PayPal Performs Chargeback on PSN Transactions, Thousands of Accounts Banned

This isn't going to look good for Sony, or for PayPal... We're hearing from Kotaku's UK portal that PayPal initiated a mass chargeback on PSN transactions. Due to recent sales, there have been a lot of recent PSN transactions using PayPal. Per PlayStation's policy, whenever there's a chargeback the puts someone's account into the red (negative balance), an automatic ban ensues. One domino has led to the tipping of many others, and now PlayStation account bans are rolling out en masse.

At the time of writing, this has reportedly only affected PSN and PayPal accounts in the UK, and we're hoping that things stay that way. The mid-year sale and recent flash sales and publisher sales have done extremely well in the United States, so we've been pouring money into PSN via PayPal as well. If this was some kind of glitch or mixup internally, there's a chance that the chargebacks could occur in the U.S. as well. We haven't heard any reports or tips from readers indicating that this has happened.

For our UK readers, you'll want to hop on and check your email to see if you've been affected. If you're PlayStation account has been banned, you won't be able to access the PSN store or content at all. And you can forget calling PayPal, because their call centers are reportedly jammed right now. Hundreds, if not thousands, of angry gamers are trying to get through and reclaim their account privileges.

Sony is reportedly talking with PayPal to resolve the issue. Kotaku mentioned that they had reached out to both Sony and PayPal for comment, but hadn't heard back from either of them. If any of you have heard anything state-side be sure to reach out and let us know ASAP. To our UK readers... Good luck.

We'll provide an update as soon as we learn more, so stay tuned.