My Paypal was hacked.

oh my, Kim..I'm so sorry this happened to you!
scan your computer...you probably have a trojan (keylogger? ) of some kind and they got your PayPal password!

go download Malwarebytes' Anti Malware at: Malwarebytes.org
and scan your computer...

do you have the most recent anti-virus definition files for your anti-virus program? Have you downloaded the latest Windows critical updates?
do those!

then once you know for sure you are virus/trojan free go and download Roboform at RoboForm: Password Manager, Form Filler, Password Management
so that for online banking, paypal, etc, you never ever have to type your password again. Oh be sure and use a password no one can possibly guess!

good luck!

Kim,

PayPal is generally very secure. I would venture the hack was not done at their end. If you have used someone else's computer, they may have had a keystroke generator installed. It could be a Trojan Horse type virus. If you let someone use your computer, they could have installed WebWatcher or a similar software without your knowledge and then accessed all of your information on-line.

Also, if you are not using a secure connection (like at a coffee shop or restaurant) it is easier for people to get into your system. Make sure you have firewalls installed on all of your computers too.

I hate that this happened to you.

Kim,

Sorry that happened. I am just curious, how did Paypal come to know that your account has been hacked?

All the best!

oooooooh scary, Kim.

Like Kumar I would be curious to know how they knew - but THANK GOD they did -

Karen, Kowulz,Kumar and Patrician.
I'm sure Paypal doesn't tell us how they spot suspicious activity,but I'm glad they do.
Of course, it could be that in all the years I have had accounts with them I have never purchased anything as high as these charges.
All I know is they called me up and and said there was some suspicios activity on my account and asked if I had made any recent purchases.
I asked how recent and they said today.
I said no.
While I was on the phone with them I logged into my account and saw they activity they were talking about.
That's when I changed my password and security questions like they said to.
Today at the bank they cancelled my debit card and ordered another one, and filed a dispute on those charges,which hit my bank today even though the people at Paypal told me it world take two to three days.
My system is clean,but thanks to those that offered suggestions and solutions.
Karen, I suggest Malwarebytes antimalware to others for quite some time now. Great little program.
If I was to guess, I would think that someone just got very lucky using a password cracking program,because Paypal is pretty secure.
I do hope that Ebay and Paypal work together to find the person and as I said in the original post, I would be more that willing to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.

i had my paypal hacked once too the bank reversed the charges

ooOuucch it must really hurt...How much did you lose?

get the paypal security key.

Damn that's made me cautious. Glad they caught them in time. Any strange email from 'paypal' asking for your account info? These spoof emails are common. Other than that, yes scan your pc for any viruses, trojans, or keyloggers & spam.

hope it helps

I was going to say the same, be very wary of anything by email.

One of the things I like about Roboform is as well as the virtual keyboard element it tells me what page I'm on. Yeah I know but it's good to see "Paypal" up there on Roboform. If it wasn't the genuine paypal site it wouldn't work.

It's very common to send emails saying "You need to verify your account, click here to update your details" or similar, but it's not really paypal.

You say they phoned, which is a bit more reassuring but... is it, really?

As long as you entered the site via a direct paypal.com link you should be OK.

Asides from that, bummer.


B.

As it turns out, my mail email account has been hacked too.
I logged into it yeterday and I have a large amount of returned emails,that I didn't send.
In other words someone sent a hell of a lot of SPAM from my emaIL account.
I have since changed the password to it too.
And even thought I was confident my sytem had no hidden files or viruses or keyloggers, I scanned it again.
Nothing still shows up.
This is not good.

some virus might have attacked your computer and your password might be hacked without your information

Damn that sucks sorry to hear that. I never knew PayPal actually calls their clients. And your email? I hope you get this fixed as quick as possible.

one thing tho, its supposed that ebay sellers wont mail except to the verified paypal address, also it will be real easy if he mailed it to himself (the hacker i mean)

I'm sorry to hear that as well... I hear that it is hard for
this to happen, but it does happen.

bummer - i was just reading about a firefox plugin called tamperdata that can alter paypal stuff and hack into webforms and login forms etc.

wow Im very scare with this, cz we have so many important acc online. not only paypal, any good firewall to reduce this risk ?

Did you find out what it is? I havn't read the whole thread but chances are it was a keylogger, Or some type of trojan that keeps logs of your browser activities so it can fish out the accounts and such

If you use your credit cards on ur computer, make sure u cancel them and get new ones.

Personally i would reformat as well.

I am still dealing with Paypal's imcompetence.
They have lied to me over and over again.
I applaud them for catching the fraudulent activity,but from that point on their actions have been completely contrary to what they said.
The story is way too long for me to recount here, but From January 13th when this ordeal started, it still have not been resolved yet and has resulted in numerous hours on hold with Paypal, several trips to the bank filling out paperwork,and overdraft fees, my debit card being cancelled and now I have had to tell my bank to refuse ALL withdrawals,which means some of my subscriptions are going to be fefused in a day or two and I will have more headaches and explanations to go throiugh.

That sucks! I feel bad for you. This happened to me a few months ago when someone on ebay was able to make purchases with other people's Paypal. In my case about $600 was stolen to buy iPods and stuff. I sent a message to the ebay seller to let him know and I also told Paypal. It got resolved thankfully but this guy has done this many times and as far as I know hasn't been kicked out of ebay. Why????

Scan your computer as others suggested. It's better to do it sooner than later because if you do have some kind of malware on your computer it is almost impossible to fix it later on. When these things are present they may be unnoticeable at first but get progressively worse over months until your computer comes to a halt. Unless some sort of brute force was used to figure out your password. Who knows how they did it.

I'm looking into Paypal alternatives myself. Even though they dealt with the issue and nothing has happened since I hear too many stories about them, like yours.

I can imagine what a pain it is to go through what you are. I hope it all gets fixed soon and as painlessly as possible for you. Try to stay cool.

This is serious problem man..! You better secure your password properly. Never reveal it to anyone. You should also install good antivirus to prevent it from happen (I recommend Karspersky.) And the most importantly, transfer your Paypal fund to your local bank account as soon as possible when you have some more balance left in your paypal account.

Kim, I think you should consider ketting a security key from PayPal. That is until you are sure how the hacker got hold of your password.

Derek

paypal is pretty good in conflict resolution. i would be extra careful next time. talk to your company and make sure it doesn't affect your credit