PayPal payment on hold and being reviewed...why?

[O2Bfree]

I just tried to send my niece $50 for Christmas via PayPal, and got this message:

Your payment is being reviewed because of government regulations.

As part of our security measures, we review certain payments more closely to ensure our platform is being used properly and to minimize the potential risk for us and our customers.

The note I included with the gift said, "I hope this adds a little cheer to your Christmas. The card is in the mail, LOL!"

The last part is because I usually send her a Christmas card with a check, but this year mailed only the card. (Hope she gets that joke, being a millennial.)

The money is coming out of my checking account. I've sent a couple donations this month via PayPal with no problem. From what I've read so far, a hold can be triggered by certain words or phrases in the note, by multiple transactions in quick succession, and by the transfer of unusually large amounts from a bank account. I don't think any of these things applies to my transaction, so there may be some screwy logic in their security algorithm.

Anyone else had a PayPal payment held for review for unknown reasons?

 

[O2Bfree]

Well, the payment went through today. PayPal offered no details as to why it was held. Strange.

 

[11522914]

I had that exact same situation happen with a PayPal order on Etsy.

A couple of days later it went through with no explanation.

 

[latexman]

Their alarm point for "money laundering" is set way too low, or they are passing on the regulatory pain to consumers to make them aware of a ridiculous regulation so they may help eliminate it.

 

[O2Bfree]

Their alarm point for "money laundering" is set way too low, or they are passing on the regulatory pain to consumers to make them aware of a ridiculous regulation so they may help eliminate it.

Or maybe they're annoyed because I'm paying directly from my checking account for no fee.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

Send bitcoin instead. Or Monero, which has less traceability.

 

[jollystomper]

Is this the first time you sent to that person? Maybe that is why. I recall years ago, the first time I sent to a DS who lives overseas a hold for a couple of days before it went through. It was a larger amount ($200), however. Since then I have never had a problem sending from my checking account, other than for much larger amounts, which I expect.

Or... maybe they are just doing a random check on transactions and you got caught in it. I worked with a financial client years ago, and found that they did this as part of their fraud management process.

 

[O2Bfree]

Is this the first time you sent to that person? Maybe that is why. I recall years ago, the first time I sent to a DS who lives overseas a hold for a couple of days before it went through. It was a larger amount ($200), however. Since then I have never had a problem sending from my checking account, other than for much larger amounts, which I expect.

Or... maybe they are just doing a random check on transactions and you got caught in it. I worked with a financial client years ago, and found that they did this as part of their fraud management process.

Yes, it was the first time I sent to her, however I did another first-time send to someone else a few weeks ago with no problem. Maybe it was just random.