.com/ , paypal’s loss, their gain probably. A website of that kind looks like there is a catch somewhere.

Jerome · 18 years ago

i am having problems with paypal. i had my withdrawal last Jan 24th and until now it is on Pending status. and paypal does not reply my emails… i have posted my problem here:

http://www.jeromelocson.com/paypal-offers-new-bank-withdrawal-features-in-the-philippines/

Haaay · 18 years ago

I agree with you Jeffrey:

“Nothing scary with Paypal, only unverified members create their own scare.”

Yup correct, and that $1.95 isn’t really a charge, that amount will be credited back to your account ONCE you have verified your credit card (EXPUSE number something like that I forgot)

“Verification can only be done in minutes if you have online access to your card for after you have paid the 1.95 amount.”

Oh for those scared fucks again: here’s the word for the day for you all, its “UNVERIFIED”. Look up what is the meaning of that word and maybe you can link these so called lock-downs situations and why are they happening.

Haaay · 18 years ago

I am using paypal for over 2 1/2 years now and everything seems fine. Why don’t you do yourself a favor and read the TOS to see what went wrong?

And for all of you scared fucks out there, google how many are using paypal. One of the main reasons why paypal locks an account is for your protection.

In every basket of tomatoes there must be some rotten ones. How about epassporte, there are some similar cases to this right? Don’t you get the pattern? Why do these things happen?

mae · 19 years ago

hi! I live in the US and have been a paypal member for about 3 years now. Just to share that while Paypal has its share of horror stories I still believe it’s the most convenient, safer and faster way to send and receive money online. Paypal protects its member’s accounts foremost and takes security VERY seriously. The only reason lock down happens is when you are not verified and then you are suddenly receiving money from different sources who are also not verified or of suspicious origins.

If you’re opening a paypal account, make sure you have it verified before you even accept money from other sources (The $1.95 charge to your bank account is refunded as a bonus/credit back to your paypal account after they have verified you as the holder).

Lock downs happen here in the US for paypal users using ebay and and are selling stuff to other countries. That raises a flag to paypal! I’m an ebayer too so I avoid dealing with international buyers to protect myself. I only sell to US residents. On top of that, I also receive money thru paypal from different sources online. So far, I have never had ANY problems with my paypal account counting almost 4 years being a member.

For my own security and peace of mind, I agree with the comments on not maintaining a balance on paypal. I have made it a habit to just leave $30.00 on my account when I know I’m buying something soon BUT most of the time I leave it ZERO balance! After all, when you need to pay- you can always use your bank account or credit card thru paypal as for there- your debit cards.

Forgive the lengthy comment. Just wanted to balance the comments and wanted to share my experience as a happy paypal US-verified member for 3 years. Mabuhay! :-)

Miguel · 19 years ago

Oh, I was verified when I got locked down.

Dave Q · 19 years ago

I had an unverified Paypal account in HK for a long time. It’s still active to this day with a few dolla-s. Donate to the Yuga?

Unless their policy has changed (grabe naman), the possible offense could be more heinous. Like fraud. But that’s always a suspicion first. To be investigated later. Hope he/she’s innocent.

Verification lifts the limits. I called their support before and the lady assured me that using the (unverified) account won’t have problems except that there will be sending & receiving limits. I had nothing to worry about, she added. I can even withdraw to a HK bank account but only within those limits.

Unless, they changed their policies. Subra naman yun. :)

Jeffrey · 19 years ago

Verification can only be done in minutes if you have online access to your card for after you have paid the 1.95 amount.

Nothing scary with Paypal, only unverified members create their own scare.

bryanboy · 19 years ago

McBilly

Paypal puts a temporary block in your account if you log on to paypal using a different ip address than what is stored in their system. it’s only temporary and they do it to protect folk from accessing your account. just answer their verification questions and it will be unlocked.

bryanboy · 19 years ago

i’m actually quite surprised why that person was allowed to receive $750 WITHOUT getting verified. to my knowledge, you cannot receive funds (different from withdrawing funds) unless you put in your financial info there (bank account/credit card).

seriously, verification is piss easy. you put your credit card info there, they charge you $1.95 or some small amount, wait a few days/weeks/whatever until it hits your account and get the 4-digit code and put it online.

Sophie · 19 years ago

what? goodness gracious. that explains my hesitation to receive funds via paypal. I just use paypal for my purchases abroad, and I’m still iffy about receiving money with it. still better to verify the account talaga. my friend in the US swears by paypal as the safest thing raw, e.

Jeffrey · 19 years ago

GET VERIFIED!

It was lockdown because it was suspicious. The account contained 750$ and wasn’t verified.

McBilly · 19 years ago

Wow. This is really scary.

Actually, one of my paypal account got temporarily blocked because of a third party accessing it (according to paypal). I really don’t know what happened.

Anyway, it seems I can’t make it work so I just applied for a new EON card and made another paypal account.

bryanboy · 19 years ago

I don’t understand why people don’t get their accounts verified.

i verified mine as soon as i signed up.

if you’re gonna conduct business using paypal, make sure you read as much information as you can.

it’s friggin easy and it shouldn’t be a hassle.

i made a TON of transactions on my paypal account — both purchases (on my standard chartered visa) AND people who buy my stickers on a daily basis (receive funds) and it’s all hassle-free.

paypal don’t cancel accounts for a reason. i mean, yeah, i’m sure they do (typical paypal horror stories) but if you’re following their policy and not doing anything suspicious then i don’t see the reason why anyone should fear them.

jhay · 19 years ago

Waaa. Now this is really scary. Hope UnionBank issues me my EON card real quick.

Cesar · 19 years ago

Actually of this post, paypal.com is down.

Mikko · 19 years ago

I hope that’d not happen on my account. ;D

BrianB · 19 years ago

Why don’t you guys try a more classy online payment system like epassporte?

Miguel · 19 years ago

Thanks for the info. Perhaps I shouldn’t try to unblock my account. It got blocked before we had full access, so I don’t have balance in there.

Jun Macarambon · 19 years ago

so far wala pa ako nyan….. if i have funds in my paypal i right away use it to purchase something online.

maybe if i have more than $100+ i transfer kona agad sa eon card or purchase nalang or renew my domain names. hehe.

charles · 19 years ago

How about verified paypal account? Do we have to worry about this? This is alarming.

pao · 19 years ago

it happened to my premier account too. good thing there’s just about $25 or so there. i tried to contact paypal several times but they really didn’t help much or provide any reason at all regarding this lock down. i’m hoping my personal account stays the way it is now. i know i’m being overly paranoid, but whenever my money in PayPal reaches over $100, I immediately transfer to my eon account. does having the account verified change anything about its security? i wonder.