[UPDATE 2] Going on from the case of the customer who phoned PayPal regarding the issue. His payment that was returned was sat in Pending until today, He has since confirmed that the funds were released by his bank to Paypal. This could back up the idea that the error is Sony’s.
[UPDATE 1] A customer’s phonecall to PayPal suggests the blame lies with Sony. The call stated ‘This error is on Sonys end and is to do with them closing or somehow limited their GDP account, meaning that the funds didn’t credit the accounts.’ Another customer in contact with Sony says the company finds PayPal to be at fault.
A mass chargeback on PSN transactions by payment company PayPal has seen thousands of PSN accounts get banned as they are plunged into debt.
In a report by Kotaku’s Rich Stanton, it is stated that PayPal’s actions will cause PSN accounts to effectively go into debt, resulting in temporary account bans until the imbalance is corrected. As yet, only UK accounts are affected.
If you’ve tried logging into PSN today and found your account suddenly suspended, this is the likely reason. Sony and PayPal are working together to solve the issue, so Sony should at least understand the circumstances if you are affected.
To see if you are among those affected without switching on your PS4, check your emails. If you find an email from Paypal about a refund from transactions relating to Playstation, then you’ve likely been hit.
We’ll update this story as it develops.