Dodgy Paypal - Stopping me from closing my account in support of wikileaks.

Hi All,

I want to share with you my experience in attempting to close my paypal accounts. I would like to know if others have experienced similar issues or if this is an isolated case.

I have 2 paypal accounts. Today was the last straw for me, and I decided I did not want these guys having me on their records anymore - given their blatent support of corruption and disapproval of transparency ie wikileaks.

I went to close my account by click profile, close account. But then I get this message on BOTH of my accounts:

"We are currently performing regular maintenance of our security measures. Your account has been randomly selected for this maintenance, and you will now be taken through a series of identity verification pages."

Then I have to verify my bank account number or credit card details. I have attempted to verify my bank AND credit card details but neither are working. I am definitely using the right details as I only have the one account and card for each paypal account and have checked they match the censored version of the details they show you for a hint, I have tried all the possible formattings including with and without dashes (-) an extra 0 in the suffix and made sure no spaces are anywhere. However I still can not close either of these accounts and when you click help if it has anything to do with a change to the account it takes me back to the "Your account has been randomly selected for this maintenance" page again.

I am possitive these guys are making it extremely difficult if not impossible to close your account, but would like to see how you guys get on!

PS: I work in IT im not an old guy struggling to find the any key.

Cheers
spyda



"Protecting the security of your PayPal account is our primary concern, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

- PFT yeah right

Just like many other online companies the reason for that is usually very simple. They want to get you on a phone and try to sway you into staying with their service. I went through the same thing with Vonage recently. The only way to close the account down is to speak with a member of management. I don't think it has anything to do with the wikileaks thing.

Plus Paypal like many other payment companies have been forced recently to review cards on file and such because of the new banking laws and government restrictions for having a bank account, ie: verifying social security number on file with an actual photo-copy of one, copy of I.D. drivers licence etc, and verification of mailing address. Kinda bunk but it's what the legal system has done to the banking sector that causes most of the messes we now deal with.

reply to post by byteshertz


From what I understand all of these companies make it hard to close accounts hoping that you'll give up, put it off till later, and then not follow through. I am curious, do they know your reasons for trying to close your accounts and are stopping you as a result, or is this a coincidence?

reply to post by jaynkeel


I think you are right - it makes my blood boil, stalling the process, or halting the process of cancellation of a service should be treated the same as giving someone a service they do not want and holding their details illegally.

reply to post by schrodingers dog


No I have not given them any indication of my intentions. If they were really in bed with the government and there is a hidden agenda they would know by my email address that I am a known activist.
The part that strikes me as strange is both of my account are "randomly" selected!! That doesnt seem too random to me!

I want to know if this is happening to everyone or not and if it is then they are obviously trying to stop their customers being able to leave in mass as a show of protest.

reply to post by byteshertz


Ya it's crap but we let them do it to us. Also to note there are a lot of companies like a particular satellite subscription company that do far worse things to people. Like when trying to cancel your service just because they have your credit card on file they can charge you for the equipment you have in your possession until they receive it returned to them. Found that one out the hard way too when my account was over drafted by $400 bouncing my mortgage payment and others with no recourse to the company that caused it. By which I will add that after overnighting them the equipment they took their time refunding the money as in like 3weeks. And they have done the same to almost everyone I know that dropped them.

reply to post by byteshertz

You know, this sounds suspcious to me. No you, OP, but what they are trying to get you to do!

As you're in IT you obviously know about spoofing, phishing and so on. So, I'm just wondering if you confirmed first of all that the url was running through a legit HTTPS? Also, have you dug around on the web to see if any scam notifications have come up? I know you instigated the process in this case but all the same I'm concerned that someone might have hacked them and redirected you to a dummy site in order to collect your details.

After all, we do know that "anon" was going to go after paypal.

PS: also do a little checking by right clicking their displayed page/s and seeing what's under "view source". The usual drill. You know.

Mike

It seems odd that they'd be asking for your bank details. Are you absolutely sure you haven't inadvertently stumbled into a phish?
It does sound like one of the tactics scammers use.

I'd call them and tell them exactly why. And demand that the accounts be closed and any data they hold be destroyed. Advise them that if they do not comply, you'll form an alliance with the many thousands of others in your position and go to the press to expose their scam.

I guarantee that they know how many are leaving them in protest. And using a threat like that will suggest to them that you know it too.

I'd be surprised if they block you in any way again.

Thanks for reminding me byteshertz! Was going to do this a couple of days ago but forgot.
Just closed my PP acount without problems (apart from having to confirm 'close' 4 times!!)
Gave reason as "WikiLeaks protest. I refuse to do business through your company"

If you can't close your paypal account, declare your cards lost. They'll have to change the information on the cards, which in turn will cut the transaction link with paypal.

Originally posted by detachedindividual
It seems odd that they'd be asking for your bank details. Are you absolutely sure you haven't inadvertently stumbled into a phish?
It does sound like one of the tactics scammers use.

I'd call them and tell them exactly why. And demand that the accounts be closed and any data they hold be destroyed. Advise them that if they do not comply, you'll form an alliance with the many thousands of others in your position and go to the press to expose their scam.

I guarantee that they know how many are leaving them in protest. And using a threat like that will suggest to them that you know it too.

I'd be surprised if they block you in any way again.

See my post above, they have to ask certain questions due to the recent clampdown on financial institutions. Just the same way as a bank has to ask for certain stuff now days, all thanks to the patriot act I do believe and junk that was added to it. This is also the reason some peoples accounts from paypal have been frozen for unknown reasons in the recent year, I myself was one of them so I know exactly the frustration some people have. It took me a couple of days before the account was unfrozen and just like paypal claimed it was out of their control as it was new legislation passed by our representatives that was causing the holdup.

Bank status In the United States, PayPal is licensed as a money transmitter on a state-by-state basis.[44] PayPal is not classified as a bank in the United States, though the company is subject to some of the rules and regulations governing the financial industry including Regulation E consumer protections and the USA PATRIOT Act.[45]

en.wikipedia.org...

If you have any suspicions about the "paypal" site you were on, you can send a query direct to paypal (including your question/s and also details of the possible spoof site if applicable), via their secure "contact us" url at

www.paypal.com...=pps_spf

BTW I checked the source info for this page and it's definitely the real paypal.

Regards,

Mike

reply to post by detachedindividual


Thanks for your replies all
Nope its not a phishing site address is https: .. //www.paypal.com/nz/... and its showing the protected icon in the browser.
The only way I can find to contact them is by phone, which I wont be doing because of the cost.
The other email contact options all take me back to the page requesting my details.