Can PayPal Be Traced? Basic Facts (Explained)

No online money-transfer site is ever completely safe. There are always new or advanced ways that people use to try and access the financial information of others.

However, when it comes to buying and selling products online, many people use PayPal all over the world to complete their transactions.

This is because PayPal is one of the oldest online sites for this purpose. It is one of the most experienced sites on the internet right now and has a long history and a good reputation.

Can PayPal be traced?

PayPal is a secure website and encrypted to protect users from tracing their information. It is easy and secure with a lot of consumer protection in the event something might occur. PayPal hacks or errors come from when customers accidentally divulge or leak their own personal information.

While there have been errors or scams in the past through sites like PayPal, many of those instances are due to human error.

You should always be aware of who you are communicating with, who you are sending money to and never divulge your personal information.

How Well are PayPal Payments Encrypted?

PayPal’s system is designed to encrypt data to prevent leaking user information or personal finances.

This is a necessity that sites like PayPal all adopt in order to keep their reputation and the trust of their users intact. Without security measures like encrypting data, PayPal would never have gotten as far as it has.

PayPal’s online Security Center is a great place to learn more about how they protect and navigate user information in order to keep everything safe and private.

They’ve explained that their data encryption works like this:

• When you register with PayPal they verify your browser is running Secure Sockets Layer 3.0 (SSL) or higher – this is a protocol for establishing authenticated and encrypted links between networked computers.
• Information is then protected by SSL with an encryption key length of 168 bits, which further protects you from those who attempt to get your information.
• User personal information is stored on PayPal servers and heavily guarded both by physical employees and through digital software.

Basically, PayPal has many protections in place to keep your information as safe as possible – provided that you are using PayPal as it was intended and do not leak passwords, logins, personal information or account info.

What Information Can the Receiver see About the Sender on PayPal?

When you are paid on PayPal by a customer for services rendered, you can get information on the sender of those funds.

If they are a customer or another company paying you for sending goods or services, they will pay on an invoice that you create and send to them.

• On that paid invoice you will see their company or personal name, email, a link to their website and can print the invoice or packing slip – which holds the same information.

If they are an individual, you can usually see only their name and email and any other information they wish to provide. You will also have the ability to contact them through either PayPal or email.

Mostly, the receiver can see whatever the sender wishes to provide on their payments, but personal information such as phone numbers, addresses (unless it is disclosed on an invoice for shipping) and personal banking info will not be listed.

Just make sure to check and re-check your profile to see what is public and listed on invoices before you start making transactions.

For more information on trusting online sellers with payments, check out our article here!

Can you Trace a PayPal Transaction in your Bank Account?

Once you have received money through PayPal, all transactions are listed in your “Activity” and “Summary” sections of your profile.

You can see:

• Who sent you money
• What day they sent you money
• How much money it was
• Whether or not you transferred that money to your account
• You also have the ability to print shipping labels or invoices for record purposes

If you are waiting on money to arrive, you can check and see whether or not the payment is still pending or was denied by the person you requested payment from.

This is another good reason to wait until payment before rendering services unless you have a re-established system with your customers or employers.

Furthermore, you have the ability to manage your business or personal PayPal by viewing transactions, managing payments, adding or removing banking or card information and managing invoices.

Can Authorities Trace Down Paypal Transactions and Accounts?

Authorities have the ability to track down financial transactions when there is a legitimate need to do so.

Usually, this requires legal rights to do so, warrants, and probable cause.

The average PayPal user has no need to fear that the government or law enforcement might be stealing their financial information, because not only does it require a lot of paperwork and legitimate reason, it also requires incredibly difficult technological skills to access that information.

PayPal will not divulge any information without a documented court order to do so and therefore would never give away your information unless legally obligated to.

However, if you were suspected of committing fraud through any kind of money-transfer site such as PayPal, there is a chance you could be investigated by local authorities for any wrongdoing.

Other than that, every normal PayPal user who uses it for its intended purpose should have no fear of authority figures accessing their information.

Can Paypal Track your Location and Your IP?

Location

Customer addresses and locations are usually tracked through their browsers and cookies. If you allow Google Chrome to access your location while you use apps such as PayPal, the browser will continue to track your location.

Furthermore, you can list your personal address on PayPal for invoice reasons or for customer transactions. You also can list a PO Box instead, if security is a worry.

However, PayPal themselves do not track you or try to hunt you down. If your location settings are free for Chrome to see, then they may be able to see your location as well. They cannot legally divulge that information or use it to follow you or track you, though.

IP Addresses

Your computer’s IP Address is connected to the network that you are using to go online. This means that your IP Address changes for every different network you connect to.

Your IP Address is also public information. It has to be in order for you to connect to online networks at all! You use your IP Address for every little thing you do online, and that’s a lot of stuff. Because the IP Address is public information, PayPal could probably see it.

However, even if they do have the ability to see it, that information will most likely not be saved or divulged unless required to by a court order or legal reasoning.

Can You Set Up a PayPal Account Anonymously?

Anonymous PayPal accounts are not technically supported. PayPal requires a name, email, and account information in order to function properly.

However, there are some people who invest in prepaid cards instead of using their own personal debit or credit cards connected to their bank accounts. This prevents them from divulging banking information on their accounts.

While this may be a safer way to transfer money online, not using your real name is a suspicious tactic that many sellers or buyers will not trust.

If you’re concerned about your personal information being leaked or used against you, consider using your small business name to complete all transactions and a PO Box instead of your personal address.

Does it Matter if the Account is Verified or Not?

An account on PayPal will require some sort of verification before allowing you to send or receive money through the site.

They usually send a few cents and then take them back from your banking information provided. Then you have to tell them the exact amount they sent.

Once you’ve proven you have the ownership of that account, you can use their services.

If you are trying to use PayPal without verifying any financial information, you will not be able to use their service.

Can PayPal Accounts be Hacked?

Most instances of PayPal hacking are due to human error.

This means that someone trusted someone else online and offered their login information and password or social security number. They may also have given away specific banking information, under the impression that it was required for them to make a sale or buy an item.

This should NOT be the required information that you need to divulge to make any sort of transaction online. If an individual online is asking for this information, do not give it.

Instead, buy from another source or through only trusted sites online to meet sellers and small businesses. Even though there are new ways to infiltrate online information out there every year, that doesn’t mean your PayPal can be hacked by anyone with a computer.

Instead, it is incredibly difficult to infiltrate sites like PayPal, and most likely these thieves would be part of a team. In these cases, most likely they are going after company-wide information itself, and not any one user’s banking information.

If you think your account has been compromised, pause your debit or credit card immediately and change your password on PayPal.

References:

PayPal Security Center & FAQ