Paypal requests for documents - What is their intention with these?
 

It looks like if you receive a certain amount of funds in your paypal, they lock your account until you send a copy of your ID and driver's license.
I wouldn't mind doing this, but I wonder what they do with these docs. Will they send your paypal activity data to the government of the country of the paypal account? Or what exactly is the purpose of this?

To take reasonable steps to ensure that you really are who you say you are.

What concerns me is that they never asked for it, only after receiving a certain amount of funds they did. So, can it be that they have an obligation with governments to share all information on all transactions of users?

It is normally when you pass a certain limit.

It is obviously not practical for them to ask customers for this on sign up as few would proceed to sign up I guess, but you can be sure their terms and conditions provide for them to ask for it when they want......and best time to get somebody to comply with a prove your id request is when you are holding their money "hostage".

If you are concerned about their intentions with your documentation, just ask them what they will do with it.

western union requests ID when you send out more than 1000 dollars, if you send more than 3k at once WU is required to report that transaction

i think government requires them to collect more info about you once you pass certain limits.
I'm sure they don't share all the information at all times, but when it's required they do share. You are also supposed to claim income received through paypal in your income filings.

Called " Know your customer" these regulations require any company involved in financial transactions that reach a certain level, either cumulatively or in a single transaction to be able to place and identify the person attached the the account.

Brokerages, Banks, money transfer companies, large ticket retailers (auto, boat, etc) are all required to know who they are dealing with if law enforcement should show up with the proper request for the identity of the person doing these transactions.

Yes, PayPal is now required to file tax forms (1099's, or whatever they are in the US) for every US based customer.

As for requesting docs from every country; it's to help prevent fraud, and so they can track you down & sue you later on if need be.

The intent is to insure you are the person you say you are.
The intent is Paypal knows you are not another person.
Mike Geal[icq name](scammer) reversed Paypal payment on me some time around January 23, 2010.

Does it even matter? That is of course unless you do not plan on reporting that income, which is illegal.

Once they lock your account it will take an act of God to get it unlocked. They will keep your money for 6 months. Type 'paypal locked account' in google and read all the horror stories.

They just limited my account,but i managed to fix it.

paypal sucks turtle ballz

Call Paypal directly and ask them. Why are you asking here?

Anti-terrorism, anti-money laundering, tax evasion and other reasons only known to governments. Same reason the government demand backdoors in skype and other software/communications or ask ISP's to save all data from surfers. All financial institutions need to comply with "know your customer". EU just gave all wire data on requested data to the US also. Tax treaties between governments are at a high point and they hunt for any anonymous credit/debit card holders now to see how the money flow works.

they want to know are you really are you, but i think they do that just to make few more interest $ that way...

tax evasion.

In the past I've received a lot of emails saying they were from Pay Pal, but upon checking with Pay Pal, they were NOT actually from Pay Pal.

Identity theft would be a concern of mine. I recommend that you conatct Pay Pal (and do it directly, not my some link in the email you received.

FBI want you.

Some countries IRS offices even hired 3rd parties to scrape sites like ebay and all similar outlets for selling goods and services. After the database get filled for a few years, it will be compared against personal income and company tax reports that were filed. Governments work rather slow but highly effective in the end.

It's called money laundering. Look into it.

:2 cents::2 cents:

Avoid using paypal as much as possible. I know for some stuff there is no choice but try not to feed the beast.

That says it perfectly.

I sent a mail to request what their intentions are with this information.... No reply...
For sure I don't want them to share these documents or any activity with anyone or any institution...

Does anyone know if paypal does it just for recordkeeping in case a lawsuit ever happens?
Or do they send every single detail of every transaction to the IRS?

From their privacy policy:

Law enforcement, government officials, or other third parties when

* we are compelled to do so by a subpoena, court order or similar legal procedure
* we need to do so to comply with law or credit card rules
* we believe in good faith that the disclosure of personal information is necessary to prevent physical harm or financial loss, to report suspected illegal activity, or to investigate violations of our User Agreement.


My english is not perfect, but does this mean that they only share it if requested by law? Or does the third point mean that they will share it also if they feel like they have to?

Do what everyone stated CALL THEM! Don't send shit via email to who ever you're talking to! Nine out of ten times its some sort of phishing scam.

I didn't receive any mails about this... it's mentioned within paypal.

Part of it has to do with 9-11 and the new financial banking laws about 'knowing who the account holders are'. Same as you need to provide if you open up a P.O. or Mailbox Etc.. You have to show I.D. or Corp Docs.

Also, there is a new tax law. You will be getting a 1099 from Paypal and other alike services.

http://www.dailypaul.com/node/128278

Obviously this article is not the be all, end all. Just found quick example on it. My accountant had told me about this new law and impact with PP (as a lot of my hosting clients pay that way). So check with your C.P.A. about this new law, and impact of your EPASS and PP or other such monies received and impact on your taxes.
:2 cents:

I would be surprised if historically even 1% of ebay "business" sales made it to tax returns.

Whilst the fear of being caught may scare some offenders into compliance, many will just cut paypal out of the deal so this could have a very negative effect on paypal's long term revenues.

I would just pick up the phone and speak to them directly. Why risk it? Do you know really where that email is from? Blindly sending a photo copy of your license, etc... to an email address, isn't wise.
:2 cents: