Paypal Hack scare

[Big Phil]

Had a nasty scare when I checked my emails this morning.

4 from Paypal: -

You have successfully changed your password

You have successfully changed your security questions

Your debit card has been successfully deleted

Your credit card has been successfully deleted

All this happened around 2am. I only seen the emails when I woke up at 5:15am

sh*t my pants!

Sure enough, I couldn't log in. I tried the forgotten your password option and I got an email with an authentication code. I then got a text message with an authentication code so I managed to get in.

I was fearing the worst as I had some cash in the account.

Nothing had been removed. Nothing purchased. VERY strange. I quickly changed the password and security questions.

I spoke to paypal around 8am and they're going to investigate.

Guess I've been lucky!

 

[Milky]

Phishing emails maybe? "If you didn't make these changes click here to input your details to some scammer" type thing?

 

[Big Phil]

Nope. It was the real deal. They'd got into my account.

Don't really know how but I do use the same password on a LOT of sites. Including forums!

I'm guessing one has been hacked and they've harvested the account details and tried them on paypal.

 

[Milky]

Very odd - why change your passwords and delete your card details? Just seeing if it was active for future nefarious use perhaps

 

[Big Phil]

I asked the same question when I phoned Paypal and they couldn't answer it.

The only suggestion they made was maybe I'd got to it in time but 4 hours had passed!

They're investigating anyway and said they'd get back to me within 48 hours.

 

[anj]

did you use the link in the email of go to paypal , with thease you should always go directly to paypal.com , never use the links

 

[ZuPoint]

Is the missus?

Glad you sorted it, I'd panic like cheerleader in a horror film!

 

[jengineer]

did you change your ebay password a couple of weeks ago?

if you use the same password on ebay they could have got it from there when ebay was hacked 2 weeks ago

 

[Big Phil]

No, I didn't follow any links.

This was a genuine unauthorised access of my account. They got in, changed my password, security questions and deleted my cards.

The strange this is, nothing was taken. I have money in the account and nothing happened. No purchases, transfers or anything.

With the ebay scare, I changed the passwords of both ebay and paypal a few weeks back.

I'm very guilty of using the same password on multiple sites, even forums. So even if just one of these sites I'm a member of has been hacked and personal details stolen, this could be how they got in.

I consider myself very lucky!

 

[guddler]

I'd recommend something like 1Password: https://agilebits.com/onepassword

I've been using it since it first came out and have never had a password that even i could remember since! It's a minor inconvenience every now and again but I think the cost and benefits far outweigh any inconvenience. And it has versions for Windows, Mac, Windows Phone, Android and iPhone so all bases covered.

Obviously it's far from the only one. There are others out there, some free. For work I use SecureSafe for instance.

guddler2014-06-18 20:34:29