Paypal account hacked

It does sound like a “swell” day you had. NOT! Thanks for the heads up.

Southwest, so very sorry this happened to you. I think PayPal dropped the ball when they didn’t send you any kind of notice that this was happened.

I bet you had just a wonderful day changing passwords and emailing. Do you need a punching bag? Hope there are no holes in the wall.

((HUGZ))

Different passwords for different websites is an absolute must. Also, make sure a keystroke logger didn’t make it through to your computer.

Someone tried to transfer $750 or so out of my PayPal account a few years ago, and Paypal caught it and froze the transaction until they contacted me. They got ahold of me via email. Everything was taken care of very quickly.

I second the advice about having all different passwords for every website/account you have on the internet. It is very important. I have a whole long list of passwords taped to my desk so that I won’t get confused, and I have started changing all my passwords every few months. Even if you have an excellent anti-virus program on your computer, you just can’t be too careful these days. I found out the hard way, and I will never take chances again.

Sounds like a great day ….. sorry to hear that happened to you. Thank you for the heads up , hope it all gets worked out!

Autumn

So sorry. This stuff scares me.
I do keep different passwords for the different accounts.
I keep a notebook with all the websites, accounts and passwords. (Partly, in case of death, that someone can close down stuff)

I also keep a Word Doc with my passwords and such, then copy paste to the site so that there are less keystrokes.
I also keep my document under a crazy name so that it’s not so obvious.

Another precaution….when I’m done for the day, I shut down the computer. Reasons: 1. think it’s better for it’s little innards, and 2. hopefully to discourage any little nasties out there from piggybacking.

You are absolutely right JS all of the thieves and crooks are not just in D.C.

Somebody got me for $13.95 two months ago! Changing your password at least once a month is great, but it’s not enough. Browsers do not all automatically log you out of Paypal after you use it! Especially if you’ve gone to a retail site and bought something. In that case, after your purchase is complete you need to close your browser (all windows) & clear your cookies. Also, if going directly to Paypal, you need to type in https://www.paypal.com/ (exactly like that, including the LAST slash), do your business, then logout, then CLOSE your browser & clear all cookies. Also, Paypal has a web security section in their help area if you can find it.

JS…what the heck is it called when someone uses your computer’s memory illegally to build a sort of network for their own use???? I’ve read about it in Tech magazines…can’t come up with the name. That’s why I shut down at night.

Re keeping the list of passwords….I keep it in a secure place except when using it…..never do I keep a list on the computer. Don’t know what else is possible. If someone breaks into the house while I’m gone, seriously doubt they’d find it…if I’m home at the time, they are in grave danger of being “ventilated”.

Dazzling Details what you stated is of extreme importance….way too easy to sometimes not clear out cookies and there are very nasty critters in some of those cookies!

Crazy Dane….you made me smile!!! We Texans (even we non- native but got here as soon as we could Texans) are a rowdy bunch are we not? Never let appearances fool you….this gray haired little old lady can out run gators (they’re faster than one might think),dispatch nasty type snakes, smash scorpions, and grin at fire ant attacks (sorta grin). Not to say we don’t have soft spots…just lost one of my beautiful pear trees a couple weeks ago…partly to the drought…partly to a disease it got. Research told me I could get a chemical spray that probably would have saved the tree, but I couldn’t do that. A Momma Mockingbird had a nest with babies in the tree….simply could not bring myself to spray the tree. Momma and babies are safe and out into the big world…..tree shortly to be cut down and taken to the burn pile.

@southwest: I think you refer to “zombies,” which as the name suggests just mindlessly do whatever they are driven to do. But this goes on all the time, whenever you are on line, even as you use your PC. The zombies are typically, but not always, used in DOS (denial of service) attacks which are launched to overwhelm a target server with requests for access; otherwise to relay spam email. A/V software may or may not detect and remove the controlling code. So, shutting down at night will work at night, of course, but when you fire up in the morning, the zombie comes back to life (so to speak). There are thousands – probably hundreds of thousands – of infected computers worldwide, so the time out you take really doesn’t bother the system as a whole.

@everyone: one way to hide a list of passwords “in plain sight” is to use something like a calendar or an appointment book with calendar pages. Here and there, put in names and phone numbers and notes which contain the passwords, arranged in whatever manner allows you to “decode” them. Another way to cook up passwords is to use an algorithm based on something like the day of the week (numerically) then the day of the month, then the month of the year. These elements may be surrounded with letters such as the initials of family members, and separated with nonsense characters such as the dollar sign, the pipe and the plus sign. Example, using this day, this week, this month, and this day, plus family member initials:

ahc*6$1|8~2102;khc

But don’t use THIS year (as I did) – use some year in the future or past, and put the year in backwards. You can check your password “strength” here:

http://www.passwordmeter.com/

But be aware that the password stress test only applies to the level of difficulty in cracking the code with a computer that simply tries zillions of different letter and symbol combinations until it gets the right combination.

Few passwords are ever revealed that way, though, and the attempt is usually reserved for high value targets. Most are acquired through simple human observation and “social engineering.” The observation may be technical, such as network sniffing or a key logger. Otherwise, people searching for passwords may simply watch (or take a video of) your keystrokes, and sometimes, just ask, because you trust the asker.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water. . .