Payoneer Prepaid MasterCards are Frozen amid Wirecard Money Scandal [Withdrawal Starts]

Are you a Payoneer user and not able to withdraw funds/money from your Payoneer account to your local bank account or via the ATM machine? ...

Are you a Payoneer user and not able to withdraw funds/money from your Payoneer account to your local bank account or via the ATM machine? Well, you are not alone as many freelancers, entrepreneurs and Payoneer customers around the world running online businesses are facing the same issue due to Blockage of Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard® Card issued by Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd, UK.

Why Payoneer Restricted Money Withdrawal?

Wirecard is the company responsible for all this mess as Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard® Cards are solely supplied by this company and now this same company is facing financial scandal due to $2 Billion scam by its former CEO Markus Braun who has been recently arrested by German financial watchdogs.

Now just like any other financial scam, the very first thing authorities do is freeze all money and funds of a company and all related activities and operations as well and therefore Payoneer customer's money is now frozen by FCA as they were deposited in Wirecard issued Prepaid MasterCard® Card.

Payoneer imposed restriction and limitation on the customer’s account and freeze money withdrawals w.e.f. 27-Jun-2020.

Payoneer Official Statement on Funds Withdrawal Limitation

Payoneer has issued its official verdict on 27-Jun-2020 related to the usage of Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard® Card and money withdrawal by customers. Following is the statement;

According to the above statement of Payoneer, all customer's Money is Safe and Secure and the restriction on withdrawal is "Temporary" and soon everything will get back to normal.

What Payoneer Prepaid Card Terms & Conditions Says?

After reading the above official statement issued by Payoneer, I dig into Prepaid Card Terms and Conditions of Payoneer enforced w.e.f. July-2019. I have reproduced their Clause # 22 of Funds Protection below;

The Prepaid MasterCard is an electronic money product and although it is a product regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, it is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. No other compensation scheme exists to cover the losses claimed in connection with the Prepaid MasterCard. This means that in the event that Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd becomes insolvent Your funds may become valueless and unusable and as a result You may lose Your money. However, as a responsible e-money issuer, Wirecard Card Solutions Limited ensures that once it has received Your funds they are deposited in a secure account, specifically for the purpose of redeeming transactions made by Your Prepaid Card. In the event that Wirecard Card Solutions Limited becomes insolvent funds that You have loaded which have arrived with and been deposited by Wirecard Card Solutions Limited are protected against the claims made by creditors.

Now as you can see in the above clause; the funds of all Payoneer customers who have Payoneer Card Account, instead of Payoneer Balance Account are at risk and you may lose your money if Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd becomes insolvent.

Payoneer Account Types and their Risks

Payoneer offers two kinds of accounts. 1). Payoneer Balance Account: This type of account doesn't require Prepaid MasterCard® Card for funds deposit and withdrawal and therefore, all customers having money in this kind of account is safe and secure. It means Prepaid Card is optional if you want to use otherwise it’s not necessary to have.

The second type of account is. 2). Payoneer Card Account: This type of account does require Prepaid MasterCard® Card for funds deposit and withdrawal and Prepaid Card is mandatory for this account and therefore, all customers having money in this kind of account is at risk and they may lose money if anything goes wrong with Wirecard.

Final Verdict

On 17-Jun-2020, the Wirecard share price was $58.50 USD and after that, it collapsed to $0.80 USD due to a shake of investors' confidence. This means Payoneer did know 10 Days Before what’s going on with its Prepaid Card supplier and what bad thing can happen in the future with its customers but they remain silent and this is where they went wrong.

Payoneer should have informed all its customers about what’s going on with its Prepaid Card issuer and what customers can do to save their hard-earned money or at least withdraw it 10 days before. This is the question every Payoneer customer is asking Payoneer, that why they were silent? At this point of uncertainty, we can't say if Payoneer Scam customers or not.

Freelancers, entrepreneurs, and business owners from the USA, UK, Europe, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Germany, and around the world can only hope and pray that soon their money will be released for withdrawal from Payoneer in a positive manner. We will keep you people updated on this developing news, so Bookmark our website URL and follow us on Social Media. Thank you!

30-Jun-2020 & 02-Jul-2020 Update: Payoneer Prepaid MasterCards are active again and all card funds are now unfrozen and instantly available from 30-Jun-2020 for local bank withdrawal, ATM cashout, POS purchase, make payments, exchange currencies, and online purchase.

As per below official Payoneer statement, the local bank withdrawal availability date is 06-Jul-2020, but you can ignore it because Payoneer make it available from today i.e. 02-Jul-2020. So you should not have any issue now with bank withdrawals and furthermore, all future payments and funds will be deposited to your Payoneer Virtual Balance, instead of Payoneer Card Balance till further notice.

How to Withdraw Money from Payoneer Card to Local Bank Account using Skrill and TransferWise?

If you are still facing any kind of issue while withdrawing funds from your Payoneer Card to your local bank account, then you can use third-party services like Skrill and TransferWise.

By using Skrill Money Transfer and TransferWise Money Transfer service your funds will be deposited in your local bank account after deducting from Payoneer Card and the fee is 2% maximum. You just need to enter your card details and local bank details and money will be transferred instantly, safe, and secure. So Try Now!