Thursday, February 16, 2012

DON'T SEND ANY SUBSCRIPTIONS BY WAY OF PAY-PAL.

The account is frozen because yesterday they hit me with 4 -- count' em, 4 -- "account limitations".
Feb 15, 2012 Voided Check / Bank Statement Please provide a copy of a voided check to show that you're authorized to make transactions on behalf of this business. Waiting for your response
Feb 15, 2012 Proof of Tax Exempt Please send us a copy of a document confirming your status as a non-profit organization. Examples include 501c3 determination letter, declaration made to the Prefecture de Police, and proof of registration with Charity Commission for England. Waiting for your response
Feb 15, 2012 Organization and Payment Information Please provide us with information about your business. Waiting for your response
Feb 15, 2012 Check Email for Additional Required Documentation We will send you an email explaining what we need from you to appeal the account limitation. Waiting for your response
The thing is, I never claimed to be tax-exempt, nor did I claim to be a business. I do not know what motivated PayPal to do this, and fortunately there is less than $60.00 in the account, but don't send more until I get it fixed. Until then I'm disabling the button. Subscriptions may still be sent via snail mail to PO Box 926, Pinson, AL 35126.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

I get emails like that occasionally and I have no paypal account.

Anonymous said...

and the interesting part is, you can't just say "screw this", give me my money and we'll go separate ways. NO, NO.... before that can happen, you'll have to take part in a 10-11 week "indoctrination" survey where over the course of those weeks they'll email you 3 sets of 50 questions, questions based on copies of the set of rules they send with the survey. Basically an indoctrination, and while they take 2-3 weeks to review your answers to each set of questions, what they are really doing is letting you cool down and lose some of the anger / frustration you're feeling toward their insane business model

left is right, right is wrong and defeat is victory

kenlowder said...

I stopped using PayPal for anything months ago. They became a anit-Christian police dog.

Anonymous said...

If only you had a Bitcoin address to send to...

Anonymous said...

Hacked! I had the same happen to me. Go directly to the PayPal site and notify them. DO NOT respond to the emails you received.

Mark Steele said...

Main Justice is trying to shut you up - one penny at a time!

Keep up the good work

Anonymous said...

You're not alone:

http://www.paypalsucks.com

Anonymous said...

Yup, I won't use PayPal anymore. Way more trouble than it is worth.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like phishing to me. I got something like that and actually logged onto my account without first examining the true URL of the link. Then I had to turn around and change my email right quick.

Best thing to do is alert Paypal. Been dealing with them (always from the payOR side not the payEE side) for a couple of years now with nary a problem.

I'd love to get hold of one of those bastard phishers. Think I'd start out by squirting extra strength up their urethra and anus and proceed fro there.

The Colonel said...

WE STOPPED USING THEM OVER A YEAR AGO,WHEN WE TOOK OUT OUR CREDIT CARD # THAT WE HAD USED TO PAY THEM /THEN THET STARTED SENDING COLLECTION NOTICES FOR PAYMENT.BUT WE HAVE BEEN PAYING THEM EACH MONTH ON TIME.I WILL CONTINUE PAYING UNTILL PAID OFF .BUT NEVER USE THEM AGAIN !
GOOD LUCK !!

parabarbarian said...

Sound like phishing emails to me. Do NOT send any documentation like a voided check without verifying through Paypal. If you have responded to any of the address in the emails, log onto Paypal now and change your password.

AJ said...

It's a scam email. Don't follow any links in it.
If you log into Paypal, just do it from your bookmarks or from a a google search.

Anonymous said...

Yes be very careful going to an URL within the emails you received. Go directly to PayPal. Chances are your PayPal account is not FUBARed

Toaster 802 said...

Since Paypal is anti gun, I have not used it for years.

Anonymous said...

I would agree with HACKED as the situation you are experiencing. It can't be their business model because no one would do business with them.

Since you have been a "thorne" I would be inclined to believe you are a target. Leaving Google would benefit you. Finishing your book will benefit you even more. Converting to Ubuntu/Kubuntu LINUX will benefit you by saving you money and increasing both your productivity and system security.

1. Linux
2. Lose Google
3. Finish/Publish book

Incidentally, Google is making the comments more difficult as well and this WILL affect your blog.

John Hardin said...

I agree with Anon@0526; you're probably not hacked per se, but these emails may be what is called "phishing", where a criminal sends you a breathless urgent "Your account is locked! Log in here ->convenient link<- to unlock it!" email and the Convenient Link goes to a faked-up website that the criminal controls and uses to steal your credentials when you log try to log in.

If you have some technical savvy these forgeries are pretty easy to detect - for example, examining the full email headers and seeing an mail claiming to be from paypal but that never traveled through any mail server in the paypal.com domain.

Don't reply to the emails, and most especially DON'T click on any link in them.

Log into your paypal account the way you normally do (via a fresh browser session), and try to transfer funds from it to your bank account. You'll be told if your account is legitimately locked.

If your account isn't locked, forward those emails to spoof@paypal.com so that paypal can work to disable the criminals/forgers.

If it is locked, contact paypal via the links on their normal web page.

Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions, I'll be glad to help.

millerized said...

Spammer/Scammer. Send it to abuse@paypal.com

Anonymous said...

Check out "World Pay" and I'm sure their are others.

Posting comments id getting to be a pain now and I doubt I will continue to bother.

Eric III said...

Wasn't hacked or anything. This happened to me when I was making a bunch of purchases when was deployed to Iraq.

Anonymous said...

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/is-obama-using-the-irs-to-silence-opposition-voices/

The Administration has started using the IRS to silence opposition. Maybe silencing you is part of the master plan.

Anonymous said...

Make sure it really is from PayPal, and not a scam. But bear in mind that PayPal doesn't require that you be tax exempt anyway. And also bear in mind that a certain percentage of PayPal employees have their heads up their butts with the result being that PayPal is extremely inconsistent in applying policies.

Anonymous said...

1. Typical phishing scam email language.

2. Many gun auctioneers left eBay/PayPal long ago because of eBay/PayPal's anti-gun policies. Many current gun sites won't use them at all.

3. They have the weirdest internal rules for transactions in the business. They (and the IRS) are the only two organizations who can get into your bank account WITHOUT a court order. How is that possible?

4. They have recently been implicated, along with American Express, in a huge money laundering scandal.

http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/paypal-american-express-implicated-in-bank-fraud/

Anonymous said...

This is the reason I never, REPEAT NEVER, use paypal.

Skip said...

As I mentioned to you earlier Paypal is a lefty outfit and you have indicated that you have only received one of the three donations I sent to you.
The money is still missing from my account. Where did it go and who has it? Feds?

J. Travis said...

Yup, that sounds like phishing....

Paypal still sucks, though.

Phelps said...

It probably is phishing, but in any event paypal is a bad idea. They are evil. The end.

Not only are they vicious about seizing money that isn't thiers, they are actively hostile to the 2nd amendment, and are just plain evil. Regresty went through this with them, only they took a couple of grand from April there -- money for needy kids' Christmas presents. The first week of December.

She's on wepay now. I would suggest the same.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps on a related note:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-long-arm-uncle-sam-just-got-longer

although I concur with the phishing/attack nature of the emails.

Jeff said...

Mike, It seems - per the majority opinion - you're the victim of a
"phishing" attack. And it appears you've gotten some good advice/offers of help, too !

FWIT, I long ago established a "limited liability" bank account and conduct all my on-line businesss through it. The downside is the maintenance cost, but I view it as insurance against any "raiders" ! IOW there's only enough funds in the account to meet programed demands. >Jeff

Steve said...

"Examples include 501c3 determination letter, declaration made to the Prefecture de Police, and proof of registration with Charity Commission for England."

Late to the game, Mike, but the above makes it sound like phishing. Don't send anything.

On a related note, PayPal, at the prodding of leftists, has gone after conservative types who aren't not-for-profit organizations. I think a lot of people thought of them as an electronic version of money orders, but they seem to be cracking down on people with lots of transactions who aren't non-profits. An attack that does seem politically one-sided.

If you have them tied to a bank account, always remove money that's deposited immediately.

Frank in OK said...

PayPal is part of FleaBay which is almost as liberal as one can imagine.

Therein lies your answer.