PayPal's New Fraud Rules Are Key For PFs

PayPal announced Wednesday (May 4) a series of payments policy changes, including late-to-the-game restrictions on gift cards, a longtime favorite cyberthief tool. Given PayPal's massive marketshare, payment facilitators need to watch closely any policy changes the no-longer-Ebay-unit makes. In short, any fraud-related changes that PayPal makes gives political cover for any PF to mimic the move.

The biggest change is that PayPal is now excluding "items equivalent to cash, including gift cards" from its PayPal Seller Protection program. It made a similar change to its Purchase Protection program by "clarifying the exclusion for items equivalent to cash to now include stored value items such as gift cards and pre-paid cards." A few other items that will no longer be supported by purchase protection-at least as of June 25, when the new rules are scheduled to kick in-are payments on crowdfunding platforms, "gambling, gaming and/or any other activity with an entry fee and a prize" and "anything purchased from or an amount paid to a government agency."