A reader has a question about a PayPal issue: “I have been using PayPal for quite a while to pay my monthly bills plus buy most things as I get a percentage of the credit for each payment through them.
I have never had a problem or any mishandling of my payments until 2/14/22 and suddenly two unknown charges came up totaling about $400. and I was shocked as I had (obviously and my mistake) thought PayPal was almost unable to be hacked.
From what I could locate, the supposed companies do not exist, and yet when I immediately notified PayPal they still posted the payments to my Bank. Now PayPal says they are attempting to contact the source of the charge.
My question to you is, what do you know about PayPal and this type of transaction, and do you have any advice for me?
Thanks for your help and very much appreciate your email information.”
The issue may not be PayPal itself being hacked. It could also be that someone has managed to pilfer your payment permissions from the server of a company you’ve authorized PayPal payments through, your utility, or even your bank. It’s also possible someone has accessed one of your devices and stolen your PayPal login credentials.
If you’ve used a public or a different network to conduct a transaction, your information could have been intercepted. If you’ve made a transaction on a different computer, that’s also a vulnerable spot. Just to be sure, I’d check all of your devices for apps you don’t recognize and run a security scan. You might also consider changing your WiFi password in case someone has managed to access your network.
The good news is that I’ve found Paypal to be very responsive to customers. If the company in question can’t show that you authorized the product or service, you should expect to get a refund soon.