Why Payoneer blocked your account and what to do

Payoneer is one of the best platforms used to receive international payments. However, one day you may wake up to an email that your Payoneer account has been blocked due to a violation of terms and conditions without mentioning what terms you violated.

Why Payoneer blocks accounts

There are a number of reasons why Payoneer blocks accounts. Here are some of the reasons why your Payoneer account might have been blocked.

• Prohibited Payment: Payoneer prohibits receiving payment from donations, digital currency, forex,  loans, betting, file sharing websites, domain hosting and registration, medical products, sale of vehicles and spare parts, gifts, payment from friends or family, etc. (Here is the full prohibited list).
• Invalid Documents: If a suspicious transaction has been detected in your account, the crimes unit at Payoneer will investigate your document to see if they match your profile. More documents may be requested to verify your details, any small discrepancy can lead to your account being blocked. Make sure that the address of all the documents that you have provided match.
• Red flag countries: There are some countries that are marked as “red flag countries” by financial institutions due to high cases of money laundering and scam activities associated with users from there.  Any unusual transactions or slightest suspicion arising from a user in the red flag countries will lead to account blocking without a second thought.
• Duplicate accounts: Payoneer only allows users to have one account. Your national ID is used to track if you have duplicate accounts.
• Security Concerns: If Payoneer systems detect that your account has been hacked or is being accessed from unknown regions, your account may be closed, suspended, or limited. Avoid using VPNs or accessing a Payoneer account from different countries or territories restricted by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control.
• Inactive Account:  If you fail to make a transaction or have a zero balance within 6 months, your account will be deactivated. This case is however easy because you can request to have your Payoneer account reactivated.

Read more about Payoneer Terms.

What happens when a Payoneer account is blocked?

If you are sure that you did not violate any of Payoneer’s terms and you do not have access to the account, then you can file a dispute via email. Your account will be unblocked after many days of back-and-forth emails. However, if you violated any of Payoneer’s terms, there is no chance that you will get your account back after review.

All the money sent to your account will be reversed to the sender. The only option for you to get the money is to contact your employer or payer to arrange how to get the money using alternative payment gateways provided below.

Payoneer Alternatives

The best Payoneer alternatives are Remitly, Wave, or Wise.