Paypal problems still not over

"A temporary problem with direct debits may cause your Paypal account to show an outstanding balance". This text currently greets customers who receive email notifications from Paypal regarding an account shortfall. The incoming notifications are also causing irritation in our editorial team at the moment.

It is still the aftermath of the payment blockade that German banks imposed on Paypal last week. The background to this was that Paypal's automatic fraud detection systems failed before the weekend before last. As a result, all transactions were received by the banks unfiltered, and the banks' fraud detection systems were increasingly triggered, prompting them to take this tough step.

No measures required

Paypal writes in the notification in the user account that "no action is currently required from those affected. We are already taking care of the problem." However, if Paypal is aware of the incorrect status, the question remains as to why notification emails are still being sent in cases that can be clearly assigned to this issue. However, customers should not call the financial services provider because "our telephone lines are currently very busy", as Paypal further writes. If further information is required, Paypal will get in touch.

Those affected report that Paypal attempted to make the withdrawals between August 25 and August 27 and that they were rejected by the banks. The account shows the (totaled) missing amount.

Paypal has not yet responded to an inquiry from heise online; we may provide an answer here. However, an updated FAQ on the incidents and a message in the Paypal newsroom have been available since the weekend, providing some information for those affected. As cyber criminals are now also jumping on the bandwagon and attempting to hijack access data, those impacted should be careful and only communicate with the company via official PayPal channels – the newsroom article in particular provides specific information here.

(dmk)