Paypal

I get these fake emails regarding my account from paypal. I have spoken to their representatives each time and reported those spam's is what they are called. Do not give out any personal information when you receive an email that says it's from paypal or ebay until you are 100% sure it's legit.

ladybug

Paypal is a prime target for scams and they are not very secure. I am very good with computers and recognizing scams and I still got hit with two attempted $500 withdraws against my checking account via paypal. I never could figure out how they hacked my account though. I know that I did not respond to any bogus emails. My best guess is one of my computers might have been compromised with a key logger or virus but I never found one. Luckily I caught the transaction the day it happened so I easily stopped it. Paypal has some nice benefits but being attached to a bank account makes it risky. I have been avoiding ebay and paypal lately anyway. They drastically overcharge for the service they provide. I would recommend craigslist for free auctions separated by local.

The key with Paypal - watch your address bar! As with any link you click on, be smart. Think - why in the hell would Paypal, this financial institution, that credit card or anybody email you to verify who you are?? And then, why would the web page ask for such personal information like your entire social security and the entire credit card number? They have that info on file!!!

The safest way to protect your identity is to pay attention to what you are doing. Don't click every link sent to you. Pay attention to the websites you visit. If the link opens a new page with no address bar, use your head? Why would a valid, multi billion dollar company hide stuff? They would only hide if they WEREN'T who they claimed. For example, the correct website for Citibank is citibank.com, not citibank.openall.net/junction/index/html or some silly sounding URL. The word JUST IN FRONT of the .com, .net, .org or .whatever is the domain you are accessing. Having the name of the company anywhere else but just before the extension and you are not visiting the actual website. Phishers usually will link to the actual site their are spoofing, stealing images and links. Look at the address bar - that's the key.

I can't stress enough - don't use IE6 or IE7. They are just not safe. getfirefox.com. Firefox has an AWESOME anti-fishing feature that will warm you if the site has been flagged as fake. And if you see that the site if fake, with a couple clicks you can protect others by telling people.

And if you get a fake email, save the cheerleader/save the world - email the company. Just about all have an email account "abuse@......" Send it to them. They will love you for it. So will I.

And considering this:
wcco.com/local/craigslist.murder.burnsville.2.415173.html
...I'll pass on Craigslist.

yes, be VERY vigilant and watch your address bar, these days scammers are getting bolder and smarter as well so we should never give information to any sites unless we are sure that it's safe. If you've given personal information to a site once, then there should be no reason as to why they should ask you again for them, right?

All common sense issues mentioned above could have saved me much misery
I am almost certain my mistake was clicking a paypal link from an EBAY auction I won
I did have to re enter some info, which should have given the scam away

I am so sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with paypal. :( I have been using paypal for almost 8yrs now without any major problems and any conflicts that I had were resolved within 24hrs.
Something else to remember about paypal, when you log onto something and give your email addy, people can try and use your email addy to collect a payment from paypal. I use the example of people/places that have you use your email for sign on.
I had one charge come up on my paypal that I had not authorized. Paypal let it go through, then had me file a dispute form. The money was back in 24hrs, and paypal took action against the person who tried to debit my accout as well as providing me with informaton to take my own action against the party who did this.
But the thing I like about paypal is that no one ever actually sees any bank information or cc information to continue from there.
Just my story about paypal. I guess it has it's pros and cons just as does anyother site or cc.
:)

All this makes me very uncomfortable. I have a paypal acct and I also have an Ebay toolbar. It warned me once I was on a site that was not Ebay.So I know it works.I have my bank account linked to Paypal and now it scares me although I never keep any big amounts in there we only deposit money in there and then turn around and pay bills with it. I had one change on my payapl account that was not suposed to be there. I took a trail aubscription to something and it was supposed to be for a number of days but in 2 days they had debitted my paypal account for 39.95.It was a survey club.I could not find anyway to stop the debit so it went through. I emailed the place back and forth and also contacted Paypal and used their form to get the money back.In the end the company paid the money back as they had a money back garantee. It was also a sham site .I was already a member once to many of the survey sites. Anyway I am really scared now about linking my account to paypal. I do also use IE6. Think I should switch to Firefox. I have it already on my pc .I just never use it I always use IE6 that what I have always used.

I lost my identity from Paypal about 2 months ago. I have been Paypal member since mid 90's. Back then ID theft was no concern and Paypal had my SS# on file. I had all kinds of charges from Paypal to my checking and paypal registered credit cards. Lately the crook opened Paypal credit card account and charged. I reported local police and was advised to put on Fraud alert for 7 years with 3 credit reporting agencies. All of damages recovered without cost. I pay close attention to my Paypal accounts now.

This happened to me a few years ago. I 'received' an e-mail..saying it was Paypal, anyway. The e-mail stated I "needed to update my account." Well.....I clicked on the link and "updated". The next day I saw SOOO many 'big' purchses on my Paypal account. And my bank account was 'attached' to my Paypal, as well. To make a long story short, ALL of the 'amounts' were credited back to my account. OMG!! What a nightmare!

I had a merchant charge my paypal account after an order was cancelled. Did not find out until I got declined at the checkout line. Paypal was impossible to deal with. They sided with the merchant right off the bat and told us we had to prove that we cancelled the order. I never leave more than 50 dollars in paypal anymore.