Consumer complaint received 2023-11-06
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — International money transfer
Issue: Other service problem — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc (CA)

and asked for identifying information to verify account ownership including a photo ID and a bank statement. The requested information was uploaded, and, following this, the account was permanently limited right away. I have only used that Paypal Business account to make purchases on XXXX. Since registering for this business account, Paypal has continuously imposed limitations on the account whenever a large purchase was made and engaged in blocking purchases due to what they call " risk '', even though all this activity constituted was making purchases on XXXX. Finally, as mentioned above following a series of large purchases the account was limited permanently. 

I submitted a complaint with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  ) and Payal claimed that the account had been permanently restricted due to several reasons. The first, the account is linked to other accounts that had limitations placed on it. The second, the geographical location the account was accessed from was inconsistent with the place registration and this in itself means a high level of risk/fraud. They have also noted making multiple accounts violated their terms. 



In regards to the first reason, Paypal claims that because the other accounts the original account that was permanently limited was linked to other accounts that have had some limitations with an ID document, the account was permanently suspended. The account itself has not actually engaged in any unauthorized or illegal activity ( that I have been able to obtain an explanation for from Paypal ) and was simply in part permanently suspended because of a link with another account that had a partial limitation. Never mind that it was not explained why the other accounts were limited in the first place, but because they never engaged in unauthorized conduct. Paypal is suspending an account that has been leigitimately used for several months for XXXX purchases. 

Paypal also claims making multiple accounts is against their terms, which is not consistent what Paypal agents have stated to me when I inquired with them on the phone multiple times. Paypal records conversations with agents, and this can be verified if necessary. I have been told by Paypal phone agents that having multiple business or personal accounts is okay and is possible, as long as they are registered under a different email. At no point was it mentioned that this is against Paypal terms. Paypal is falsely claiming that " our review indicates that you attempted to circumvent the limitations on your accounts by creating new or additional PayPal accounts, which is a restricted activity as defined in the Restricted Activities, Holds, and Other Actions We May Take section of the User Agreement ''. I did not create new paypal accounts to circumvent anything ... as stated before, phone agents working for paypal have stated opening several accounts is acceptable. 

As far as the limitations, Paypal claims the limitations placed on the account were due to risk, but they have been completely arbitrary and made using the account extremely difficult, even when my only use of this account is for legitimate purchasing activity on XXXX. Of note, every time the account was limited, I have complied with providing the information required every time it was requested, and the information/ IDs that i submitted was found to be legitimate. Yet the account continuted to be limited. 

Paypal also claims because the account was accessed from different geographical location, this increases the level of risk due to fraud. This is a completely arbitrary assumption because then this means someone who has registered for a Paypal account in a certain location and is travelling are using it for fraudulent purposes. This does not make any sense. Just because an account is being accessed from a different location does not mean the access is automatically fraudulent. 

I've attempted to ask Paypal to provide a detailed explanation of WHY the account ( s ) were actually limited, beyond linking with other accounts/opening several accounts and WHAT activity was unauthorized. Paypal has responded several times with repetitive and vague reasoning given above. When pressed for a further explanation of what activities conducted by the account were actually restricted or against the terms, they have continued to be vague and to refer to the reason for suspension th link with other accounts ( again, as Paypal phone agents have stated opening more than 1 account is fine ).