Falsely accused of creating the account as minor as answer to Nickname change request

LoadingMex
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Hello,

 

i would like discuss an issue i currently have with Paypal and possibly make this more known so it can be fixed.

 

I created my account at my exact birthday, which was allowed by the Websites automatic Age check, after waiting years for it.

Thanks to GMail i still have the "Confirm your Email Adresse" Mail that i received after creating my account. 

 

After multiple years of being a customer and countless service interactions my account now got suspended without advance notice as answer to my requested to change my legal Nickname to my legal Full name. This requires two Official Documents which in my case where ID and Driver license. 

Both of these Documents state my DoB (Day of Birth) which i entered into the System Years ago.

 

After being slightly socked and upset at this, im now left wondering how such a situation can even create it self and if anyone else ever had to deal with this issue? 

 

I almost cant believe that this "age check" is left to human Intelligence, but its also hard to believe that there automatic system in place would make such an error. Since my Account creation was on my 18th DoB, the calculation to find out my Account was not created by a minor should have been quite simple even for a Customer Service worker, since you only have to look at the Year. Even then i dont understand how you couldn't have just checked what DoB i entered into the System on Registration (which was checked by the System) and compared that to my legal Documents. 

 

Since i dont want to escalate this post into me ranting about how ridiculous unprofessional this is in my opinion, i would like to know if anyone has ever dealt or hear of something similar. Feel free to also leave Theories on how this could have happened or your opinion, i would be interested.

 

Thank you 

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LoadingMex
Contributor
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After multiple calls and Emails they, without comment, reopened my account and approved my name change.

 

TLDR: Paypal will flag your 18th Birthday as not being 18th yet, probably because of lazy verification checks. Meaning that even if you provide your correct BoD on Sign-Up (which is allowed to sing up at your 18th birthday) and then later provide your ID proving that that is your actually BoD because of unrelated reasons, your account will be flagged and locked 🙂

 

Only fix, lot of luck and countless support interactions.

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3 REPLIES 3

sharpiemarker
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@LoadingMex 

 

You created an account on your 18th birthday years ago and when you attempted a name change recently, the system flagged you as under age upon submitting your identification documents.

 

Best to have waited at least a few days after your birthdate for good measure but who is to know. I believe its intentional though.

 

PayPal's security system is super sensitive and there are bad actors out there underage (or not) in general that can enter any birthdate just so they can make register to possibly abuse a PayPal account so its a security measure for the system will flag accounts.

 

There have been reports here and there of this happening. Some are not aware that you have to be 18 when they get flagged or have registered some time after their birthday only to later get their account limited due to age.

 

Have to contact customer service review your account, maybe they can lift the limitation once you point out the error to them.

 

To contact customer service:

https://www.paypal.com/be/smarthelp/home

 

Click MESSAGE CENTER or click LOG IN to access your message center or for live chat where available.

 

Or try Social media:

Facebook (US): https://www.facebook.com/paypal

Twitter (US): @AskPayPal 

 

Facebook (Worldwide): https://www.facebook.com/paypal

Twitter (Worldwide): @AskPayPal 

 

Please keep in mind that due to reduced staff, responses may take longer.


Kudos & Solved are greatly appreciated. 🙂
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LoadingMex
Contributor
Contributor

@sharpiemarker 

 

As much as i want to understand your view point;

Ignoring the point that it cant be that difficult to do a precise BoD Check they are required to do so by law, if they provide an Age check in there Register Form, (which you have to enter your Birthday and if its not above 18th it doesn't let you create an account) then its a bit backwards to go on accounts that might be "close" to that date and suspend them even tho they passed there own check.

 

This is something that should clearly be binary. Either the User is above 18 or not. You don't transfer 18.36 $ and then get charged 20$ because "close enough". 

 


@sharpiemarker wrote:

 

You created an account on your 18th birthday years ago and when you attempted a name change recently, the system flagged you as under age upon submitting your identification documents.

 

Best to have waited at least a few days after your birthdate for good measure but who is to know. I believe its intentional though.


Its hard for me to believe that the "System" flagged my account here because Paypal doesn't use any type of Automatic Document Processing. Even with that how could the Customer Service not see the clear information and correct it. 

For me this is reckless and unprofessionell work that you wouldn't like to see in any type of business, explicitly the ones handling money.  

Thank you for your responds and opinion though.

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Solved

LoadingMex
Contributor
Contributor

After multiple calls and Emails they, without comment, reopened my account and approved my name change.

 

TLDR: Paypal will flag your 18th Birthday as not being 18th yet, probably because of lazy verification checks. Meaning that even if you provide your correct BoD on Sign-Up (which is allowed to sing up at your 18th birthday) and then later provide your ID proving that that is your actually BoD because of unrelated reasons, your account will be flagged and locked 🙂

 

Only fix, lot of luck and countless support interactions.

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