Unauthorized PayPal charge

Any similar experiences

You're kidding right?

http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&q=paypal+fraud&btnG=Google+Search

susan, I get emails like this all the time, but they're fishing emails, not really from paypal.  are you certain that this is real?

go directly to paypal.com and sign in, don't click on anything in an email.  then check your account there.  if there's not been a charge to your account there, then you've got a fishing email.  if you didn't click on any links or enter any passwords or anything into a website that you clicked through, then you don't have a problem.

if, however, there really is a charge on your REAL paypal acct, then you need to contact them ASAP and even your bank if it's tied to your bank acct.

Yes Beagle speaks truth.

Phishing emails come out like this...they scare you and say you've been hacked or like this one, a charge that they spotted..... they give you a link to "change your log in info & password" ASAP.... and before you have a chance to turn around and set down, they have hacked into your real account using the OLD PW & info which you just supplied to them, and then they do the real damage.

A buddy of mine, a missionary was hacked on his Gmail account in this manner. then the slime balls sent emails to ALL his address book claiming to be him, stuck in Nigeria with a huge hotel bill, no money and no ticket home..... send money ASAP via WESTERN UNION.      I spotted the tell tale signs and contacted him via another way.... but one of our mutual friends was about to head to teh bank and WU to wire the money asked for which was hundreds of US dollars. I stopped him in time....

Don't fall for this...and if you did reply to it.... contact any linked banks and PayPal ASAP...like NOW!

do you have any idea how they actually charged your account without your password? that's scary

No, and of course that's what has me concerned as well. I used PayPal a couple days ago to order something from Newegg, and this all happened within 24 hours of that. Maybe it's the 3rd-party thing that screwed me up, I don't know. I also don't know if I'm comfortable entering credit card info directly online at this point!

Thank goodness PayPal requires confirmed Shipping as well as Billing addresses -- some places don't, and something like this could have slipped by me for days.

It really does make me nervous, though.

-Susan

I would personally be concerned that there could be a virus on your computer which records your keystrokes and sends it to someone.

Well, I always have avast! running, but I suppose anything's possible! I'm doing a full system scan now.

The imagination runs wild... I guess there's no point in rushing around to change all my passwords if they're just being mailed off to someone... guess I shouldn't use them at all... I'll just sit here quietly...

Aargh!

-Susan

no..... the thing I would do....

change your passwords at all the important sites like online banking and sites that involve money and credit. Then work down to the lesser sites.

It's not a bad idea to change PW every 6 months..... my bank server requires it.

If the computer is kept at home... there is really not  a lot of danger in writing down the PW in a notebook and use a different PW for every site.

I have a habit of preferring a phone call to give a CC for a purchase rather than enter it in a web site .... if that is an option. 

I had a nasty experience of having my CC number hijacked at MIA as I was leaving the country for a mission trip. They caught someone trying to buy a $1500 item from a retailer in  California, and froze my account. (outside my normal activity pattern)  All my transactions in Argentina went through. When I got back I had to verify one by one the things I had purchased. I had informed them that I was going to Argentina by way of MIA. I think my number was grabbed at MIA when someone rolled my number claiming the swiper was down..... in a book store. 

I refuse to buy any item now where they want to roll my card.... motels still take the impression and that bugs the tar out of me.

Susan, I haven't had this happen, but have had an experience of someone not delivering an item I'd purchased on eBay.  If this is any comfort to you, PayPal's customer support folks were wonderful, helping me get everything worked out - including getting my money back.  And best of all, I worked with them over the phone in realtime.  I hope they'll do the same for you.

run the scans often.

My CA just turned up a few false positives..... I talked with 2 tech support depts on the chat...and it was determined that the new CA update, which has a higher bar for detecting "similar code" was the issue. I was instructed how to get around this issue....

But,,, the point is.... scan often and catch the little buggers before that get a chance to do damage ..... if they are the malicious type. In my case, the code was legitimate. Many apps use code that do the same thing as viruses do...like accessing memory and disk locations that are reserved for system functions, that are however legitimate.

Hi musicman100-

That link worked fine, thanks! I'll run another scan with it now.

Update: PayPal sent me an e-mail saying (essentially) they've reimbursed my account. Yay! I'm going to follow up with them to see what more I can find out about what happened.

Thanks again, all!

-Susan

Hi Phil-

Thanks, and you're right about phishing being very sophisticated these days, but there's no doubt that in this case it was all authentic communication re my account from PayPal.

Fortunately, my account's been reimbursed (see above)!

Thanks again-

-Susan

Do I panic and start removing all traces of me on the Internet?

 
Sounds like you're still on Win XP. What OS are you running? I would be surprised if you're running Vista or Windows 7. The security on these two OSes are much better than windows xp.

Cookies crack me up.  Spyware programs remove them because you won't loose anything if they do, but they are restricted by the browsers by site.  Even this cakewalk site made a cookie on your computer, and only this cakewalk site can read it.  What cracks me up is that all spy-ware programs, even ones by established companies such as Norton embellish the truth, and take advantage of their users by making it look like they are doing allot of work, when they really are not.  "Threats found?"  A cookie isn't a threat, it is a text file, nothing more, nothing less.  It cannot be executed, cannot harm or damage a computer, never could, never will. 

As for paypal, I swear by them because of my own fraud case.  Over 10 years ago I purchased a laptop online from the Ukraine.  Turned out to be a scam, but my money was already transferred to a bank in the Ukraine.  I let paypal know, and within 24 hours they had worked with the authorities of the Ukraine, and I received a full refund.  5 years later I was using my paypal debit card to pay an 80 dollar bill when the lady told me my card (with 10,000 in the account) was declined.  As she was speaking to me my phone rang.  It was paypal asking if they should allow a charge of such a high amount be charged.  I was like, it's only 80 bucks, how is that high?  They told me the lady must have missed a decimal cause she just tried running my card for 8 grand.  That's the second time they were looking out in my best interest.

I don't know how they are now, but my guess is they still rock.

you have to contact paypal and tell them what you think has happened.

Was anyone else happy to see Susan G. show up in the Coffee House only to realize that this fred was from 2010?

jamesg1213
It was nice to see Slugbaby too...wonder what happened to him?

Matt's on facebook often.  His birthday was the day before mine.