PayPal is subject to the rules and regulations governing the financial industry and must exercise due diligence against fraud and other financial misdeeds. But sometimes the way they go about it is a little strange. Even those who hate PayPal, for whatever reason, agree it’s difficult to do business on the internet without a PayPal account. I like PayPal; it’s how Alan pays me. This article is about what you need to do if PayPal closes or freezes your account.
I never did any of the things listed on this unofficial frozen accounts page. All I did was run an internet forum with two friends beginning in 2002, accepting donations through PayPal to cover our hosting costs. My former partner apparently told PayPal we were a nonprofit so we could put up a donation button. We grew tired of the constant bickering that goes with running a forum, and in 2004 we closed the website.
Attack of the email_pimp
This past summer I got an email from PayPal saying:
“As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal system. We recently noticed an issue with your account: ”
(Several blank lines here)
… and threatening to limit my account unless they received further information from me. The email didn’t say what information they were looking for; I was told to log into my account and continue from there.
I disregarded this and subsequent emails because every one of them contained the tag “email_pimp/default/en_US/account/security/WarningNotification.xsl“. After eight years with PayPal and tons of spam/phishing emails purporting to come from them, I thought it was just another crude attempt at phishing. I reported it to spoof@paypal.com. They sent an autoresponse thanking me for the report, but didn’t tell me it was actually a genuine PayPal communication. Ack! Who knew the email_pimp was real?
About two months later, PayPal told me that my having accepted less than $100 in donations, almost five years in the past, was the basis of their groundless concern!
I wrote PayPal a six-page letter, explaining in excruciating detail why I ignored their warning emails, and asking for my account to be reinstated. I spent a little over $11 American to send it to the two PayPal addresses given below, by certified mail, return receipt requested. And it worked! They reopened my account about five days later.
The Office of Executive Escalations
But, within days, the PayPal Office of Executive Escalations(!!!) wrote, “I understand your concerns with the suspicious headers and footers of the emails you received from PayPal. I believe this was caused by a technical error known as a pimp code error. I have passed this information on to our technical team to be sure that this situation is resolved …”
LOL! I pointed out a second time that their programmer could easily change “email_pimp” to something else, possibly less cute or descriptive, with just a few keystrokes. It’s still out there pimping, even in the emails PayPal sends to let you know you’ve received a payment — so don’t send email_pimp messages to the trash.
If you need to reinstate yourself with PayPal, don’t waste your energy playing with the contact forms on the website. And it’s unlikely you’d be able to get someone in authority to speak with you on the phone. Write an old-fashioned letter. Print and sign two copies and send via certified snail mail, return receipt requested, to each of these addresses if you’re in the United States:
PayPal, Inc.
Headquarters
2211 N. First St.
San Jose, CA 95131
-and-
PayPal, Inc.
Legal Department
2145 Hamilton Ave.
San Jose, CA 95125
Search for “PayPal phone number” to find the appropriate mailing addresses and phone numbers for your location.
