Sep
4
Are you a Paypal fan? Read this!
Filed Under Paypal | Leave a Comment
Here is an article I came across that should be of interest to anyone who thinks Paypal is a real Merchant Account.
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Random Credit Check = $5000 Frozen
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On February 28, 2008 without warning Paypal “closed” my account with $5,772.91 dollars in it. They say on the website and in several calls I made to them that they will not release the money due to a routine credit scan they made and didn’t like what they read in my equifax credit report.
What closed means by their definition is I can’t take the money out and I earn no interest on the money for 6 months. Almost 2 months have gone by since this happened and this is still the situation. They say when I signed up for Paypal I signed a standard agreement that says they can freeze the money in my account any time they want to. I strongly suspect they are earning interest on the money and, in effect, this is a scam on their part to make millions of dollars. I have 100% positive feedback as a seller on eBay (which owns paypal) and I’ve sold over 100 items. I have a feedback score of 86 with many of these being repeat business that doesn’t cause the feedback number to increase. The money was frozen from an auction in which all the winning bidders gave me positive feedback except for one non-paying bidder in Italy who never sent the money despite repeated emails so, of course, I never sent him the item. (The amount of the non-paying bidder is $500.00 — but since he never sent any money by Paypal or any other means I fail to see how this could play a roll in the “closed” account).
Periodic non-paying bidders are, unfortunately, a fact of life on eBay — fortunately a rare one in my experience. The other eight winning auctions of the “freeze” auction all gave me not just positive but glowing feedbacks saying they both received the items I sent them and were extremely happy with them. Without the money from PayPal there is a very good chance I will lose my family home as well as my mother’s home we are attempting to bring up to code. I, my wife, and two sons have lived in our family home for around 18 years. My mother, before she was institutionalized lived in her house (with my father, me and my sister in the earlier days) for around 50 years. We were planning on renting out my mother’s house to help pay for the expenses of her staying at Alzheimer Gated communities which charge $3,500.00 a month and more.
Ironically, before this happened, I was a big fan of Paypal.. “
Sep
4
Heartbreak over Heartland
Filed Under PCI Compliance | Leave a Comment
The following is from Find Law®
Legal Commentary
ANITA RAMASASTRY
Click link below for entire commentary
Heartbreak over Heartland: Why Prosecution for Data Breaches Isn’t Enough
FindLaw columnist and U. Washington law professor Anita Ramasastry discusses the lessons that can be drawn from the recent indictments, by the U.S. Department of Justice, of three hackers — one named Alberto Gonzalez and the other two as yet unidentified — in connection with what is reportedly the largest data breach that has occurred thus far in U.S. history. As Ramasastry explains, the breach compromised both credit and debit card data that was held by Heartland Payment Systems, Inc., based in Princeton, N.J.; 7-Eleven, Inc.; Hannaford Brothers Co., which operates grocery stores in Maine and Massachusetts; and two other, unidentified corporations. Ramasastry covers the state of laws and practices concerning data security, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), and the pending lawsuits that have been filed in connection with this historic breach. She also suggests respects in which PCI DSS falls short, and ways in which Americans’ data security can be better guaranteed. Friday, September 4, 2009