A little while ago I was asked to confirm my identity on my almost 3 year old Paypal account. I was expecting this to happen at some point as money flows through the account and as the account ages, and it happened. In this post I’ll show you exactly the steps and the process, what documents I submitted, the problems I encountered and the solutions.
Please Confirm Your Identity Email
One day I was just sitting there, not bothering anybody, and I receive an email from Paypal.
This is how it started:
Thank you for choosing PayPal as your preferred way to pay and get paid.
Providing our customers with a safer payment environment is important to us. As part of our continuous efforts in delivering this commitment and complying with regulatory requirements, we need you to confirm your identity at a particular milestone with us.
You’re about to reach your account balance limit. Please provide more information to confirm your identity. Just click the button below to provide the required documents.
Please confirm your identity at your earliest convenience. The information you provide will be protected. For details, please refer to our Privacy Policy.
So I clicked on the “Confirm Your Identity” link, and I was taken to the Paypal login page. I logged in, and then I was taken to a page where I had to submit 1 document to verify my Identity, and 1 document to verify my address.
Verify Identity
For verifying my identity I first took a screenshot of my ID, and I went to submit it. However, upon choosing ID on Paypal, I was greeted with a note that said I had to find a licensed translator and translate the ID and then take a screenshot of that and send it to them. Mmm, how about no!
Then I clicked to submit Passport. There was no note about translation or anything like that. So I took out my passport – valid with all my real information – I took a screenshot and I sent that photo to Paypal.
That was it for proving my identity.
Verify Address
For verifying my address I first had to change the address on my Paypal account, because the address I had on record was outdated. On the page where you have to submit a document to prove address Paypal gives you an option to insert a new address if you want, which is nice. So I gave the new address and I sent them a document. The document I sent them was of my Internet bill, because it’s the only one I had that showed my name and address together (I’m renting, and all the other bills are not in my name).
After completing this step I received the following email titled “You added a new address“:
It’s just an email informing me about the new address I added. Nothing to do here.
The problem
After about 2 days I received an email titled: “Request for additional information”
Thank you for submitting the requested documentation. We have reviewed the information you provided and unfortunately at this time we are unable to provide support in [Country] language for your country.
We have noted that you have provided documents in [Country] language. Please provide a signed and/or notarized English translation of the documents for us to restore access to your PayPal account and avoid further limitation.
We appreciate your patience and understanding regarding this matter and regret any inconvenience it may cause you. Please be assured that all the information submitted will be securely stored and never shared with third parties.
We will continue to expand our language/dialect capabilities to better serve the global marketplace.
Please copy and paste the following link (https://www.paypal.com/
policy/hub/cip) to your browser and log in to your PayPal account to submit your documents. ———————
Proof of Address
———————The document provided unfortunately is not considered a proof of address. Please send us a valid document that proves you live at the address which is currently registered on your PayPal account.
What is a valid proof of address?
We accept a copy of:
– Utility bills (phone and broadband services, health insurance, gas, water, electricity, etc.)
– Bank or credit card statements
– Any other government-issued letters or statements in your nameYou can take a photo of your document and upload it to your PayPal account. You can also send us a copy or a screenshot of your online bills/statements.
We do not accept:
– Purchase receipts/invoices
– Partial documents
– Screenshots of your online banking or service pagesIMPORTANT NOTE:
• The name and address on the documents must match those on your PayPal account.
• The proof of address document must be dated within the last 6 months.
• We cannot accept P.O. Box addresses as physical address verification.As always, if you need help or have any questions, email us at [email protected].
At this point I was a little upset and annoyed. I then went to the bank to try and get some sort of official statement where my address and name are displayed. I couldn’t get one very easily, which was weird. In the meantime I also asked about this on a forum and one person mentioned that the problem could be because the internet bill I sent them was not in Latin characters. The bill was written in, how would I say this, local characters. Characters that only people from the country I live in can read, if you will.
You can see that forum thread here – https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/paypal-confirm-identity-provide-additional-info-balkans-serbia.1041122/
Then I remembered that I also had another internet bill from a different company. Not because I have 2 internets, just because only about a month earlier I switched to a different internet service provider, and so now I had 2 bills from 2 different companies, both recent date, and both showing my name and address and the necessary information. I checked that other internet bill, and to my surprise it was written in Latin characters. YES! Now, I didn’t think this was going to work, to be honest, but I figured I have nothing to lose. So I took a screenshot of the bill and sent it to Paypal.
This is the page you see after you submit the documents:
You get a green checkmark next to Proof of identity and Proof of address, a thank you note for providing the required information, and a note informing you that they will get baack to you within 2-3 business days.
We have confirmed your identity
Next thing you know I receive an email from Paypal informing me that they have confirmed my identity.
Thanks for completing your identity confirmation. Our review is now complete. If your account was limited for identity confirmation, the limitation has been removed.
If you’re still having difficulties using your PayPal account, log in to your account and visit the Resolution Center for additional details.
We appreciate your patience and thank you for making PayPal the better choice for sending and receiving payments.
And a little later I received another email informing me that my account has been returned to regular standing.
Our review is complete and we have returned your account to regular standing.
We appreciate your patience and thank you for your help in making PayPal the safest and most trusted online payment solution.
At this point my proof of identity and proof of address was confirmed and my account was returned to regular standing. It felt warm and fuzzy inside :D
I checked the page where I submitted the documents again, and this is what it showed now:
Video where I talk about my experience and this article
Final Thoughts
All in all, it was a fairly painless and quick process. I did get worried when they refused the document I sent them for proof of address, because I receive payments on the account daily, and if I got limited I may not be able to receive payments anymore. But in the 4 or 5 days it took to resolve the problem I was never limited or experienced any problems with sending and receiving money, so it’s all good.
If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic feel free to comment below.
Thanks for reading.
Very useful article, thanks a lot. I wonder if the PayPal account get limited, and I have a balance in there, can I still withdraw the money to the linked visa card?
Hey Seth,
You can’t withdraw money while your account is limited. Only after the limitation is lifted you can withdraw your money. And if you get a permanent suspension you’ll probably have to wait 6 months to get your money.
I think it’s better to get prepared to travel then, since I put the address to a nearby country, because my country isn’t supported.
Or that’s a bad idea already?
That is a bad idea already. How are you going to verify the account when they ask for address verification? Unless you have a utility bill or bank statement on that address in that other country, you won’t be able to verify the account and will eventually get limited. Although I guess you could go to that other country and get a bank account in that address, and then use that to verify. But that’s only assuming the bank won’t ask for some verification that you actually reside at that address. Sorry but it’s hard to have a Paypal account if it’s not supported in your country.
Thanks for the reply. Appreciate.
Indeed, I thought like this:
Go to the supported country (which I added in my PayPal).
Settle there for a couple of months.
Arrange renting, internet bills etc.
Trying to have a bank statement if possible.
Then send these as verification.
Otherwise, it’s really hard for me to say goodbye to the money i have there, almost $4K :(
Is your Paypal limited? If it isn’t, then you don’t have to go through all that. Just send the money to a friend, and have the friend send it to you via bank or Payoneer or whatever.
And if your Paypal is limited, well, then I don’t know what to tell you. $4k is not a small amount definitely. That said, even if you go to the other country and get a utility bill or bank statement to verify your address, remember you will also have to provide them documents to verify your identity. That’s either passport or identification card (ID). And if you gave wrong/fake name and last name, then that money may be gone forever.
Thanks for the reply.
Firstly, yes my PP account became limited, and I don’t want to push on my luck before careful investigation to know what I should really do, that’s why I’m asking you :)
Secondly, I thought if I use my passport as an ID it would be enough, even if it’s issued from another country, there are cases where people still have their own original passports but they have residential visa in other countries. Not good? :\
Yes they should accept the passport. But I can’t tell you anything with certainty, it’s a complicated situation. Why did you allow $4k to accumulate in your Paypal account? You should never have done that. Always keep Paypal as empty as possible.
We are same situation now. June 19, Paypal restored my account after 77 days waiting. After my account restored again, I start to operate my business and continue receiving orders, so after 30 days operation, I received an email again from Paypal, asking for a Business proof address, I submitted certification of my business, indicate the business name, my personal name and address but after 5 hours they message me that the proof I send is not considered as a proof, they want additional information (their email is like the screenshot you posted, above) Now, I am still waiting for Paypal response. By the way, I am thankful that Paypal doesnt limited back my account, again. I am only worried, does Paypal limit my account, if ever they didn’t confirm the last proof I sent to them ???????
Wow, 77 days is a long time to wait.
There’s not much I can say. You have to send them what they ask of you. If you continue having a problem, it’s much better to call Paypal than just send messages or documents back and forth. Calling them and talking to a support person can best help resolve your problem.
Though, I’m not sure if they offer phone support at the moment, due to corona.
My question is, is that okay to send utility bill or bank statement without the name of business? In your experienced, how long you wait for PayPal to approve your documents?
I’ve never verified a business account, so I’m not sure. I’ve only verified personal accounts in my life, and for personal accounts you need to send your ID or Passport to verify your identity, and a recent utility bill or bank statement (with your name and address being visible) to verify your address. Not entirely sure how things work when verifying a business account
Just ask Paypal, they’ll tell you :)
Hello!
Do you have any number or official email address to call PayPal? I received an email asking for my information, but when I went to the Resolution center of my account there are ANY steps to follow and 0 open cases to be solved. So, this is very strange.
Thank you!
Hey Tara,
I don’t. They also changed their messaging system, from a messaging system to some weird live-chat. But the live-chat isn’t actually live, and you don’t receive an email when your message gets a reply, so you basically have to keep checking the message you sent them to see if you got a reply.
To contact them just login to Paypal, scroll to the bottom and click on “Contact us,” then to go Message Center and send them a message. That’s for sending a message.
They also changed the way to call them. There used to be a number on their “Contact us” page, but last I checked it’s not there anymore. It could be they’re not doing phone support at the moment because of Corona, but I can’t say for sure.
Good luck :)
Good post. I learn something totally new and challenging on sites I stumbleupon everyday.
It will always be exciting to read articles from other authors and practice a little something from their
web sites.
Glad you enjoyed the article :)
proof of address must be full address? coz i used philhealth card there and only indicate the town and city of my residency. help me coz i dont have proof of billing in my name right now.
Hey Glenmarkleal,
Yes, they will require you to submit a document where your full address is visible.
You don’t have anything? You can use a utility bill (electricity, water, internet), you can use a bank statement, probably also your residence contract (rented or owned).
I mean, if you don’t have anything I guess you can go to a bank and open an account, then get the bank statement and use that.
Are you sure this wasn’t a scam??
https://www.spamtitan.com/blog/new-paypal-phishing-scam-seeks-extensive-amount-of-personal-information/#:~:text=Fake%20PayPal%20Email%20Notifications&text=The%20emails%20include%20a%20hyperlink,PayPal%20to%20verify%20their%20identity.&text=After%20entering%20PayPal%20account%20credentials,of%20a%20PayPal%20Security%20check.
Of course it wasn’t a scam. If it was a scam I wouldn’t have written an article about confirming your identity on Paypal, I would have written an article about a scam.
But anyway I always advise people to not click any links or buttons in the emails they receive. So if Paypal sends you an email for confirming your identity or whatever, instead of clicking the button or link in the email, actually open Paypal.com and login.
If there’s something requiring your attention for real, you’ll see it when you login to your Paypal account.
Perfect piece of work you have done, this web site is really cool with excellent info.
Glad you liked it :)
Hey man, i’m in that situation too. i leave in a non supported country and my paypal is restricted. How did you manage to the utililty bill did you ones travel in the uk?
Hey Jagger,
What do you mean you live in a non-supported country? You mean a country where Paypal is not supported?
If that’s the case, how did you even get a Paypal account then?
I mean, if that’s the case and you made an account in a different country, maybe using a proxy or a VPN or something, then I guess the only thing you can try is a fake document.
I don’t know, maybe I didn’t understand your comment.
yes, i used a proxy! i have a legal uk based company with a physical address. it’s a business account
I never had that arrangement. But if you have a physical address for your company, then you probably receive some utility bill at the address in your name or the name of the company, no?
I have same issues and I have submitted my proof of address and proof of Identity. Firstly I submitted proof of address and it was mark Good✅ Now the problem is from my Proof of Identity, my ID have same name with my PayPal account but different ID number and Date of birth is fake.
I have already submitted the proof of Identity, but I’m worried about it and I have $650 on my account.
Is there any possibility that my account will got limited because of the wrong date of birth and ID Number??
Hey Derek,
Like I asked you on Youtube, how can your ID have a different number? Are you doing a verification for the second time, and the ID number you gave the first time was different?
I understand your birthday being different, because you gave a different birthday when you registered on Paypal. But your ID number can only be different if you already gave them your ID number in the past. Because unless I’m mistaken, Paypal doesn’t ask for your ID number when you sign up for an account.
In any case, if your ID number and date of birth is different than what they already have on you, it’s likely they won’t accept the document. But you never know :)