Do you believe that paypal is a secured site?
By aprilten
@aprilten (1966)
Philippines
March 30, 2011 6:50am CST
I used to believe that, too, but something bad happened very recently to my account.
Last March 26, I was out of the house all day. I arrived home around 11 pm and turned my pc on and went online. It's a good thing that I checked my email that night because I received an email from paypal saying that my payment has been initiated. I understand English fairly well but I read the content of that email several times because I just wanted to make sure that I understood it correctly.
The email said and I quote 'This email confirms that ?????? ???????? has accepted the $11.00 USD you sent.' And it also includes the details of my(?) payment. I couldn't believe my eyes. How could I possible send payment to anyone when I'm out all day and I don't have a laptop or any device to go online.
So, after reading that email several times I logged into my paypal account and there it is my(?) payment to the said person is there.
That same day paypal emailed me with this message 'We need your help resolving an issue with your account. To give us time to work together on this, we've temporarily limited what you can do with your account until the issue is resolved.
We understand it may be frustrating not to have full access to your PayPal account. We want to work with you to get your account back to normal as quickly as possible.
What's the problem?
We noticed some unusual log in activity with your account. Please check
that no one has logged in to your account without your permission.
Take a moment to change your password and security questions and review
your account information and recent transactions for changes or unknown
payments.
If you see a payment you don't recognise, go to the Resolution Centre and
report it by clicking "Dispute a Transaction".'
If you will observed it is stated in their email that they limited my account temporarily but I'd say it's too late because someone already robbed me of $11. I already sent a ticket to paypal saying that I didn't do that transaction nor did I authorized anyone.
For everyone's information here again is the name to which my supposed payment was sent ?????? ???????? and his email address is tafferun@gmail.com
I do hope that paypal will resolve this issue to my favor. It may just be $11.00 but that is my hard earned money and I don't want scrupulous persons to benefit from it. I'm having thoughts of cancelling my paypal account because of what happened.
3 people like this
16 responses
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
30 Mar 11
Unfortunately, although PayPal IS a secure site, there are weak links. One of the most common is your password. I hope that you have now changed it.
When dealing with sites such as PayPal, where real and valuable information and tangible assets can be stolen, you should observe the following:
1) NEVER use the same password that you use anywhere else.
2) ALWAYS make sure that the password you use is:
a) 8 characters or more and a mixture of upper and lower case, numerals and symbols
b) NOT composed of common or easily guessed words - it should preferably be a random selection from all four of the characters mentioned above.
3) NEVER give anyone else your password - even someone you feel you can trust, such as a family member or close friend. If you write down your password, keep it in a place to which only you have access. If you do, for any reason, need to give a password to anyone (for example, an IT professional), make sure that only the authorised person has access to it and CHANGE it immediately the necessity has passed.
4) CHANGE your password regularly. Once a month is recommended but it depends on how sensitive the information protected by the password is. 'Cycling' passwords (using passwords in rotation) is not very secure, especially if they contain a month number or name as the only change.
It seems that PayPal were aware of an anomaly and want to help you sort it out. You have done the right thing in checking your account and contacting them immediately. I am sure that you will eventually be refunded the $11.
It is NOT too late and there is no need to cancel your PayPal account. It is NOT their fault that someone hacked your account. Please work with them to help resolve the issue. Limiting your account is standard procedure and is in YOUR interests.
2 people like this
@aprilten (1966)
• Philippines
3 Apr 11
I already changed my password, the very same day when I found out about that transaction. I am guilty of #s 1,2, and 4 but not #3. I never shared my password to anyone not even to my kids.
It's good to know that paypal is really a trusted site and I do pray that this issue will be resolved to my favor. Thank you for your inputs, they are all true.
@sublime03 (2339)
• Philippines
31 Mar 11
PayPal is indeed secure. But, you have to understand there are a lot of people out there who does that to other people for just no reason. The good thing about it is PayPal has a way for you to get it back but they will most likely have steps for you to do first. Please do not be weary and maybe call the 1-800 number in order for you to understand it further more. But do take precautions with emails that you receive and the websites that you go to. Also, if you have other email addresses or websites with the same password make sure you check on them too. Most likely they will try it on your other information such as email addresses and other financial websites.
1 person likes this
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
30 Mar 11
I would first of all strongly advise changing your password if you have not already. Because if someone compromised your account once, it could happen again. It has never thankfully happened to me but it has happened to some people. Also run a scan of your machine, as there could be some malicious content in there that could be stealing your passwords.
Also, don't just leave a website like that after you have logged into it. Log out with the log out button and then return to your home page. Then you should clear out the cache at every time. That might seem like an obvious step to take, but it is one that might be able to save a lot of headache. That information that is stored in your cache could be easily accessed a number of ways. I have had no problems with PayPal to speak, but others have and that's a shame.
1 person likes this
@genius277 (535)
• Indonesia
30 Mar 11
There is no doubt that paypal is a secure site but you have your own responsibilities to keep your account secure.
Always keep your paypal email and password private, i mean only You and Paypal. Also when you entering password use on screen keyboard instead of standard keyboard to prevent keylogger from recording your keyboard entries.
And never ever login from a link inside an email, type the url in the adress bar.
1 person likes this
@niluhputu960 (98)
• Indonesia
30 Mar 11
I always use paypal for ant transaction, every time i have an issue, such as couldn't contact the seller or disappear and your item is not arrive. one time i had an issue i buy item it's cost $800, the seller guaranteed the items will arrive in 25 days, after 1 month still i didn't receive yet, and tried to contact the seller but it's not there anymore, his list was removed! i was very upset, but i tried to be calm as possible. After that i opened a case and dispute it! yes it takes time to get the money back, and i got it after 2 weeks. that's one of my experience with paypal, i have few more and i always get my money back, probably if i'm not use paypal for my transaction, i will not able to get my money back. I still believe and trust to use paypal until present date
1 person likes this
@patgalca (18366)
• Orangeville, Ontario
1 Apr 11
The most important thing to know about Paypal emails and other banking sites is that they will address you by name if they are for real. They will not say "Dear Customer" or no salutation at all. When I spoke to my own personal bank they told me they never send emails directly to their clients. They have a message system on their site so no need to send an email. If it's really important they will call me, right.
In order to keep your accounts safe you should change your password often, even your email account.
I don't like that people are getting away with this. I have the email address for my bank's investigation department as well as the spoof emails for paypal and ebay. I forward all these emails to their investigation departments so they can find these frauds. Every day I send an email "Forwarding fraudulent email for your investigation", usually to paypal. If everyone reports these hackers the better the chances of catching them.
@donsky14 (5947)
• Philippines
30 Mar 11
Hopefully paypal would be able to resolve this issue. I guess you've been hacked by someone...or have you tried logging into your paypal outside your home? like an internet cafe? Just take this as a learning experience...hopefully you'll get your money back1 person likes this
@aprilten (1966)
• Philippines
3 Apr 11
I never logged in to my paypal account outside my home. That's why that day when the payment was sent to that person I am 100% sure that I didn't make that payment because I was out all day. All day as in very early in the morning up to late at night. But, what I learned is that I should change my password every so often. Thank you and I also pray that I get my money back.
@chrislotz (8137)
• Canada
3 Apr 11
And that is some of the reasons that I believe paypal to be a secure site. They notified you and limited your account when you had some strange activity happening, and that is what they should be doing.
I requested some money to be transferred to my bank account, from my sister's laptop and they limited my account right away because it was a different IP address than mine. I think they are doing their job and I am glad they did this because what if it wasn't me.
It was a bit of a hassle to fix my account but eventually I had to phone them and once I did that it only took a few minutes to fix. They were very good about it and I wish that I got more people like them on the phone when I have a problem, the guy was that helpful and patient with me as I'm not all that great with the computer and he had to help walk me through things to get it fixed up.
You will get your money back if that transaction wasn't legit but is it at all possible that someone who lives with you might have bought something and used your account to pay for it?? I don't know your living arrangements. If not I am sure you will your $11 back.
@AndrewFreyne (6281)
• United Kingdom
31 Mar 11
I think that paypal is very safe and I use it all the time. It's far better to make payments when purchasing things with paypal than to disclose your credit card or debit card details. That does sound like a tricky situation that you are in though. No one has access to your pc or details? Well, I wish you luck and I hope that paypal are able to resolve this matter for you. Andrew
@greenfeathers (1206)
• United States
31 Mar 11
If you want to cancel such is your option. As the same has happened with me I understand your position. I did not cancel as it is just too convenient. It allows me to keep my bank card out of the picture. What I do is to keep a minimal amount in the account, forwarding from my bank as necessary for whatever payments needed be made.
As far as security issues go nothing is 100% safe with compuerization. But Paypal is quite good and, unlike my bank, will work with you over such issues..
Enjoy!
@CONDLAUR (134)
• Romania
30 Mar 11
My advice is do NOT LOG on a public PC. You can not known what kind of programs are installed, installed even by admin from the public place. A public internet room i always use as a search engine, not even for my mail. People will try everything this days to get rich quick.
@scififan43 (2434)
• United States
31 Mar 11
I have had my paypal account ever since I joined mylot. I have used it plenty of times and never had any problems what so ever. I hate to hear about what happen to you, I think some one hacked into your accont and stole some information form your computer. I would suggest that you ungrad your security if you can. I use Norton security suite and it has protected me from being hacked many times. I do feel however that paypal is a safe site and you should contuine to use them. jsut be more careful with your personal infromation.
@hagirl (1295)
• United States
31 Mar 11
Unfortunately it has to be someone that knows your access information.....that is why when I kicked my to be Ex I changed my password information...... it is really good to change things like that about every 6 mo...... not only that it could have been a hacker there are some very smart tech people out there these days
