| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] > | PayPal requires a copy of my photo ID and confirmation of my address. Thread poster: Maija Cirule
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LEXpert 
United States
Local time: 07:24
Member (2008)
Croatian to English
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| You're probably close to a limit | Dec 26, 2014 |
This is not uncommon if you are close to or about to exceed a specified limit that PayPal has on your account, such as transfers or withdrawals within a certain period. If the request has come via a legitimate channel, such as notification directly from your PayPal account, and/or you have confirmed the request with PayPal, it is unlikely that that anything untoward is involved. PayPal is also unlikely to budget on this request (mostly has to do with the various compliance they need to meet), so... See more This is not uncommon if you are close to or about to exceed a specified limit that PayPal has on your account, such as transfers or withdrawals within a certain period. If the request has come via a legitimate channel, such as notification directly from your PayPal account, and/or you have confirmed the request with PayPal, it is unlikely that that anything untoward is involved. PayPal is also unlikely to budget on this request (mostly has to do with the various compliance they need to meet), so if you want to keep working with PayPal, you don't have much of a choice. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 13:24
Member (2007)
English
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| Laws are laws - they often don't make much sense in practice | Dec 26, 2014 |
Maija Cirule wrote:
I am their customer for several years and they verified my identity when I start to use their services. 2000 EUR per 12 months or 166 EUR per month is money laundering?? Wake up and smell the roses.
I imagine this is a limit set by some law governing money laundering, rather than so that PayPal can derive some dubious benefit from your personal details. These limits are very low. I remember once having an enormous struggle collecting a payment from a perfectly honest client somewhere in the Middle East. He only owed a couple of hundred euros but we got caught up in American or EU (can't remember) sanctions against terrorism. Go figure .
| | | | | PayPal might have revised their policy for the account holders in your country | Dec 26, 2014 |
I am not sure this is the case here. But it happened to me last month. I live in Russia, and last month PayPal revised some sections of their policy for the account holders in Russia. Those sections covered the limits for receiving, spending and withdrawing money. Once the revisions became effective, several PayPal users (I do not know how many, but I heard about that from several people), including myself, were asked to submit a copy of their ID to prove their identity, otherwise the lowest lim... See more I am not sure this is the case here. But it happened to me last month. I live in Russia, and last month PayPal revised some sections of their policy for the account holders in Russia. Those sections covered the limits for receiving, spending and withdrawing money. Once the revisions became effective, several PayPal users (I do not know how many, but I heard about that from several people), including myself, were asked to submit a copy of their ID to prove their identity, otherwise the lowest limits were set by default. I had been using PayPal for 3 years before that change happened, and all I had been asked before was to verify my bank account. This time I had to verify my bank card again and to provide my ID. It took them several seconds to verify my bank account and a couple of days to check my ID. After that everything was back to normal, and I could withdraw money again. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member for the following reason: Post removed. |
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| Thank the EU | Dec 26, 2014 |
Maija Cirule wrote:
I am their customer for several years and they verified my identity when I start to use their services. 2000 EUR per 12 months or 166 EUR per month is money laundering?? Wake up and smell the roses. This is by no means a "reasonable request" but a shear stupidity and "I'll show you who's the boss" attitude.
[Edited at 2014-12-26 19:13 GMT]
You can thank the tightening of EU's money laundering legislation for much of this. Shortly after the new rules entered into force some years ago, a British bank wrote to me to announce they were going to close a recently opened account because it was too cumbersome to comply with the new requirements for non-resident customers. It was a mistake in my case, and the account wasn't closed, but it illustrates the bureaucracy imposed on banks. Requiring all this documentation actually costs them a lot of money.
Is 2000 euros money laundering, you ask. Not in one case, but if you opened 100 unverified accounts and passed 2000 through each, it would be 200,000 euros. Could that be money laundering?
But you have accepted to abide by these conditions, so if you no longer want to do that, you are free to stop using Paypal. You may lose the balance, though, but Paypal has not hidden the possible identification requirements. If you want to take a fight with them over an id document, by all means do that, but I don't think anyone here can do much to help with that.
| | | | Maija Cirule
Latvia
Local time: 15:24
German to English
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TOPIC STARTER | My account was verified several years ago | Dec 26, 2014 |
Thomas Frost wrote: Maija Cirule wrote:
I am their customer for several years and they verified my identity when I start to use their services. 2000 EUR per 12 months or 166 EUR per month is money laundering?? Wake up and smell the roses. This is by no means a "reasonable request" but a shear stupidity and "I'll show you who's the boss" attitude.
[Edited at 2014-12-26 19:13 GMT] Is 2000 euros money laundering, you ask. Not in one case, but if you opened 100 unverified accounts and passed 2000 through each, it would be 200,000 euros. Could that be money laundering? But you have accepted to abide by these conditions, so if you no longer want to do that, you are free to stop using Paypal. You may lose the balance, though, but Paypal has not hidden the possible identification requirements. If you want to take a fight with them over an id document, by all means do that, but I don't think anyone here can do much to help with that.
therefore, this is NOT a dubious account. I have no time and nerves to take a fight over some 500 Euros and I am not asking for help here instead for opinions. In accordance with the principle "better safe than sorry" I think that I shall donate the money to Paypal and rest assured that nobody has got fast credit online using my personal data and bank account number.
| | | | | Not unusual, and unlikely fradulent | Dec 26, 2014 |
Maija,
I think it is good that you are approaching requests for personal information with a dose of doubt, but based on what you wrote in this thread, I think you are a bit overly cautious in this case.
(You asked for opinions...)
PayPal is doing what it is required to do by their policies, which are based on the applicable legal rules. You agreed to those policies when you opened your account, and every time they updated their policies (which they send to all users).... See more Maija,
I think it is good that you are approaching requests for personal information with a dose of doubt, but based on what you wrote in this thread, I think you are a bit overly cautious in this case.
(You asked for opinions...)
PayPal is doing what it is required to do by their policies, which are based on the applicable legal rules. You agreed to those policies when you opened your account, and every time they updated their policies (which they send to all users).
There are a few very practical pieces of advice in this thread on how you can make sure that your personal information is protected when you are sending it over the internet.
500 euros is not a small amount (at least not for me), and I do not see any particular indication that you would need to "fight" for it, so in my opinion, you should not abandon it.
I am not saying PayPal is perfect (far from that), and I have had my issues with them (including one that was exactly the same as Sheila's experience, account locked because I received a small payment from an agency in Israel), but I think seeing "fraud" plastered all over this interaction with them is - sorry for being blatant - borderline paranoid.
I hope you get this resolved soon and get access to your money.
Katalin
[Edited at 2014-12-26 21:00 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Neil Coffey
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:24
French to English
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| Is it usual for them to ask for copy of ID? | Dec 27, 2014 |
I know that it's not unusual for Paypal to require SOME process for verifying your identity when you pass certain thresholds, e.g. I remember at some point they insisted on sending a magic code to my house and wouldn't let me withdraw any money until I'd entered the magic code into their web site. But at least they used a system where it was clear it wasn't a phishing attempt.
Asking for an ID card does seem slightly odder, though (for one thing, you'd think they'd want a more autom... See more I know that it's not unusual for Paypal to require SOME process for verifying your identity when you pass certain thresholds, e.g. I remember at some point they insisted on sending a magic code to my house and wouldn't let me withdraw any money until I'd entered the magic code into their web site. But at least they used a system where it was clear it wasn't a phishing attempt.
Asking for an ID card does seem slightly odder, though (for one thing, you'd think they'd want a more automated system from their point of view) -- has this specifically happened to other people? ▲ Collapse
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564354352 (X)
Denmark
Local time: 14:24
Danish to English
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| The same thing happened to me | Dec 27, 2014 |
Earlier this year, I got a similar request for photo ID from PayPal, and it was also a case of my getting close to the €2,000 threshold.
I didn't take offence; as Thomas said, EU legislation on the prevention of money laundering apparently calls for banks and similar entities to request photo ID when a certain amount of money is transferred within a year. When my ID was first verified by PayPal three years ago, I did not have to submit photo ID, the bank verification must have bee... See more Earlier this year, I got a similar request for photo ID from PayPal, and it was also a case of my getting close to the €2,000 threshold.
I didn't take offence; as Thomas said, EU legislation on the prevention of money laundering apparently calls for banks and similar entities to request photo ID when a certain amount of money is transferred within a year. When my ID was first verified by PayPal three years ago, I did not have to submit photo ID, the bank verification must have been enough. Now that I have crossed the threshold, legislation calls for photo ID, so I submitted photo ID. No big deal.
I understand your concern about submitting photo ID via email, though, but again, there are risks involved in a lot of our Internet communication.
PayPal were actually very obliging: I changed my surname last year and didn't have any updated photo ID, but they accepted a scanned copy of my driver's license, which is still valid, along with a certificate about my name change. In my case, it did not feel like an attempt to make my life difficult or a scam to make me submit personal information that they would then abuse. It was simply PayPal doing what they are under an obligation to do by EU law.
I'm not defending PayPal as a money transfer entity at all, I think they are outrageously expensive, but in this case, I think they are just doing what they have to do... ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:24
Hebrew to English
Neil Coffey wrote:
Asking for an ID card does seem slightly odder, though (for one thing, you'd think they'd want a more automated system from their point of view) -- has this specifically happened to other people?
Happened to me about three years ago. I'd reached some kind of money-laundering threshold and they wanted a copy of my passport and proof of address before unlocking my account.
It annoyed me at the time but I have had no problems since. Fortunately I only have two or three clients who prefer to use paypal so I don't think I'll be crossing any more thresholds.
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Thomas Frost wrote:
I don't see the problem. Banks can be required by law to verify who you are and where you live. Paypal Europe is legally registered as a bank in Luxembourg.
If Paypal asked this they must ask to upload it on their website after your login. However you should mail them after login to confirm about it. I did so 1 year ago and after things are smoothly going on.
| | | | Paul Lambert
Sweden
Local time: 14:24
Member (2006)
Swedish to English
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| Suspicion toward PayPal misdirected | Dec 27, 2014 |
I did have to submit a copy of my passport once and only once to Paypal for the very reason discussed.
I know the EU and other governments like to claim that they are fighting "money laundering", but that really is just code for "tax avoidance". By having personal details on file, it at least creates a paper trail should either you, your bank or PayPal be audited.
I have become increasingly displeased with PayPal over the past few years, to be sure, but having to submit... See more I did have to submit a copy of my passport once and only once to Paypal for the very reason discussed.
I know the EU and other governments like to claim that they are fighting "money laundering", but that really is just code for "tax avoidance". By having personal details on file, it at least creates a paper trail should either you, your bank or PayPal be audited.
I have become increasingly displeased with PayPal over the past few years, to be sure, but having to submit my personal info is not the reason why. Alas, the choice really is either to give in on this matter or not to have anything more to do with PayPal. Both choices are understandable. ▲ Collapse
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 14:24
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| Just do it, or don't use PayPal | Dec 27, 2014 |
Maija Cirule wrote:
The problem is that I have ca 500 EUR in the account and cannot withdraw them without submitting the requested data. I am almost ready to to abandon PayPal all together.
PayPal (and many other financial institutions, such as your bank) is required by law to ensure that their services aren't use for money laundering (i.e. criminals passing money through their systems). One way to do this, is to ensure that every account holder is a separate human being (or that no single human being uses more than the allowed number of accounts or performs more than the allowed number or amount of transactions). Some financial institutions (such as PayPal) performs this check only for larger amounts, or only when some activity triggers their alarms that require them to verify that you are who you say you are. This is *normal*. If you want to send or receive anonymised payments, then PayPal is not for you (I'm not sure what would be).
It does tend to come as a surprise to many users who start small and only hit the trigger level of activity at a later stage. PayPal should really make it clearer from the start that the initial sign-up procedure involves only a *partial* identification process, and once your balance reaches a certain level, they will temporarily "freeze" the account until you have completed the full identification process. I wish it was possible for new users to force PayPal to initiate the full identification process from the start, but it aint.
[Edited at 2014-12-27 12:58 GMT]
| | | | | problem Is NOT so much extra Id check ... problem is the reason for Id check | Apr 30, 2015 |
recently I've encountered the same issue and just because the further Id check falls under "money laundering and counter terrorism " it is so uncomfortable to give further Id check - because in a way you are accepting to be either a money launderer or terrorist - it is so insulting and who in their right mind would want to be associated with either??
anyhow, Paypal has our bank account details and if anyone should do this Id check should be our bank - unless the money ... See more recently I've encountered the same issue and just because the further Id check falls under "money laundering and counter terrorism " it is so uncomfortable to give further Id check - because in a way you are accepting to be either a money launderer or terrorist - it is so insulting and who in their right mind would want to be associated with either??
anyhow, Paypal has our bank account details and if anyone should do this Id check should be our bank - unless the money is sent to another account, either under a different name or different whatever
so I don't see any reason for this silly check - for just over $1000, if the person is using the money to buy other items - or having it transferred to their own bank account - what part of this falls under money laundering or terrorism.. just beats me ...
sounds like a new step to control our activities and watching over us ..and Paypal is the pimp for it, especially when they don't even explain or inform you prior to its happening . it's totally unfair and people should call their member of parliament and complain -
yes it's Nothing to do with Id check it's the accusation title that you don't want to volunteer for - the check is clearly titled "counter terrorism and money laundering" so are you one or the other or both??/ Non?? so why accept the check??????
such a rude way for those governments that have given this power to paypal to deal with their citizens - no respect
only over 1000 dollars turns you into a money launderer or terrorist ...what world do we live in .......
[Edited at 2015-04-30 04:38 GMT]
[Edited at 2015-04-30 13:03 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 13:24
Member (2007)
English
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| Do the bosses at PayPal, your government and the anti-terrorism authorities all know you personally? | Apr 30, 2015 |
Had Enough wrote:
such a rude way for those governments that have given this power to paypal to deal with their citizens - no respect
only over 1000 dollars turns you into a money launderer or terrorist ...what world do we live in .......
If they don't know you, how on earth are they to know to what use you are putting the money? I don't think they are accusing you of anything, just playing safe. I'm sure if you'd like to provide additional proofs from the first dollar then they would be happy to oblige you.
I doubt that any of us like the additional checks. And this isn't the only one, by a long way. At the moment, just about every bank account holder in Spain is rushing round trying to prevent their accounts being frozen, having to provide the originals of their ID. But I do like the fact that not only will all these measures hopefully cut off some funding for terrorism (maybe not much, though), but it will also put a stop to a lot of the tax fraud that in the past has meant that law-abiding tax payers have had to shoulder too much of the load.
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