So, my PayPal was hacked...

[jennielynn1970]

I'm so ticked off, I just can't tell you!! I've had the same PayPal account for years, and have done buying and selling through it without any problems at all. Until today.

I get my bank statement of account every morning, so I can check my balance, and it says I'm negative. WHAT?! I purposely put money aside into this account so that I can pay my mortgage tomorrow when my payroll comes in. There should NOT be a negative balance.

I go to check what is going on in the transaction screen and there is a PayPal transaction listed there. I didn't buy anything. What is that there for?? So, I go to my PayPal account. There is some merchant listed named "JoyMax" and I'm thinking, if someone bought porn on my PayPal account, I'm going to beat them! Turns out JoyMax does some online gaming (I googled them).

Thing is, I never got an email saying "You've made a purchase/payment" or anything from PayPal about this. I'm looking at my PayPal account, and there is nothing changed on it. My address is the same, my financial account info is there (I proceeded to delete my other bank cards on there that I no longer use).

I changed my password. I changed the email address that my notices get sent to. Weird thing is, my password, previously, wasn't even a word. It was literally a string of numbers and letters. There was no way anyone could have guessed it off the top of their heads. I do use it for most of my other passwords to things (I know... I shouldn't), but it's so random, I just can't imagine anyone ever guessing it.

The Bank of America people (Nazis that they are) said they won't even do anything about the transaction until it clears. Too much paperwork they said. Oh. That's nice. I have two small transactions that should be coming out from Amazon, so they are going to also get overdraft fees now. Great. I'll have $100.00 in overdraft fees because someone hacked my account. I called and talked to PayPal after I put in a dispute online about the transaction, and the merchant has 7 days to respond. So, until then, my money is still in their pocket.

Sigh. This so stinks. I'm so strapped for cash as it is, it isn't funny. I needed to pay my mortgage tomorrow (it's late as it is), and now I can't. They're not going to care that someone hacked my account and took my money, they're going to want their payment.

Anyway... so, I've changed my password for PayPal. I've changed my notification email address (not sure I had to). What else should I do?? Do I need to cancel my bank account and open a new one?? PayPal doesn't list my entire account number on there, and doesn't list the CCV digits or anything. It doesn't even say what bank I use.

Any suggestions??? I'm really not sure what I need to change, and how radical I have to get here in the changes.

[DJFyrewolf36]

Sadly the bank wont do anything until the transaction clears with Pay Pal, because they assume you'll dispute it with them first and it will get reversed that way. What I'd do (and Ive dealt with Bank of America before on similar issues, it isn't easy!) is go to your branch and pick up dispute resolution forms that way you have them in case Pay Pal doesn't take action. If paypal does take action, but bank of america still hits you with fees AFTER the original transaction is reversed, dispute the overdrafts as they wouldn't have happened if they would have taken action in the first place. I never dealt with B of A on the phone and gotten anything done, again go to your branch and talk to someone in person. That usually clears things up, especially if you demand to see a manager .
Follow up with paypal too, find out when the transaction was made (what time of day, when/if there was any log in requests from YOUR IP adress, ect) and if its some sort of subscription service. I know they've had problems with random subscriptions being taken out of accounts. What you've done on your end seems ok as far as making sure your account isnt messed with again but I'd hit up paypal for as much information about the transaction as possible. This will help with the bank later, if the bank decides to be a bunch of jerks.
Hope this helps!

[Grace]

I know nothing about PayPal. But it seems to me that if there was a significant amount deducted from your account it should state exactly what it was for - i.e. $xxx for a purchase from Amazon.com.

Another thing - if I'm reading your post correctly - you give PayPal access to your bank account? They can deduct anytime they want?

I allow only my medical insurance to be deducted directly from our bank account - and that is done by the University where I once worked. Absolutely no one else has auto pay privileges. I pay our bills from our bank account when I want to do it - not when they want.

If I were you, I would immediately change my bank account and don't give the info to anyone - or I would cancel PayPal's ability to access your account. The more that can get in there, the less safe it is.

[Medusa]

Jenn, I would take Fyrewolf's advice and go in to BOA personally. My son banks w/them and someone made a purchase for over $1000 and BOA put him through the ringer. I'm sorry this has happened to you. I cancelled my Paypal account because Paypal is not easy to deal with. Let us know how it all turns out for you.

[Catty1]

We just set PayPal up at our office, and our computer tech gave us a great tip:

Set up a bank account - a real cheapo, $5 month or something - and use that as the PayPal account.

That way, you can transfer money from there into your REAL (main) bank account; your main account won't get hit.

Hope you get this cleared up ASAP!

[Moesha]

That is an excellent idea! I think I may do that. Actually I may have it linked to one account that I don't use much anymore. I will have to check into it. I'm terribly sorry this happened to you Jenn. Please let us know if you find out who did it or how it happened.

[jennielynn1970]

We just set PayPal up at our office, and our computer tech gave us a great tip:

Set up a bank account - a real cheapo, $5 month or something - and use that as the PayPal account.

That way, you can transfer money from there into your REAL (main) bank account; your main account won't get hit.

Hope you get this cleared up ASAP!

Oh, that's a good idea. I could start a new acct. at Bank of America. I hate them, I really do. I just hate the hassle of switching banks, that's the only reason I haven't moved to a different bank. I have payroll going in there, my car insurance comes out automatically, a bunch of stuff. It's just a hassle. When I joined the bank, it wasn't BOA, but Fleet. Of course, they got bought out, just like all the other small banks are.

I'm going to check out some of the other banks in the area, and what their fees and things are.

I just feel like neither the bank or PayPal are really concerned.

[jennielynn1970]

I know nothing about PayPal. But it seems to me that if there was a significant amount deducted from your account it should state exactly what it was for - i.e. $xxx for a purchase from Amazon.com.

Another thing - if I'm reading your post correctly - you give PayPal access to your bank account? They can deduct anytime they want?

Normally, the way PayPal works, you can buy things from eBay, Amazon, and other online merchants, and you can pay by using PayPal. This way, whatever you purchase is also covered in case of fraud. I like that part. I like a lot about PayPal. I never had issues before.

What usually happens is you make a purchase, you sign in to your PayPal account with your email address and your password. You verify what you're buying, and click to pay it. Then you get a receipt in your email.

What surprised me is that I didn't get any email verification for anything, which is why I had no idea anything had been purchased. I don't understand how that didn't happen.

[kuhio98]

I don't even have a paypal account and I got screwed!

A week ago today, I got a call from the fraud department of my credit card. Several suspicious transactions thru PAYPAL had recently been charged to my credit card. We were able to clear them up. I had to cancel my card and they are going to send me a new one.

This is the 2nd time this has happened to me. All the fraudulent charges go through PAYPAL. I will never open an account with them.

[jennielynn1970]

Dang. My bank didn't even mention canceling my card or anything. They were just like "We can't do anything until this clears, it causes too much paperwork."

Bank of America my @$$.

[Jessika]

I can't give you any suggestions other than what's already been said, and to say I've been with Bank of America before and they sucked SOOO bad, they are TERRIBLE when it comes to disputes, which is why I left them.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Jenn, I'm so sorry to hear this. I sure hope that you can clear this all up quickly. I have a paypal account but I rarely use it. I've been receiveing e-mails saying that someone was trying to get into my account and that they needed my account information etc. I didn't respond but I found out that this e-mail is just a scam and it's a fake e-mail trying to portay that it's from paypal. I think I'm going to cancel my paypal account right now so I don't have any future problems. I hope that things will work out for you. Good luck.

[Catty1]

PayPal is not the source of those spam emails. You will keep getting them whether you have a PayPal account or not. The spammers 'bank' on the fact that MANY people have a PP account, so the odds are in their favour.

Open the email to display full headers, and forward it to: [email protected]

HINT: A real email will address you by your name, not "PayPal Customer".

[jennielynn1970]

I haven't gotten any of those emails. I remember getting them on my work email, but my PayPal address is my personal email.

That's why I'm just so confused. I got nothing like people phishing for info, and then no email saying that there was a purchase. I'm confused about that, I mean, I should have gotten something from PayPal saying I made a purchase.
Argh. I'll have to see if they can find out the IP address of the person who made the purchase, and see who they actually are.

I keep checking to see if the merchant has responded to the claim, but so far, nothing. I'm not patient. This is ticking me off even more.

[Daisy and Delilah]

I don't even have a paypal account and I got screwed!

A week ago today, I got a call from the fraud department of my credit card. Several suspicious transactions thru PAYPAL had recently been charged to my credit card. We were able to clear them up. I had to cancel my card and they are going to send me a new one.

This is the 2nd time this has happened to me. All the fraudulent charges go through PAYPAL. I will never open an account with them.

A week ago, I got an email from Paypal telling me my account was on hold because some unidentified person had accessed my account.
The funny part.....I closed my Paypal account three months ago. I don't have one either. I didn't think much about it until I read this thread. Hmmmmmmm, I wonder what's going on?

By the way: I cancelled my account because I had alot of trouble with them. I don't like PP at all.

Edited to add: I just read the rest of the thread. I was told to update info also but I ignored it. Sure seems that the Paypal name is giving us more problems than it's worth.