So, I've earned some money remotely abroad – writing PR articles. Clients pay me regularly, but... when it came to withdrawing the money, I discovered something unpleasant that the service hadn't warned me about in advance.
Withdrawals are possible to Capitalist and PayPal wallets. You can withdraw to a bank card, but... withdrawals to Kazakhstani bank cards are impossible – not to any! The huge list of banks includes even some banks from tropical islands with a population of three... but not a single one from our country.
I decided to open a PayPal wallet, especially since they say everything is simple and easy!
Go to the PayPal website on your computer and click Sign Up. Important: everything is in English, so if you don't speak the language, you'll need a translator handy! As usual, enter your email address and create a password, or the system will generate one for you. We select the account type—personal or business (I choose personal). We enter our phone number and confirm it with a code from an SMS. We fill out the form...
But no. Now we're asked to either make a purchase or top up our account... but we can decline. A window opens asking us to enter our bank card, with the three digits on the back, of course... and so on. They say PayPal will charge a small amount and then return it—to verify you.
But I haven't gotten to that point.
I received a message:
Access to your account has been temporarily restricted.
We'd like to confirm the accuracy of the information in your PayPal account because we've noticed suspicious activity in your account. To better understand the situation, we need additional information from you. You must provide the requested information to restore full access.
What is this "suspicious activity"—when I simply followed all the registration steps step by step? It's not specified... But we do need to send a scan of your ID and provide some other confidential information.
Then email verification – passed! And then – not quite...
Then phone number verification: a QR code opens, you need to scan it with your phone's camera. Everything is OK – passed! But – not quite... It turns out now you need to enter your email address and password on your phone (and since the password is tricky – mixed-case letters, numbers, and special characters, be careful). After you enter it, an oval window opens, and you need to type your face in there. Then it gets bigger, and you type again.
Meanwhile, a new message appears on my computer:
We no longer provide PayPal services for this account.
Your account has been deactivated.
Without explanation... In more detail:
After checking, we have detected unusual activity on this account that we are unable to support. Your account has been permanently deactivated.
There are several reasons why this happens: gambling, and all sorts of illegal activities... But if you haven't even managed to fully register and you've already been PERMANENTLY deactivated, that's too much.
Moreover, they managed to collect a fair amount of confidential information: my first and last name, home address, email, phone number, my bank card details, including my CVV code, a scan of my ID, and even a video scan of my face... Even though they deactivated me, they won't delete it—they store it for at least 10 years!
So, decide for yourself—do you need this happiness and this PayPal...
That's all for me. Now I'll try with the Capitalist wallet and report back.
Mikhail Dmitrienko, Almaty
13.08.2026