Paypal is the WORST!

[FitBoop]

Paypal keeps getting worse---when I went to the website to verify the account, it says that one of the ways to lift the limits on withdrawing money is to give Paypal your social security number! Alternatively, you can link a credit card, which of course, is the better choice.

I am convinced that something is going on at Paypal where they are trying to get as much personal information as possible about people. How they plan to use it is the big question. My guess is that people's information will be sold and given to all kinds of companies to do various studies, such as seeing what people buy and sell, how much money they have in their bank accounts, how much they charge on their credit cards, etc.. I hope that people don't give Paypal their social security number because that would open up the door to all kinds of identity theft and misuse of information.

[Lisa C]

Originally Posted by FitBoop

How they plan to use it is the big question. My guess is that people's information will be sold and given to all kinds of companies to do various studies, such as seeing what people buy and sell, how much money they have in their bank accounts, how much they charge on their credit cards, etc.. I hope that people don't give Paypal their social security number because that would open up the door to all kinds of identity theft and misuse of information.

I believe the reason PP is asking for SSN is because of the newish rules about 1099 reporting. Anytime someone earns over $600 from any client/job they need a 1099 for it for tax purposes. A lot of people have been able to avoid paying taxes on earning from places like ebay and paypal, or Amazon and these places are being required to get more strict I believe. There was a recent thread about Amazon asking for Tax ID numbers.

I wouldn't try to encourage anyone to give Paypal information any more information than you are comfortable with (and I wouldn't give them my SSN unless I needed to), but I really don't think they are up to anything nefarious or even as questionable as you suggest.

They are dealing with money and have provided a service which has allowed all sorts of awesome small businesses to flourish (for example, see www.etsy.com). I would expect them to want to verify accounts and get certain information to make sure that they are dealing with real people. I earn money from online courses I created through Paypal, and I'm grateful for the service. I've used it quite often for both buying and selling workouts. I wouldn't bother with either if I had to deal with checks and the mail.

Of course that doesn't mean they can't get hacked. Just about anything can get hacked, even if you stay offline completely. So it is smart to stay on top of all your accounts frequently to make sure things are as they should be. Life is complicated in the digital age, but it is also kind of awesome in a lot of ways.