Many of you recently heard about the brouhaha at PayPal in early October. The company “accidentally” announced that they’d be fining their customers $2,500 if those customers said things (on social media? in person? at work?) that PayPal didn’t approve of. Think “thought police”.
A few days later, my friend Sally (not her real name) emailed me:
”When I read the following on October 8, 2022 I decided to close my PayPal account:”
"PayPal's new acceptable use policy, beginning November 3, 2022, will enable the company to withdraw $2,500 from your account if they find anything you've said to be objectionable, including "misinformation" or "discrimination" of groups or individuals based on gender identity." [originally written by Crista in an October 8th social media post]
“On or about the 10th of October I went online to close my PayPal account. Clearly I did not want to do business with any company that, if they felt like they didn’t like what I was saying, could/would fine me $2500. Initially, I was only able to close off my bank account as a source of funds. I went back the next day and was successful of closing the credit card that was also listed as a source of funds. I closed and cancelled everything I could find.”
“On or about the 13th of October, PayPal proceeded to pay $1029.30 to an acquaintance of mine that I had used PayPal with in the past. This is 2-3 days AFTER I closed my PayPal account.”
“This acquaintance notified me and we began to talk on the phone; our call was cancelled twice. In telling you tonight about this, OUR conversation was also cancelled, as we were talking, at least once if not twice.”
“I want to know if this has happened to any other former PayPal customers as this is no accident. My computer, phone, etc. is being monitored by PayPal as an intimidation technique.”
I phoned Sally and asked where PayPal got the money from that was subsequently sent from Sally’s PayPal account to Sally’s acquaintance. Sally said that the money was drawn from the credit card that she’d had on file at PayPal. Fortunately, the acquaintance plans to reimburse Sally. Imagine if that money had gone to a stranger, or a large corporation (overseas??!!), with whom Sally had previously done business?!
PayPal has since declared that this alarming warning to customers was an accident, as if mice were jumping on their computer keys one evening, added something creative to the company’s legal policies, and then hit “send”!
Don’t be fooled. People (and companies) show you who they are. Believe them.
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Crista Huff is a hedge fund portfolio manager who writes on many topics, including politics, economics, investment markets, healthcare, child-rearing, gardening, Christianity, sociology and psychology.
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A friend asked me if Sally's account had been raided by scammers. I suppose anything is possible. However, wouldn't scammers send the money to THEMSELVES, rather than to Sally's recent business customer? And if scammers had such intricate access to PayPal customer account data, wouldn't that be part of a large data breach, and not an isolated incident?
I am in the middle of making arrangements to cease doing business with them.