A week or so ago, I got an email from “PayPal” saying that I was going to be charged an “inactivity fee” because I hadn’t logged into or used my account in a very long time. I ignored this, because it smelled just like a phishing scam.
Today I got another email saying I had been charged the inactivity fee and to avoid further charges, I’d need to log in to my account. I decided to do just that (not by clicking any links in the email, of course).
Turns out it’s legit! I was charged a dollar and change, taken from the whopping $5 I had in the account. Oddly, I also had an offer to have $5 added by just clicking a button that was basically, “Gimme gimme free money!”, which offset the charge nicely.
Still, it reminded me that I don’t use PayPal anymore, and the idea of being charged for not using a service is dumb and customer-hostile. So I closed my account.
Thanks for helping me simplify my life a little, PayPal!