Permently banned, nothing illigal but can't prove

verystupidme · #1 09-12-2021

Hello and Thank You to anyone spending their time reading my post because it will be lengthy.

As most people here, writing not to praise paypal, but because I'm in big trouble. Reading my post, you will think multiple times "how can somebody be so dumb" and I won't even try to argue, that's true.

My PayPal account got permanently closed, I can still log in, but my a bit under $100,000 are locked for 180 days. I am not doing anything illigal, but you don't have to trust me, I'm only looking for advice that maybe would save me from going bald from stress.

Long story short, with most vital details I have double citizenship, one EU country other one is not, but countries are nearby. About 6-7 (maybe more) years ago I opened a EU PayPal account with the EU documents while being in the non-EU country and living in the non-EU country all this time. Used PayPal for withdrawing or holding freelancing money there (I only understood how retarded I am a few weeks ago) and paying for stuff I bought online. I think I sold like 2-3 items on eBay 5 years ago, never been a seller and nothing happened then. Around 3-4 years ago I turned my account into business account (but I don't even have a registered business) and tried to do dropshipping. Sold 1 item and stopped. I don't even think it was paid with PayPal, but I never converted my account back to Personal.

Until 2-3 years ago I was keeping about $20k with PayPal (I'm stupid) because I wasn't sure which bank to withdraw to EU or non-EU. Around 3 years ago I linked my non-EU credit card to my EU PayPal without any issues and was withdrawing around $2k once every 2-3 months. Around same time I started doing some higher paid freelancing and even withdrawing those $2k my balance grew rapidly and I was still not sure which bank to withdraw to. For the last 18 months I was paid through Friends and Family for my IT services.

Critical part:
6 months ago I decided to withdraw everything to my non-EU card (bank account) and was looking for the lowest gov taxes to pay, but as you can probably guess I am not really acting fast. In August I received an email that said I need to verify my ID, Describe business, Bank statement and one more thing I can't remember, until then my account is temporarily locked.
I sent my EU ID, but because my linked credit card was non-EU I called PayPal support and asked what to do if my bank doesn't give me Bank Statement (turns out they do). That guy told me they just need to see if the card belongs to me & the bank, so I made a photo of the card, bank account details and phone with the bank app on screen, but none included my non-EU address used for the linked card. Next morning I thought I'm going to have a stroke, got the your account is permanently closed email. The person that paid me for the last 18 months also had some type of restriction, but they're a multi million US business, so they got theirs removed quickly. A few other employees that were paid through PayPal also got their accounts permanently closed and none removed the ban.

Overview
I am not doing anythign illegal, not selling anything on eBay, not buying crypto, not doing drugs. I don't have any chargebacks or refunds (at least for the past 3-4 years), but I did offer services and got paid through Friends & Family. I was stupid and held so much money with PayPal because I was looking to pay less taxes legally when I withdraw everything. I was also thinking to use PayPal to not pay taxes for my full earnings, but as you can guess by now, that's not a thought I will ever have again.
I used my real name, real EU ID, real EU address (but I don't pay bills on that address, so I don't have bills to proove it, only the ID), but all this time I was living in the non-EU country and getting paid a few grands a month through Friends&Family.

Knowing that PayPal allows you to only be in the same country as your account, I think I'm totally screwed, but I desperately want my money savings back (that's almost everything I have) and don't care if I don't get to use PayPal ever again.

I don't think I can even try to appeal that decision, because what am I going to say? "Hey there's nothing risky about my account, I just get paid for a service through Friends & Family, unblock pls". My linked card expires in 2 months, I don't have an EU card or bank account, and if I make one it will probably be a nightmare to declare that huge amount of money.
Would I pay for a laywer to get my money? Definitely, but again even though I'm not doing illegal stuff what are my chances of getting the money? With the current level of strees, I'm ok with waiting 180 days if I get all the money on my non-EU card or bank.

To make things worse I keep reading stories where people don't get their money after 180 days or get less because "PayPal Damages".

I know it's a long post, maybe somebody could feel my pain and try to give some sane advice.
Thank your for reading.
A very stupid young man.

slokor · #2 09-12-2021

Youre right. The list of things done without thought is impressive...
Keeping THAT much money in paypal is rather foolish.
being paid all this money as personal payments is just poking the bear that is paypal and pushing them to screw you over.
Let me correct you on one point - you DID do something wrong. Something major. You CHEATED paypal out of their fees by taking personal payments and they do not take kindly to that sort of thing. That 4-5% in fees you screwed them out of amounts to hundreds of dollars if not more every year you operated this way. You realy think they wouldnt do anything about that? You basically stole from them.
As for 'declaring the money being a nightmare' - you prefer to not get the money at all? or to pay the government their cut in taxes? if you have the option to get the funds TAKE IT. Unfortunately I doubt youll ever see that money at this point as there is a very good chance that they wont let you have it even after the 180 days have gone by. Sad but true.
Id contact a lawyer if I were you to look into legal options.
Good luck... youre going to need it...

agent006140 · #3 09-12-2021

You received payments via Friend and Family,thats call fee avoidance,but it is not a crime,Paypal cannot confiscate your money using it as a reason.
you said others who were paid by the same company have their accounts limited,what reason did Paypal give them?
Paypal will return your money if it is satisfied with the documents you give them,but you would still need a card or account to transfer the money out of your Paypal account,you said the current one you have will expire in 2 months?
well,good luck

question-why cant you open a non EU paypal account based on the country you are in now?

OP is making things too complicated ,using an EU account when he is not in EU,trying to pay no fee to Paypal and then trying to pay as little tax to government.
What kind of company would agree to send $$ for IT work performed via friend and family? to its contractors?

verystupidme · #4 09-13-2021

Others didn't get a reason either and the employer said they only had to send some ID/Business verification, nothing else.

I can open a non-EU PayPal account, I just never thought that with such an old EU account I can get into such trouble and I'm not going to lie, I didn't even know you can't use PayPal from a different country when I opened it because everything was smooth.

Can I make things worse if I keep bothering them with calls daily asking for a reason why this happened or ask support to add manually my non-EU bank account or new card (I'm not going to tell them the country, just the credentials to add it). Or if I email the executive office asking for a faster hold removal?

I completely understand how dumb I behaved all this time, but there's nothing I can do about the past.

james_112233 · #5 09-13-2021

Stop worrying. You'll get every penny back after 180 days.

Damaging your health and well being over it isn't worth it. You can make more money if you are fit and healthy.

murdered_by_ebay · #6 09-13-2021

if the account is in your real EU details you can get the money back. If needed take paypal to court , this is not a small company that can disappear so that your chances to get the money would be excellent

rsot · #7 09-13-2021

Welcome to the forum OP - all the best as you master stealth

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verystupidme · #8 09-13-2021

Thanks for the bit of hope you're giving me @james_112233 and @
murdered_by_ebay, helps with the well being part

@agent006140 I'm not making anything too complicated on purpose, I was just too dumb to understand how complex things got. I started as a contractor, but got a steady full time amount of work, kept using the same payment method.

I was looking for less taxes to pay because everybody wants more shekels in their pocket, and just slowly searched for the best way to do it for an IT person in a legal way.
The money I mentioned I was thinking to not delcare was supposed to be for online purchases, trips, etc. I wasn't planning to rob anyone.

Maybe someone knows if I get lucky enough and after 180 days I will be able to withdraw the funds, will it have to be only 1 transfer or can I do it in like 5-10 transfers over a few months.

mchammer1 · #9 09-20-2021

A company cannot seize your funds, they don't have the legal authority for that. Even law enforcement needs to have a court order for seizure to take your funds.

What you need to do is to call Paypal and ask what they need to release your funds.

make a trip to Europe and get a tax ID if that is needed or get your tax papers registered in Europe, whatever it takes to satisfy Paypal.

murdered_by_ebay · #10 09-20-2021

Quote:

Originally Posted by mchammer1

A company cannot seize your funds, they don't have the legal authority for that. Even law enforcement needs to have a court order for seizure to take your funds.

What you need to do is to call Paypal and ask what they need to release your funds.

make a trip to Europe and get a tax ID if that is needed or get your tax papers registered in Europe, whatever it takes to satisfy Paypal.

yes , they can seize funds. US law enforcement does this on a regular basis as well without any court orders , for example if you get caught with a large amount of cash it can be seized without any court orders and for you to get it back you would need to spend a lot of money for lawyers