please help me- 695.00 taken from my bank/paypal unauthorised!

soolin

hermum wrote: »

Can the other persons computer have been hacked & then that be linked somehow to the OP & their details got that way?
As you can tell, I'm not tech minded.

The hacker needed the OPs password or alternatively access to his email account and sufficient info about him to be able to answer all the security questions, get the password reset and have it sent to the OPs email address, all without the OP noticing.

So this is a serious hack and OP potentially needs to be looking further than just his paypal account.

The most common ones seem to be via a Gmail or Hotmail account- a hacker gets access to that but doesn't change the password so the owner doesn't realise. Then he can try what he likes with paypal and trying to get the password reset, and just delete the emails from Hotmail before the owner realises. I certainly would be unlikely to notice that the last log in time for my Hotmail address was wrong.

There are some very persistent hackers out there. Alternatively it could still be a phish, how many threads have we had recently from PC savvy people asking whether the email they have from paypal is real, When it is obvious it is a phish? I got one yesterday, got through all my spam filters and was word for word identical to a payment message..

vickynleon

i still think something is going on inside paypal either that or they have completely rubbish staff who have not regard for anyone but themselves. since i have been scammed i have rung at least once a day and i email about 3 times a day and i will do until i get what i am owed. everytime i ring up they lecture me on the rules and regulations of paypal i couldnt care less because their staff clearly dont know them themselves thats the reason i am in this mess, so i have asked them seems as i know the rules inside out would they like me to come and lecture their staff on them. i have spoken to someone in customer services today and explained i new another person that has been scammed through paypal and she didnt like me saying this at all, funny thing that. i have emailed the ferret, the watchdog and something called i believe action for fraud or something like that and i will make sure a full investigation is made against paypal with how they work and that their staff have full training. i would love to see how much paypal are actually making from these so called "fraudulent transactions". i think its terrible you have to find out information yourself but you put your trust in paypal with your details. fight them all the way i sure will be,

soolin

Paypal cannot just make payments from your account but they do require users to protect themselves, banks also do the same and just because someone gains access fraudulently to your account doesn't make the bank or paypal liable.

nzmegs

Paypal transactions should be protected in the same way credit card transactions are - ie anything over £100 which is illegally taken from your account is returned to you. it is up to the OP to prove the illegality however. it seems that he should join together with the other scammed person to strengthen their case.

JQ.

You say somewhere it's a work PC - could your work tech guys have remote access to to your PC, ours do! I realise it's very "Miss Marple", but with 2 corrupt tech guys working at 2 seperate non-connected companies stealing log-in info, I would imagine it could be quite a profitable operation - passing paypal money from the staff of one company to another, with no connection bteween the 2 accounts. Just a thought.

Oliver14

nzmegs wrote: »

Paypal transactions should be protected in the same way credit card transactions are - ie anything over £100 which is illegally taken from your account is returned to you. it is up to the OP to prove the illegality however. it seems that he should join together with the other scammed person to strengthen their case.

Paypal fees would then rise and we would have a run of threads about why is PP ripping me off with their fees.

soolin

nzmegs wrote: »

Paypal transactions should be protected in the same way credit card transactions are - ie anything over £100 which is illegally taken from your account is returned to you. it is up to the OP to prove the illegality however. it seems that he should join together with the other scammed person to strengthen their case.

They are, paypal are usually very quick to return funds taken fraudulently. However even a credit card company would not repay you if someone logged in securely and then used your account to make payments- and didn't trigger any of the unusual activity points.

hermum

!!!!!!!!! wrote: »

I'm just trying to think. Every single one of my passwords are different, this is all so confusing...

Have you changed your passwords to everything, I'm sure that you have already said & no doubt have.
I had someone hack into one of my email accounts & was sending people in my contacts list emails.
Luckily they didn't get my bank, paypal or ebay log ins.
I also had my ebay account hacked a few years ago, ebay noticed that there was irregular activity on it before I did. There had been loads of listings put on for sale in one evening, I can't remember the amount but think that it was close to £100 in listing fees in a few hours. Ebay cancelled them all & credited my account.
THere are so many phishing emails now supposedly from paypal, the Skype & tax rebate one I get almost daily. Are you sure that you've never replied to one of them?
The tax rebate one I think is possibly one of the more clever ones, as they always say that you are entitled to a small tax rebate, thus making it more believable than hundreds & hundreds.

scheming_gypsy

In the transaction log for it, what details does it have? just that you sent money and no other information; such as an eBay listing?
Also, when you sent a payment you get a receipt sent to you informing that you sent a payment. Didn't you get one of those advising that you did? if not, have a look in your account to see if there are any other email addresses added that somebody could have logged in as rather than your main one? (not sure if it sends the email to the main address or the one it's logged in as, so just guessing there).

Finally..... have you received any emails from Paypal telling you to click a link............

BargainMad_3

A few people have pointed out that you have to log in to send money via paypal but it's worthwhile knowing that there are also billing arrangements that can be set up where the receiver can request money in much the same way as a direct debit. These can be used for recurring subscriptions or annual renewals of services.....and yes paypal can debit the money without you logging in and sending.

Indeed it can come as a quite a shock when a year down the line your bank account has a paypal debit for something you bought 12 months ago and forgot about.

I am sure that there have been many people affected in this way with money taken via paypal in an automatic way.

I am not saying this is what has happened here - far from it - as this does sound like someone has logged in and sent the money. But people should be aware PayPal can send money whilst you are at work or even asleep.

Back to the OP's problem, do you regularly use the paypal account that this money has gone from? (You said you had 2 accounts.)