PayPal woes :(

[GDVS]

My PayPal account got hacked this afternoon and almost £800 was gone before the bank flagged it up

Now I have to wait (broke) while they sort it out, sucks to be me

On the plus side, I've contacted all the sellers and hopefully none of them sent the thieving little sod the goods. iPod Nano, digital camera, Nokia N70...some good kit. The delivery address is a student at a university in Moscow (PayPal shows as unverified) so hopefully that will have caused them to be alert anyway.

God alone knows how he got in, I haven't used it in over a year (only ever used it once actually) and definitely haven't clicked on any phishing emails (I work in tech support, how embarrasing would that be?) and my password was pretty insane.

Sucks to be me, hopefully PayPal don't live up to their reputation for being crap

[steve threlfall]

Thats very bad luck mate

I would think usually they would only be able to get access by stealing information (through phishing or something else) but it this case who knows, worrying really.

I hope they get it sorted it for you anyway

[Dav0s]

out of interest, do you use the same password for other online things?

i stopped doing that a while back when i realised how unsecure it was. I now use some dummy passwords for things which i feel are less secure.

for example you could sign up to some guys website, who takes your username, your password and tried it in ebay, paypal, nochex, everything else and one day he will get lucky.

[GDVS]

out of interest, do you use the same password for other online things?

i stopped doing that a while back when i realised how unsecure it was. I now use some dummy passwords for things which i feel are less secure.

for example you could sign up to some guys website, who takes your username, your password and tried it in ebay, paypal, nochex, everything else and one day he will get lucky.

I use three levels of password. One password for forums and other unimportant stuff, one more secure password for "known good" shopping sites (Amazon etc ), and pretty insane unique passwords for really important stuff root/bank/PayPal. No idea how he got in but I'd dearly love to know!

[Splash]

Aw man that's harsh. For the record, GDVS really isn't the kind of guy I'd expect to be caught out in a phishing scam.

I had the same thing happen a while back and will generally not use Paypal unless really pushed any more - I'd rather buy the stuff I might get from ebay here and pay cash over the counter...

[XA04]

Wow that's kind of scary, especially considering as you've only used your PayPal account once.

Hope you get it all sorted out! Report the guy to Paypal and the police too.

[Theo]

A similar thing happened to me in November... although it was only about £18 - it was more than I had!

I've no idea how either, very similar circumstances - no phishing emails, unused account, etc.

Anyway, when I found the payment notices in my email inbox 20 minutes after they were made, I rang the bank and got the payments blocked and I informed paypal of the unauthorised usage of my account. 2 weeks later, paypal charge my bank account for the amount that was blocked.

I send them a very very very angry (but polite of course, I'm British!) email, and two days later the money is charged back from the account it was sent to and placed back safe in my bank account.

£800 is a LOT of money, I really feel for you chap. It will get sorted eventually, just be sure to try and keep tabs on whats going on and maintain good communication with your bank and paypal. Good luck.

[scotty6435]

Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy, Physhy...

[GDVS]

Ok, it turns out that unlike PayPal in the US the UK branch has a contact number (08707 307 191). It's somewhat hidden but the Irish lady on the other end of it was very helpful. The payments have been put on hold and they are sending out an affidavit for me to sign saying I didn't authorise the transactions at which point they can reverse them all.

Rather worryingly, PayPal seem to be dealing with this better than Barclays (who have been next to no help so far).

[XA04]

Well at least PayPal are doing something about it, just got to monitor your bank account for charges!

[autopilot]

I'm very interested in how this turns out. Nasty business for ya though.

[Stringent]

Packet sniffing? I dunno, maybe he just got lucky.

Hope it works out for you mate. Let us know how it goes OK?

[GDVS]

Packet sniffing? I dunno, maybe he just got lucky.

Just realised I used the account for something this year then cancelled the order. Bearing in mind how obscenely uncrackable the password was I'm wondering if I managed to get infected with a keylogger. Nothing showed on AV but you can never be certain and it's impossible to tell now as the system I was using then has been rebuilt with Linux since. It's certainly more probable than PayPal getting their database hacked.

Hope it works out for you mate. Let us know how it goes OK?

Cheers, will do.

[Matt1eD]

I've always been put out by signing up to paypal, primarily for the hassle of sorting out probs like this (and I don't want to support ebay now), and now as I undertstnad itn ebay have banned nochex I can't use them (who I prefer). I use a unique random, over 10 character password with letters (all sizes), numbers and punctuation for every site these days, it's a faf, but It's another layer ofsaftey - although can't allow for sit eflaws

[ERU]

A christmas not so long ago i was scammed on paypal.
Read my story and make your own mind up. Take note on the Affidavit signing! but make your own decision and let us know how you get on.

[Stringent]

You people who use mega complicated passwords, how do you remember them all? Or have you got them written down?