My name is Syamsul Fajrin. I've been using PayPal for about 10 years, and I have always appreciated the user-friendly interface and the simplicity of transactions. It is the first payment platform I use for my online business, and it has been my favorite, until recently.
October 6, 2025
I got an email from PayPal telling me that my personal account has been permanently deactivated.
I thought the email was a scam at first, but then I logged in to my account and found that the limitation message was indeed present.
I cannot move $3000 of my hard-earned money, which has been a total nightmare. This income is my livelihood, and without the money, I will go into bankruptcy.
From the email, PayPal says that my account violated their law about "items for sale that appear to infringe on a copyright, trademark, or the right of publicity or privacy."
I believe this has been a complete misunderstanding.
I only use PayPal to withdraw money from one platform, which is Fiverr, where I run my freelance business about marketing services.
This is my Fiverr profile: https://www.fiverr.com/syamstools
As you can see, it's all about book marketing services. My most performing gig, which is 90% where's the money in my PayPal came from, is this gig:
https://www.fiverr.com/s/gD8VGbb
The service is about offering my clients a way to promote their book using my website and social media.
For some reason, the PayPal system mistakenly thinks these services violate their law about "selling copyrighted items."
This gig only promotes books, nothing more. The buyers of this gig are authors and writers, and they didn't get any digital products, certainly not copyrighted materials like the email claims.
I don't sell their books either. The only thing the service does is promote their books on my website, where people will be referred to the Amazon page where they can buy those books.
In any case, if there's a problem with my gigs on Fiverr, then Fiverr will be the one who removes those services or closes my account on their own, which has never happened.
I tried to contact PayPal and explained briefly, telling them to check again and tell me the specific transaction that violates their law.
Unfortunately, PayPal's next email a few days later absolutely doesn't help.
October 8, 2025
They just tell me that the limitation cannot be removed, without giving further information. No details about which transactions violate their rules. That's very unfair. I deserve to know what happens if I'm really doing something wrong.
So that's why I decided to bring my side of the story, since PayPal doesn't even bother to tell me their side of the story.
Again, if it's just a few bucks, I can live with it, but $3000 on hold is something I cannot afford to lose, especially when I don't feel doing anything wrong. This income is my and my family's livelihood, and I have trusted PayPal for so many years with my legal business.
I'm still optimistic that PayPal will do the right thing here (they should). I believe my account doesn't deserve to be closed, but more importantly, I should be able to withdraw my money as soon as possible, as it is 100% my right and part of the U.S. law.
I wish PayPal would read this thoroughly so they can activate my account again, as I still hope to use PayPal in the future.
Thank you very much!
Sincerely,