Falcons, dolphins, greenbay, Vikings, ravens
IRS Warns American Taxpayers to Report Transactions of at Least $600 in Venmo, Paypal, and Other Third-Party Networks
November 27, 2022, 5:20pmby Jim Hoft
good reminder that if you are canceling Paypal to do 2 things
1) print off transaction history so you have proof for when the IRS wants to try and nail you on winning the Super Bowl Squares
2) make sure you just don't delete account but go into the privacy area to delete all data too
while nearly every tech company is up 20% or higher in 2023 (largely due to laying workers off to improve profitability) Paypal continues to slide. They are down 5% YTD and the stock is now trading at nearly $66/share when it was $96/share exactly 9 months ago.
Just 2 years ago the stock was trading above $300/share (!) ... ESG doing its thing, lovely to see
Class Action Lawsuit Against PayPal for Blocked Accounts
A class action lawsuit has been filed against PayPal over unjustifiably blocked accounts. Numerous users have found their accounts inexplicably suspended, raising the question: who has granted PayPal this authority?
The lawsuit, originating in California and Illinois, sees a number of users charging the company with the arbitrary freezing of their assets. The law firm Caporaso & Partners, having represented numerous clients affected by PayPal's heavy-handed account suspensions, holds that a positive judgment in this case could set a valuable precedent for future claims.
In the digital era, PayPal has amassed millions of users worldwide, being a pioneer in facilitating digital transactions. However, its credibility has been marred by controversial policies and questionable practices.
Furthermore, the company has come under scrutiny for its exceptionally high transfer fees. In regions such as Latin America, commissions can reach up to 5.4% of the total amount sent, plus an additional 30 cents per transaction.
PayPal Faces a New Scandal
This time, the payment processing platform has received a federal class action lawsuit, filed in California and Chicago. The affected individuals are demanding the company to unfreeze their funds and also demand financial compensation for the damages suffered.In addition, PayPal has committed more than a few abuses against its customers. Among the company's most common actions are account blocking and freezing funds. Users complain that these measures arrive without prior notice and, above all, without any explanation. This is not a new problem, but it has increased in recent times.
This problem has multiplied with the implementation of new and restrictive Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules. Binance, for example, has massively practiced this.
Three individuals lead the lawsuit against PayPal. However, they hope that more customers will join this claim. One of the affected is Shbadan Akylbekov. She asserts that PayPal froze $172,000 from her account that she used to receive payments for the online sale of products.
Akylbekov clarifies that PayPal only told her that this was a measure supposedly violating the platform's usage rules. Nothing more. Six months later and after several claims, Akylbekov could access her account again. But it was empty.
PayPal's response to this theft was that those funds were confiscated for "damages resulting from the violation of acceptable use policies."
Wallets or Banks Have No Legal Right to Confiscate Funds
Another woman who has now sued PayPal is Roni Shemtov. She had $42,000 confiscated from her account without prior notice. She sold clothes through eBay.Like Akylbekov, 180 days later, she was able to access her account, but found it was empty. One of PayPal's justifications for this action was that she had sold clothes at prices below the market.
The lack of explanation or absurd justifications for freezing users' accounts is a central part of the class-action lawsuit. The affected people claim their right to know the reasons for PayPal's decisions, especially when the company confiscates balances.
PayPal now faces a lawsuit for misappropriation of third-party assets, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and violations of federal law. Will the plaintiffs win?
If you have your account blocked on PayPal or another wallet, bank, or financial institution, contact us.
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Sometimes it really is too easy
I'm guessing paupers have nothing to be worried about
Lena Evans: 26,000 dollars confiscated
The stone had started rolling the poker player Lena Evans. Her PayPal account had been blocked last year. The company had informed her about the blocking of the account and that the balance of $26,000 would be confiscated. PayPal had not initially provided a reason. Upon request, the company only informed that it was a “necessary measure of the management”. PayPal’s terms of use do state that the service may not be used to pay out gambling proceeds; however, it is not only questionable whether this constitutes a right to withhold the credit, but also whether Evans’ case involves gambling proceeds at all. For example, the poker player also supports the advancement of women in professional poker – and states that the credit in question was donations to the Poker League of Nations, a non-profit organization active in this regard.Numerous other cases
In addition to Evans’ case, numerous others are known in which PayPal confiscated assets without warning or adequate justification. Prominent, for example, is the case of Shbadan Akylbekov, who sells hyaluronic pencils over the Internet to prevent facial wrinkling. According to his statements, 172,000 US dollars were debited from his wife’s account, which he uses for his business, without notice or justification. Only when asked, PayPal informed him that it was compensation for the violation of the terms of use. Later, on the other hand, the company stated that it was money that would be used to compensate customers who had complained. Again – in both cases – it is at least unclear to what extent PayPal has the right to act independently and collect the money.PayPal user Roni Shemtov also publicly commented on her case: more than 42,000 US dollars were debited from her account. Upon multiple requests, she received three different justifications for the withdrawal of the money.
Poker player Christopher Bryan against PayPal
Meanwhile, the case of poker player Christopher Bryan, aka Chris Moneymaker, should give hope to those affected: Last year, the PayPal account of the former poker world champion was blocked and the 12,000 US dollars on it was confiscated. Bryan then defended himself and threatened PayPal with a lawsuit – whereupon he got the money back. Now the poker pro supports his colleague Evans in the class action lawsuit.How the lawsuit will end is completely open. The core issue is the unlawful unannounced collection of funds without any possibility of intervention, in the view of the plaintiffs. They are now demanding not only repayment of the collected funds, but also triple the amount as damages.
