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I just did this a few days ago and got the Avios through and thought I’d come up with a great way to get several thousand extra points a year but I’ve just read a lot of stuff online of people saying certain payments can trigger a fraud investigation/ban and now I’m getting a bit worried.
Is there actually anything wrong with sending my partner £600 over paypal every month and getting the points? It’s a genuine transaction using their Pay Family and Friends feature – I don’t get why this would be an issue?
I receive quite a few HfP payments via PayPal (mainly overseas clients like Accor) and its always been OK. You just need to remember that PayPal is paying a card fee to Amex each time and so you are costing it money each time …. and that’s unlikely to end well unless you are making it money elsewhere.
I receive quite a few HfP payments via PayPal (mainly overseas clients like Accor) and its always been OK.
But is Accor paying HfP by friends and family?
Got blocked for life doing this. Meant I couldn’t sell on ebay either for several years until recently.
Have heard the same from several others doing PayPal f&f with Amex.
(in case it’s not obvious, sending is the issue not receiving).
Got blocked for life doing this. Meant I couldn’t sell on ebay either for several years until recently.
Have heard the same from several others doing PayPal f&f with Amex.
(in case it’s not obvious, sending is the issue not receiving).
This is the first time I’m reading someone confirming this.
Until now, it was always speculation.I’m assuming you are genuine, but you aren’t one of the main characters on the HfP show, so I dunno…
Got blocked for life doing this. Meant I couldn’t sell on ebay either for several years until recently.
Have heard the same from several others doing PayPal f&f with Amex.
(in case it’s not obvious, sending is the issue not receiving).
This is the first time I’m reading someone confirming this.
Until now, it was always speculation.I’m assuming you are genuine, but you aren’t one of the main characters on the HfP show, so I dunno…
My other account is cinereus which has more posts but stopped working and Rob couldn’t work out why.
I’ve heard of a couple of others with the same issue but equally someone else got away with it (but stopped after my issue).
We’ve done this about 10 times over a couple of years, PayPal backed with a US AmEx Platinum. No issues, but I always feel uneasy about it. A lot of money goes through that AmEx though.
If you are sending money to someone in the same household expect Amex to block all of your cards.
Big red flag.
If you value your Amex cards stop now.
Just being Devil’s advocate, how would Amex know if the person was in the same household?
So I sent PayPal support a Twitter message about this for clarification. I am based in the UK so it’s possible there might be different rules for the US, but here’s what they said:
“Hi there! I understand you’re worried about the funding source that can be use make payment for “Friends and Family”. I wish to inform you that you’ll be able to make payment using any eligible cards for any kind of payments. For using Amex, we don’t block anyone’s account. If you’re facing any issues, please help me with the email address along with the screenshot of the error message. Thanks. ^YS”
I also went onto livechat with Amex and they said:
“That should be fine. I will notate the account of the situation as well just in case our fraud team will see the pattern. But that should be ok for this purpose”.
So there you have it. I don’t doubt that others have had issues doing the same, but it’s possible something else triggered the problem. My PayPal account has been in use for over a decade and a few subscriptions come out of it, so it’s definitely not looking like a fraudulent account.
Probably a good idea for everyone to also get confirmation in writing so you can point to it if you do get flagged. I’m going to continue sending my partner £600 for rent via PayPal each month, but make sure she never sends me anything that way just in case it looks like we’re gaming the system. It’s an easy 7200 Avios every year and guarantees I’ll get a companion voucher.
Please keep us updated!
That’s really interesting, thanks for sharing! I guess I’d still be a tad worried that if a closure happen these messages will simply be disregarded and a new “reason” found, but good to know!
bye bye gravy train.
bye bye gravy train.
Sorry, not really sure what you mean?
I think @RTS means that if it was this simple everyone would be doing it and they feel that this is probably not going to end well!
Oh, ha fair enough. TBH it does seem like it is simple! I’ve got confirmation from both PayPal and Amex that it’s fine on paper, nothing more I can do really.
I think what @RTS means is that by bringing attention to this easy route to gain Avios it will either be abused by some people and then shut down, or it will be brought to the attention of those who can shut it down before the abuse happens.
Just being Devil’s advocate, how would Amex know if the person was in the same household?
Addresses on amex accounts would be the same – if you are cohabiting.
It’s not completely rocket science this. Of all the MS I do this is one I avoid.. not worth the risks
It’s not completely rocket science this. Of all the MS I do this is one I avoid.. not worth the risks
Exactly.
I guess some people don’t value their Amex and PayPal accounts all that much.@Ash – Amex would only have those details for the account holder who was paying the money. They would only have the name from the payee’s Paypal account. It’s one I generally stay away from for all the reasons given above but I don’t think this particularly would be what would trigger either Amex or Paypal.
The thing with organisations like Amex and PayPal is that it’s all fine until the day it isn’t and often for no particularly apparent reason. Regular and fairly large payments in this way are simply asking for trouble and risk costing a lot more than the measly 7,200 Avios annual gain.
Its fascinating how OP thinks speaking to a CSO will remove all red flags built into the systems.
But, but, but, remember how Creation customer services taught us how to rinse millions through their cards?
And it ended just swimmingly.
Also Revolut. As noted points-collector Georg Hegel said, “History teaches us that man learns nothing from history.”
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