[mothered]

I too can confirm that it has been patched. Two more people from my environment have encountered the same problem. I have used entirely new credentials, new Paypal account, new phone number, new device, VPN (double) and have even changed the MAC address of the device. Although, I have done the same SE on the very same network before, but it has never been a problem till now. It appears that the problem is not the detection of linked accounts, but a change in their refunding process.

There's been mixed results - some SE'ers (like yourself) have experienced failure, while others have succeeded.

As It stands, either way It's Inconclusive.