PayPal Blocks Hurricane Relief Funds

[Tyranny_R_US]

It's no secret that the widespread destruction of Hurricane Katrina was exacerbated by delayed relief efforts, but the latest victims of bureaucracy are those individuals simply trying to help out. Humor site Something Awful raised almost $28,000 in less than 9 hours - right up until PayPal froze the funds.

Something Awful's dedicated community may call themselves "goons," but they have historically been quick to respond when needed. The site previously raised $22,000 to fund armor plating for soldiers in Iraq. And the disaster unfolding in New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf coast was no exception.

With its main Web servers located in downtown New Orleans and offline due to flooding, Something Awful founder Rich Kyanka asked visitors to donate to the Red Cross from a temporary page explaining the situation.

"Some people are emailing me, asking if they can donate to SA to help with our server move and downtime and temporary hosting and stuff. Don't worry about us, we'll be fine," Kyanka wrote. "If you really want to make a difference, donate to the SA Red Cross Relief Fund link above. They need it more than we do.

http://www.betanews.com/article/PayPal_Blocks_Hurricane_Relief_Funds/1125880826

:puke:

[tuvor]

1. How much interest can PayPal realize from hanging on to 28K for a few days

Just wondering.

[applegrove]

2. They must have been pissed at the leadership Credit Card companies

showed during the tsunami by cutting fees.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

3. I wonder if that has anything to do with Paypal collecting funds for

United Way. I received an email today claiming that it was taking donations for Paypal and thought it was a spoof, and when I signed on to Paypal, I saw it wasn't. I will not donate to the United Fund.

[napi21]

4. Most of the time when Paypal blocks funds it's because someone

complained there might be fraud, a scam or something like that. They block the funds until the situation gets cleared up. Don't you remember the same thing happened with funds donated for Andy?

Somebody is behind the scenes trying to cause problems here, I'd bet.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

5. That would be beyond criminal

and yet so not surprising. Andy, work some magic from over there!

[Coastie for Truth]

6. You may be right

I contributed to a legitimate charity via PayPal.


A few hours later I got an e-mail from the charity telling me that $28K of contributions had been blocked by PayPal because a few contributors complained to PayPal that it was "possibly" a scam. It was later unblocked.

PayPal (and its parent, eBay) are hyper-cautious about scams - even through a few get through.

[benburch]

7. That is exactly how these guys work!!!

I would NOT be surprised if scamdy.com were behind this one too!

Their professed goal is stopping internet fundraising for charitable causes.