Payment stuck in the middle seems like a more common "ploy". Bought and paid for a phone off Lazada app but is some online retailer not Laz themselves. Two days later got a message from Lazada Warehouse saying item out of stock ask me to submit refund request.
I checked listing, still shows in stock wtf. Submit request the app makes it look like my fault (reason choices) but clearly here is not. Submit anyway and refund processed in a few minutes.
Really wonder what's going on behind the scenes but for 2 days my money was "in limbo" but really money got held by Laz for 2 days. In a sense is also a form of money laundering.
What PP did can also be some ploy to hold onto money. As a form of payment it's imho dying compared to other methods currently available.
If there is ever an issue of using CC vs PP and using PP over CC cuz of trust issues I sometimes lean towards CC and just use my low-balance CC (I got $500 and $2000 limit cards) to buy. Use PP nowadays is lanlan cuz shopback credits xfer to PP
