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PayPal in Pakistan: Debunking the myth

digital money

A few facts about your so-called verified PayPal account in Pakistan

Being a Pakistani, you must be aware of the fact that PayPal doesn’t work in Pakistan. PayPal doesn’t work in a lot of other countries too so we are not the exception.

Freelancers from Pakistan, affiliate marketers, bloggers and small businesses in Pakistan always dream of having a PayPal account because it is the single most used online payment processor that a lot of people use in developed countries (especially the US).

Clients want to pay you via PayPal and if you don’t have a PayPal account of yours, the client will turn away. Nobody likes losing clients, right?

Also Read: PayPal Singapore unveils the 3 winning startups for PayPal Incubator

Also, PayPal is fairly cheap in terms of its interest rate and fees.

I personally suffered a lot due to not having a PayPal account but the story continues.

The fact, as of today, is that PayPal is not available in Pakistan. It is a reality.

PayPal in Pakistan myths

If you enter the keyword “PayPal in Pakistan” you will be surprised to see tons of Google search results that tell you how to have a verified PayPal account in Pakistan. There are guys who are selling verified PayPal accounts, there are others who will tell you a complete procedure to get a verified PayPal account in Pakistan via Payoneer card and there will be others who will tell you to use a virtual card and so on.

Honestly speaking, these methods do not work – period.

You will get a PayPal account but it will be blocked or frozen sooner or later. And once they block or freeze an account, you don’t get your funds back. It doesn’t matter whether you have $100 or $10K in your account, once it is blocked, there is no way you will get it back.

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And trust me, it is a piece of cake for PayPal to find all such accounts and block them. Do you really think that you can fool a company that generated US$7.9 billion revenue last year?

I mean is it hard for them to catch you?

Not at all. Your IP address and your mac address tells all the story.

PayPal doesn’t want to take down all such fake accounts because it is not an important issue for them but who knows.

Verifying the phone number and identity myths

When I see people telling newbies to use fake name generators to generate a fake name and US address to verify PayPal account via Payoneer card, I laugh, literally.

What a joke.

This just doesn’t end here rather they also tell you to go and get a fake phone number to verify your account.

It works but temporarily.

A few facts about your so-called verified PayPal account in Pakistan

Do you know that PayPal uses phone verification? Yes, they will send you a code on your phone number (which you entered while creating your fake PayPal account). God knows, if you lose that number, you cannot sign in to your account and will lose whatever you have in it.

Do you know you have to provide your social security number to lift withdrawal limits from your PayPal account? If you don’t enter your social security number (for US PayPal), you will be able to withdraw US$500 a month only. To lift this limit, you need social security number which cannot be faked.

Do you know PayPal tracks IP addresses? Even if you are using proxy or a US based IP address, your real IP can still be traced? Well, it is not easy to cheat such a large organisation.

Do you know, in 2015, PayPal froze 150,000 Spanish card holders in a fraud case? Interestingly, most of the funds were not returned to the account holders.

I am just showing the right picture.

Why PayPal is not available in the Pakistan

Now this happens to be an important question.

Here is what PayPal says about not operating in Pakistan.

“PayPal does not publicly detail why it does not service particular countries. Media speculation suggests common reasons could include insufficient regulation and security in a country’s banking system, failure of a country to comply with U.S. tax law, or a U.S. trade ban affecting a country. The availability of PayPal in countries can and does change. For example, in April 2013 PayPal became available in Egypt for the first time.”

Source: Small Business

When PayPal will be available in Pakistan

Nobody has the answer.

Recently, however, Pakistan government invited PayPal and a few other businesses to launch their operations in Pakistan but they will not get here unless we have a solid, secure and compliant banking system in place.

Not all invitations are meant to be accepted, we know this.

So let’s hope and pray.

What you should do now

Here is my sincere advice, unless PayPal launches in Pakistan, you shouldn’t use fake accounts or any type of verified accounts as long as you are in Pakistan. According to the PayPal’s policy, all accounts that violate TOC will be banned with their funds frozen.

Though you might not be in any serious trouble legally but you will lose funds and self-respect.

It is not ethical to operate such accounts and cheat someone for the sake of withdrawing no more than US$500 a month.

The only way to get a verified PayPal account in Pakistan

The only legal and ethical way to use PayPal in Pakistan is to have someone create it for you who actually lives in the host country. I am using PayPal account of my business partner who is in Belgium. If you have friends, family or a business partner in other countries, request them to create an account and share it with you.

It is easy. All they have to do is enter your email address and invite you to use their account. You will get limited or full access (as selected by the original owner).

All other methods will not work but for a limited time.

The views expressed here are of the author’s, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them. e27 invites members from Asia’s tech industry and startup community to share their honest opinions and expert knowledge with our readers. If you are interested in sharing your point of view, submit your post here .

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