PayPal has frozen funds held in a number of Kenyan accounts and permanently blocked others, after users failed to provide documentation required under the company’s anti-money laundering compliance programme. The affected users include freelancers, online sellers, and small business operators who receive cross border payments through the platform.
The action falls under PayPal’s Know Your Customer (KYC) framework. PayPal’s policy is to prevent people engaged in money laundering, fraud, and other financial crimes including terrorist financing from using its services. Documents typically requested from flagged users include government issued identification, bank statements, contracts for work being paid, and proof of physical address in the form of utility bills such as electricity, water, or internet statements.
PayPal’s Customer Due Diligence programme collects certain identity details at sign up. Once certain thresholds are met, in compliance with relevant market regulation, PayPal subjects users to additional KYC requirements for identity verification.
When an account is flagged, action follows quickly. In 2025, unverified accounts are flagged by PayPal’s automated compliance system within 24 hours of detection, with verification now a prerequisite rather than an option.
On timelines, PayPal’s published terms state that funds are usually held for up to 21 days, though the company may place additional holds and reserves on accounts beyond that period. For accounts under formal limitation, PayPal aims to respond within three days of receiving submitted documentation. Where a regulatory process is involved, the hold may remain in place longer than 180 days. Accounts that remain non-compliant beyond that window face permanent deactivation.
PayPal may, in its sole discretion, place a reserve on funds held in an account when it believes there may be a high level of risk associated with that account. Permanently deactivated accounts do not receive an automatic return of funds to the original sender.
The proof of address requirement has posed a specific difficulty in Kenya, where residential addressing does not follow a standardized system of street names and postcodes comparable to those used in North America or Europe. Many Kenyan users rely on landmarks and informal location descriptions rather than utility bills tied to a registered address, making compliance with that particular requirement difficult to complete.
PayPal screens accounts and transaction history on a nightly basis, covering its entire customer base, cross-referencing information against regulatory lists including the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals list and the UN Security Council sanctions list.
PayPal conducts a global AML and counter terrorist financing risk assessment consistent with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidance. Kenya was placed on the FATF grey list in February 2024. In April 2025, Kenya’s National Assembly passed amendments to the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act, aimed at strengthening the country’s financial compliance framework and meeting international obligations.
As of Q1 2026, PayPal reported 439 million active accounts globally and processed a total payment volume of $463.9 billion in the first three months of the year. The company does not publicly disclose account numbers by country.
