PayPal no longer available to foreigners in Thailand

[Mickeymaus]

13 minutes ago, Peterphuket said:

"Correct nothing to do with PayPal !! it's the Thais again cutting off there nose inspite of there face"

 

I think it is not PayPal or the Thai government, these are the rules that have been drawn up and enforced in a global context to avoid money laundering.

When you'll take a look to the Netherlands, the rules are even stricter there and even want to be able to register every transaction of Euro 100 or more. 

Behind this is the USA. I never forget when they closed all my US bank accounts because of the George Bush Patriot Act. This happened after I moved from the US to Asia. Also try to open a bank account for instance in Switzerland as US citizen. Many banks don't want to have anything to do with US citizens anymore. 

[Tropicalevo]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

So what are the options for us? I recently logged in to my PayPal account and they tell me I have to enter my Thai ID card number. I am not Thai, so I don't have that number.

I am not Thai but I do have an id number (pink card).

It was rejected as not a valid Thai number.

This is not PayPal's fault. It is the 'we are in control' Thai government making the rules.

[Peterphuket]

1 minute ago, Mickeymaus said:

Behind this is the USA. I never forget when they closed all my US bank accounts because of the George Bush Patriot Act. This happened after I moved from the US to Asia. Also try to open a bank account for instance in Switzerland as US citizen. Many banks don't want to have anything to do with US citizens anymore. 

Yes, I think the US is the worst in this one.

For example a Dutch guy born in the USA but living in the Netherlands have to file a tax return for the USA.

[jacko45k]

30 minutes ago, NorthernRyland said:

Does this only apply to PayPal accounts linked to Thai bank accounts? I just opened my account and I didn't see any notifications.

 

Did you get an email yet from a Nigerian telling you the account was suspended due to unusual activity?

[NorthernRyland]

Just now, jacko45k said:

Did you get an email yet from a Nigerian telling you the account was suspended due to unusual activity?

No, but those things happen outside of this context on fairly regular basis.

[dpcjsr]

Money laundering laws have always been a joke. They are ineffective and harmful but they give power to the elite to control your money. Enough said. 

[NorthernRyland]

8 minutes ago, Peterphuket said:

For example a Dutch guy born in the USA but living in the Netherlands have to file a tax return for the USA.

It's literally just a tax harvesting plantation at this point.

[lopburi3]

1 hour ago, Hakuna Matata said:

In my opinion, this is a step in the right direction.

Foreigners living in Thailand can still use PayPal to send money.

They will not be able to receive money.

If you want to receive money, probably you are doing some business. You are supposed to pay the tax in Thailand.

Register your business in Thailand, pay the tax every year.

Then you can use PayPal to receive money. 

 

PayPal is using this approach in many countries, not only Thailand.

You care to explain how you send PayPal without a PayPal account?  You can no longer have an account without Thai ID if Thailand is your address.

[RayOday]

Good. PayPal has onerous T&Cs and capricious restrictions. I am no fan of Peter Thiel. Although he is no longer directly with PayPal, Thiel had used his billions to back Trump and MAGA candidates. He sits on the board of Facebook and started Palantir which was instrumental in social network targeting which influenced Trump's election. I have boycotted PayPal on the merits of their terms and  screwed up management and board members that support MAGA policies and candidates. Thiel, in my view, backs right wing extremism with elitist beliefs with the conviction that he knows what's best for society. He implements through financial backing and social influencing. Google Thiel to fill in the blanks. Goodbye PayPal and good riddance. (I didn't say anything about Musk but I could).

[SunsetT]

No great loss as their exchange rates were a total rip-off.

[David T Pike]

Sucks that Thailand refuses to grow up and does not play well with others. Always in detention...

[OneMoreFarang]

24 minutes ago, dpcjsr said:

Money laundering laws have always been a joke. They are ineffective and harmful but they give power to the elite to control your money. Enough said. 

Really? How do you know?

Insider knowledge?

Or something you saw somewhere on the internet?

[Mickeymaus]

24 minutes ago, Peterphuket said:

Yes, I think the US is the worst in this one.

For example a Dutch guy born in the USA but living in the Netherlands have to file a tax return for the USA.

Yes, as US citizen you will be taxed worldwide. I am not a US citizen ????????????. I worked in the US for a while.

[0815]

PayPal - one of the dumbest companies anyway.
Can't count how many times they sent emails (from an address you can't reply to) asking me to add a Thai ID number to my account.

[seajae]

again we see the thai govts racism in action, anything to make it hard for farangs

[Bim Smith]

Anyone who is familiar with Jim Browning's YouTube channel where he catches scammers especially from India. In a recent video he stated he cannot understand why these scammers mainly use Thai bank accounts to launder there money and why the Thai government does little about it. I doubt anyone laundering money is going to use PayPal. They have there own team of investigators having previously worked with them before and are quick to freeze accounts they even suspect of laundering.

[Olav Seglem]

3 hours ago, JayClay said:

So which part of this excludes foreigners from being able to use the service?

As far as i understand it should be possible opening in country where have "national id-number". But, paying tax to ghailand (as guess most falangs do) you get tax-id number. Anyone tried that ?

[PremiumLane]

6 hours ago, ukrules said:

I can quite literally feel the hate.

Well done paypal for preventing me from having a few thousand Baht available online for easy use.

 

I'm sure this change will do absolutely zero to 'save the world' from the usual excuses of money laundering and preventing terrorism and make many thousands of people hate the company even more than they already do.

I never had this kind of problem with Bitcoin. It just works and doesn't care who you are or where you are.

It wasn't Paypal who chose to do this - and Bitcoin is sh^t

[OneMoreFarang]

41 minutes ago, 0815 said:

PayPal - one of the dumbest companies anyway.
Can't count how many times they sent emails (from an address you can't reply to) asking me to add a Thai ID number to my account.

Which part about that is dumb?

If a company wants something from me, I would for security reasons always log into my account and then follow whatever they request.

Clicking on links in emails or replying to them is asking for trouble. Or should we call it dumb?

[SymS]

They really don't want our money.
I've been living and working here for over 12 years. I can't use my money to buy a house, I used to be able to open tax-free fixed deposit accounts, but when I went to renew this week, I was told it was for Thai nationals only now. Same thing with an online savings account with a 1.5% rate.

 

Condos are poor investments in most cases, so the only option is to invest/save in the stock market, or move the money out of the country.

[Raphael Hythlodaeus]

3 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

You are misinformed. This has nothing at all to do with PayPal. It has everything to do with new demands by the Thai government. PayPal is merely abiding by them, doing as it's told by the government. Do you really think that PayPal voluntarily wants to lose customers?

Are you sure about that? PayPal have given no clear explanation for the changes, and why they could not come to an agreement with the Thai government to use passport identification as other financial companies do.

[rbkk]

2 hours ago, edwinchester said:

If you have a Pink Card or Yellow House Book entering your id number on that may be worth a try.

Not for the banks approval criteria. Only Thai nationals allowed. This is all about money laundering (Thai Govt. new rules) and is also the reason for the Cash Machine Deposit new rules.

[happy me]

5 hours ago, Celsius said:

 

You do realize this has absolutely nothing to do with PayPal.

But it does, because PayPal chose not to allow other proof of ID recognition. 

[IamNoone88]

PayPal have been holding $1,300 on our Biz Account for over a year and have done nothing to release the funds. They froze the accounts at the beginning of this mess over a year ago. They ignore emails and are in fact a defunct business that has for all intents and purposes frozen funds with no response. It is impossible to reach them. If and when I can release the funds, I will terminate the account and never use them again. Completely useless.

[Pattaya Spotter]

6 hours ago, ukrules said:

I can quite literally feel the hate.

Well done paypal for preventing me from having a few thousand Baht available online for easy use.

 

I'm sure this change will do absolutely zero to 'save the world' from the usual excuses of money laundering and preventing terrorism and make many thousands of people hate the company even more than they already do.

I never had this kind of problem with Bitcoin. It just works and doesn't care who you are or where you are.

Not sure why you're mad at PP for changes required by new regulations promulgated by Thai financial regulators ????

[yardrunner]

4 hours ago, JayClay said:

So which part of this excludes foreigners from being able to use the service?

The part that says that if you want a a personal account with pay pal you have to register with NDID in Thailand and you can not register for NDID unless you are a Thai National and have a Thai ID card/number and the pink card for foreigners is not accepted

[Raphael Hythlodaeus]

Has anyone successfully used a Thai PINK ID card to register with PayPal?

PayPal specifically exclude this and state . .

.
"You will initially need to provide your full legal name in English, and your Thai national ID number (other forms of identification which do not have a 13-digit Thai national ID number, such as a non-Thai passport, work permit, non-Thai Identification card (pink ID), or Thai Permanent Resident Permit cannot be accepted)."

However, my Thai PINK ID card DOES have a 13-digit number.
PayPal mistaken or what?

[johnarth]

4 hours ago, JayClay said:

So which part of this excludes foreigners from being able to use the service?

you have to use a Thailand ID number witch is only issued to Thai people

[Bangkok Barry]

13 minutes ago, Raphael Hythlodaeus said:

Are you sure about that? PayPal have given no clear explanation for the changes, and why they could not come to an agreement with the Thai government to use passport identification as other financial companies do.

PayPal have stated very clearly in their emails why they are taking the steps they are, more than once. They did discuss with the Thai government over the past year ways to mitigate the new law and we originally were told that private individuals could continue as usual and the rule would only apply to companies. Then - surprise surprise - the government did a U-turn and blocked that.

[Heng]

I'm so angry at Paypal for following local laws.  ????

 

That said, for money laundering, Paypal is the present day equivalent of using gold bar smuggling vests when people were moving towards wire transfers for everything.