Consumer complaint received 2026-02-24 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Trouble accessing funds in your mobile or digital wallet — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: MT

Complaint narrative:
I was trying to purchase cryptocurrency and send my purchased cryptocurrency to an external wallet. However, I was unable to do so until verifying my identity. Considering my identity verification was already under review ( for the XXXX time ) I elected not to take this route and just decided to sell the crypto I had just purchased so it would be available in my Venmo balance. Unfortunately, that did not happen either. I was informed that my sale would be reviewed and not released for XXXX days! Immediately contacted support and was informed that there was nothing they could do about it I waited the XXXX days and on the seventh day I was trying to transfer the cryptocurrency completed sale that was now in my Venmo account in XXXX dollars to an external account, this again failed, and I was informed that my account has been frozen or suspended ( again, XXXX time in the same month ) I contacted Support and was told that a XXXX was going to be sending me an email in how to unlock my account. I was then sent an email saying that my account was suspended due to not having verified my identity.?? and because I had a duplicate account, which violates the terms of Venmo. Several years ago, I had an account with Venmo that for whatever reason ended up with a negative balance. I was never able to settle the balance because I was unable to login to the old account. And upon trying to reset my password, reset link would never be sent to my email, so I sort of just gave up after a while. Fast forward to present times, I was still unable to log into my Venmo, so I decided to try and create an account with a different email. This was successful. The part I dont understand is I provided my same date of birth, same full name and same Social Security number as the account that had the negative balance, yet, it still let me create the new account. I even signed up for a Venmo debit card and it was shipped to me and activated, and I had used it for XXXX to XXXX months, along with standard use of the app sending and receiving money with friends but for whatever reason, none of this decided to lock my account and trigger the recognition of the duplicate account. Even when my account had been locked for other strange reasons, I had provided my ID and have had it unlocked before yet. Strangely this crypto transaction decided to bring on what I can only consider to be virtual currency XXXX. I was told that I would have to provide my ID ( XXXX time now? ) and settled the negative balance in the old account before my funds and current account could be unlocked. I informed the support staff through the email thread that I have been trying to settle the negative balance for years to no avail. Informed them that I was unable to login to the old account and I have no other way to settle that negative balance without having access to the old account. So what do you think happens next? They asked me to provide my ID. I told them I already have a ton but OK whatever, I provide them the ID and tell them that XXXX unable to log into my current account anymore either. So they of course ask me to send my ID again. At this point, XXXX extremely frustrated so I call and finally get a hold of a human who tells me she cant do anything and to expect an email from the team that XXXX already dealing with. Finally, I get an email that seems to be different and its a code that I should use to login to the old account when prompted to provide a code upon login. They sent this to my current email into the email with the supposed old overdrawn account. However, XXXX quite certain that it was a different email but I said OK sure, I will give it a shot. I followed the instructions very closely and clearly, but was never prompted to enter the code they had given on either account after multiple tries. I have reached out multiple times informing them of this and I get no response. They have {$120.00} locked in my new account and have yet to give me a way to pay back the old account or even log into it for going on XXXX years now. They have also sent me dead end links and have not seemed to acknowledge my issue with any sense of urgency or concern whatsoever. This is almost the shorthand story of everything thats gone on to put it in perspective of how much time and effort I have put in to try to resolve this matter, only to be told by AI to upload my ID XXXX times. They cant unlock my account, they cant give me access to my old account and they wont simply let me pay the negative balance on my old account to unlock my new accountso I dont know what to do now except to report them to every agency I can and to or as many others possible to stay away.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation