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It's time for ANN to lose PayPal


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chefneer
Aria Company



Joined: 27 Aug 2009
Posts: 1686
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:08 pm Reply with quote
To ANN management:

I think it's time that you found another way to process subscriptions. For some unknown reason PayPal now requires account holders to submit very personal information - such as scanned images of Social Security cards, drivers licenses, passports, utility bills, and so on. If we don't, they freeze our accounts. There is no way in Hell that I am sending them that kind of information. In fact, it is likely that I will close my account. I suggest that you dump them and find other ways to process payments. With this kind of data requirement it is my opinion that they have become a catastrophe waiting to happen.

I want to renew my subscription but your subscription buttons go directly to PayPal, which requires an account to complete the purchase. Since I haven't complied with their intrusive demands getting the money to you by that route is problematic.
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Dan42
Chief Encyclopedist


Joined: 02 Jan 2002
Posts: 3780
Location: Montreal
PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:20 pm Reply with quote
You don't need a Paypal account. After clicking the subscription button you'll arrive on the Paypal website; notice the part that says "No PayPal account? Pay using your credit or debit card"
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chefneer
Aria Company



Joined: 27 Aug 2009
Posts: 1686
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:33 pm Reply with quote
Unfortunately that doesn't work. Perhaps once-upon-a-time, but no longer. It recognizes me as an account holder and insists that I log in, at which time it insists that I provide information that I'm not likely to give them, which takes us back to the original problem. This leads me to believe that, even if I were to close my account, they would want me to open a new one.

They seem to be fishing for a great deal of personal information, and I do believe that you would be better served with a different processor. Do you have any other acceptable payment methods?
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Teriyaki Terrier



Joined: 26 Mar 2008
Posts: 5689
PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:35 pm Reply with quote
That is really needed information now and days Chefneer? Must be new policy, as I've never heard about that before with Paypal.

Not that I am jumping to Paypal's side (hardly) but have you thought of giving Paypal a call about this to make sure this information is legitimate?
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chefneer
Aria Company



Joined: 27 Aug 2009
Posts: 1686
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:56 pm Reply with quote
It appears to be pretty new. I discovered it when I logged in to add some money to my account. At first I thought it was a scam, but after wandering through their site it's become clear that it isn't - they really do want this data.

The message I continually get from them is that: " After reviewing your account, we require additional information to verify it." This after I've had a verified account with them for years with no issues. I've also made purchases with the account in several currencies, the most recent being a purchase in Yen.

They will only accept scanned images of the documents they are demanding, and they state that they will re-verify the account only when the images have been received, and only several days after they have been received. In addition to financial documents, they appear to require images of some form of government issued ID.

The whole thing just seems very wrong. I used to recommend that people open a PayPal account - I won't be doing that any more.
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Saffire



Joined: 25 Nov 2007
Posts: 1255
Location: Iowa, USA
PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:21 pm Reply with quote
I just ran a 1 year subscription purchase through Paypal and wasn't asked any of those questions. Seriously, ask them why they suddenly want this info; it could be something people need to know about.
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DerekTheRed



Joined: 19 Dec 2007
Posts: 3544
Location: ::Points to hand::
PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:24 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, I just checked if I was required to verify any of this information and they are asking me no such thing. I think your account is getting special attention, chefneer. Maybe because of the purchases in Yen? And the "No Paypal account?" button is working just fine for me. Malware maybe?
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chefneer
Aria Company



Joined: 27 Aug 2009
Posts: 1686
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:43 pm Reply with quote
I've sent them an email requesting an explanation. God knows when, or if, they'll respond to it.

I've been doing some cruising on the net, and it appears that I'm not alone. There's no way to know, of course, how widespread it is, or if they're picking on selected accounts or if they'll eventually pick on everybody.

If it's malware they've already got my info, because the same connection that's giving me this BS has my complete profile. It's always possible, but I don't think I'm missing anything. I've logged in to the account several times, with the same result every time.

As for the Yen purchase, I have accounts in five different currencies, and I've never had problems with them, so I don't know.

What I do know, is that I cannot use my PayPal account, for anything.
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Calathan
Subscriber



Joined: 27 Aug 2005
Posts: 9112
PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:47 pm Reply with quote
Chefneer, I'm also pretty certain that this isn't some new requirement from Paypal, but a specific situation with your account. My guess is that they think someone else might have gotten access to your account, and have locked it until they can verify that you are the person in control of the account. You might want to try calling them if you want to get a response quicker than what you can get with email. Also, if you want to make a purchase without logging in, but they seem to recognize your computer, I would try clearing your cookies (or using a different computer).
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Teriyaki Terrier



Joined: 26 Mar 2008
Posts: 5689
PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 9:11 pm Reply with quote
Chefneer: Companies can ignore and pretend emails never went through. They can't ignore live phone calls.

I've dealt with Paypal before, they aren't exactly the easily the deal with, but if you stand your ground they won't walk over you. I'd ask for a manager or section boss when you call. If you stand your ground they likely will realize you aren't playing around.

If they hang up on you by "accident" keeping calling back. Bother them as much as you can, as this is a matter of pretty delicate information. Given that the internet "doomsday" happened yesterday, there is a chance that Paypal might have temporarily added this measure for more safety.

I've also been a verified Paypal for several years and haven't really had any outstanding issues myself. I am not intentionally trying to sing praise towards Paypal, but they are more secure when dealing with international companies, not always but it's better than just relying on the international companies security.

What browser are you currently using Chefneer and is your browser fully up to date? Also clearing all your cache might be beneficial as well.
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Rukiia



Joined: 30 Aug 2010
Posts: 1897
Location: British Columbia, Canada
PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 11:24 pm Reply with quote
I have never heard of Paypal doing such a thing. I have been using it for years and it has been a smooth ride for me. I did a mock check out and I too did not get asked to give my personal info.

No offense but you should have called Paypal first and asked why they are requesting such info from you instead of jumping the gun and posting that the ANN staff should drop them. I personally would be very upset if ANN no longer offered Paypal for Subscription payments.
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Teriyaki Terrier



Joined: 26 Mar 2008
Posts: 5689
PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 12:16 am Reply with quote
So I decided to do more research and admitingly, due to some prior experience, had a feeling this was the act of a Phishing bot or a string of commands by a remote source. Here is a link to learn more about phishing though. https://encrypted.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=phishing&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CGoQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.antiphishing.org%2F&ei=ngr9T9XvE8Si2QWNm-DdBg&usg=AFQjCNFHr-VKMYRYWuO8g2qzi0sKWj393Q&sig2=GPwYYdN8lYPvLTQDRDcJUg&cad=rja

Given the security of Paypal, which from my line of intel is mixture of Secure Sockets Layer and Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure protocol, so while this isn't an easy feat to bypass those security measures, it's not exactly impossible either.

I still say give Paypal a call tomorrow though. If it is indeed what I what happened with your account Chefneer, calling would be a very wise idea, as well as your banking insinuation as well.
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Mesonoxian Eve



Joined: 10 Jan 2012
Posts: 1858
PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 6:01 am Reply with quote
@chefneer: If you are receiving these requests via email, they're fake. Paypal's terms of service states it will never request personal information via electronic communication. Please review for validation.

You should be logging into to paypal.com, which will automatically redirect you to https://www.paypal.com?.... If the web address is not in this format, you've malware on your computer that's redirecting you to a bogus site.

You do not state what browser you are using or if you've anti-virus software on your machine, but I highly recommend either Firefox and Chrome to log into Paypal and never use IE. IE supports a tool called ActiveX which is why so many people have malware on their computer. By default, ActiveX can be installed behind the scenes on "trusted" sites, and Microsoft's reputation for administering these sites has been called into question thanks to a certificate validation failure on their end.

Firefox and Chrome use third-party, open-access validation procedures to determine if the website you're accessing, even after a redirect, is a phishing site and will block access instantly with a warning.

In addition, if you're not using anti-virus software (since most now come with the same phishing scans), I recommend you head to Microsoft's website and download Home Securities Essential, a free virus/malware app.

I do agree with your position: do not hand this information to Paypal. I've never heard of the company asking for the info unless it was required by law to retrieve.

@TT:
You can't have an HTTPS account without an SSL, so confusing people these are "two separate possible threats" is pushing unnecessary fear.

While it's true some SSL certificates have been compromised or found to be invalid, the rarity doesn't allow for the majority to get worried.

It's impossible to circumvent the current system with current PC technology. Now, throw out a few high-end machines in unison, and it's possible for the single key, but still impossible for every key out there.

If a key is compromised, it takes less than 30 minutes to invalidate the breach.

I know Fox News wants you all to believe this is a "serious threat", but it's not.

Paypal's certificates have never been compromised as of today.

Of course, that's because they cycle them often.
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egoist



Joined: 20 Jun 2008
Posts: 7762
PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 7:59 am Reply with quote
There was only one time I had to scan and send my driving license to WoW, but that's because I faked my own name back then. Laughing

Paypal never asked me that either, and I'm damn sure they're missing a lot of my information. I also did a lot of purchases in yen, if that helps. But then again, my password there is the most complicated I've ever used on any website, and I only access from home, which has a static IP.

Have you checked your computer? It could be that they detected multiple IPs trying or successfully accessing your account.
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Teriyaki Terrier



Joined: 26 Mar 2008
Posts: 5689
PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:45 am Reply with quote
Mesonoxian Eve: I was multi tasking when I wrote that, plus I was a little bit tired as well.

Intentionally I was trying to push fear though. With the keys though, given the mainframe of Paypal, that does sound about right although your spot on about the rarity as well.

Fox News is a bunch fear mongering suites, so I don't put truth into their words myself. Given the sensitivity of the information listed on that website, that makes sense Paypal's certificates are cycled as often as they are.

In addition to using Firefox and Chrome though, I'd take it two steps further and would install Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) everywhere on both Firefox and Chrome as that will automatically connect you to a Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure version of the website, if it truly does exist.

Here is a link to their website https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere/ This also works with Chrome, quite well.

In addition to that add on with Firefox and Chrome, I would also install Force Transport Layer Security (TLS) on Firefox, not sure if Chrome is compatible yet. This is similar to HTTPS everywhere, but you can manually force a site to only connect to a HTTPS version of that site every time. Link to their site. http://forcetls.sidstamm.com/

Also if you use the search engine Google, I now only recommend using Google SSL/https. Much more secure and the only way I'll ever use Google these days. Here is the link. https://encrypted.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=google%20https&source=web&cd=3&sqi=2&ved=0CFgQFjAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fencrypted.google.com%2F&ei=SZH9T-_EIsrO2wWApODdBg&usg=AFQjCNFY8-B5LQ2oZRWF7UAug_0NilCOqQ&sig2=_wIs36vG4sQS1ZGWD9hKbg&cad=rja
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