As the Gift Card Scam issue and warning comes up every now and then, I seem to recall that Stephanie (MatureGFE) said that PP Gift Cards are of a different ilk and are safer (harder for the scammers to crack and authorities to hold up).
With Green Dot and other prepaid Credit/Debit cards, you are putting cash into a financial institution regulated by US Banking authorities. That limits the amount of cash transfers and overseas payments but otherwise doesn't seem like a problem for you to give a loaded card to your hostess. The PROBLEM is the scammers who might empty the store bought card before you have time to unzip your fly or unhook her bra.
With a PayPal PAYMENT to a business that is questionable, PP can just seize, freeze or mess with the funds. Bye bye money. Direct payment via PP is thus no good.
With a PayPal Gift Card, SOMEONE (client? escort?) goes into the 7-11 or CVS and pays cash in order to get that cash into their PP account. The PP Gift Card is the means to do that. You can't extract the cash into a Swiss or Russian or Chinese or non-PP bank account ... directly. But I suppose scammers might figure out a way to create PP accounts, scrape the GC clean and then quickly empty their PP account into another fund. In the meantime, there is no way to tell WHO paid cash at the brick and mortar store so that Lisa can put some cash into her PP account in order to buy a nice lingerie set from VS using her PayPal account.
Right now, it's the banking regs, the scammers and PayPal. The PP GC is still subject to banking regs but seems to be a step ahead of the scammers until the scammers can figure out how to divert the flow:
1. Cash to CVS or 7-11. Activate card.
2. Cash then goes to bank or place handling the cash/debit cards
[scammer attack point]
3. Card to escort and then to her legit PP or bank account
4. and then to VS or Omaha Steaks.
versus
1. Cash to CVS or 7-11. Activate PP Gift Card.
2. Cash then goes to PayPal.
[no scam attacks, yet]
3. Escort then transfers cash to her legit PP account
[no scam attacks, yet]
4. and then to VS or Omaha Steaks.
At least for now, PP GC seems OK to use. But I'm still a cash kind of guy.
Posted By: LisaLang
I don't think they are. Green-Dot works like a prepaid card. And with the PP cash card, the money is deposited into your PP account once you enter the codes from the back of the card. Once the funds hit your account you can either shop online to any stores that accept Paypal as payment; deposit the $ into your bank account via PP; request a check from PP; or get cash out of the ATM with the PP debit card (you have to request the card to be mailed to you).
I have heard of Paypal suspending and keeping all profits with high risk transactions when clients directly send money to the providers but never heard of this happening with the cash card. I don't offer this method of payment very often out of fear that it may happen so I don't know how to answer that question. There seems to be no information about that online.
Hope that helps!
Posted By: mrfisher
that the Feds pressured the company into stop selling?
If so, it's probably only a matter of time until the Feds clamp down on them.
Or, given PP's proclivity to screw providers by taking their money if they suspect any illegality, maybe the Feds will let them continue so that providers can have their hard earned money stolen from them.
It serves them right, after all.
-- Modified on 7/31/2016 1:12:15 PM