Old Password suddenly stopped working

[Europe2013]

Dear Paypal,

I tried logging in today to make a small payment to a software company (and yes, the link provided by the company is secure and trustworthy) and suddenly my old login password no longer worked.

I then had  to reset the password to get into my account.

Now the thing is: I work in IT, I have all my passwords stored in an encrypted file and even keep a small old fashioned notepad (which never leaves home - and I live alone) where I have them written down - so I'm 100% sure that the password (and of course the email adress) was correct, because I compared it several times and even copy&pasted it, just in case my keyboard was defective. I also used my Paypal account several times in the last weeks without any problems. And my PW was certainly not phished since I have to deal with exactly such security issues on an almost  daily basis in my job, I know what a phishing mail looks like.

The new password works and I have access again. But I need to know why this happened and if the security on my account has been compromised. So my questions are:

1. Were there any login attempts from foreign IP adresses (for example any IP ranges outside of Europe) in the last 2 weeks ? How many login attempts happened since Nov 2nd ?

2. Were there any attempts to reset or answer my security questions ?

3. Can you provide me with an access log for my account and when my password was changed the last time ? (there should be no changes between 11/2011 and today).

I need to know if this was a database error by Paypal (maybe due to maintenance) or if I need to take apart my home network and look for leaks. I the meantime I have removed my credit card from the account.

[snowshoe · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately the questions you have asked simply cannot be answered here.  No one here has access to user account details.  With the exception of the PayPal Forum Monitors, the advisers here are volunteers, many of us are online business owners who have used PayPal for years.  We can help with many issues however, no one here has access to the type of information you're seeking.  You can try customer support but, I don't think they will have much info to share either.

If you're interested in system maintenance schedules, fixes and other announcements, see this link:

https://www.paypal-notify.com/eventnotification/search?eventSearchType=PayPalSiteStatus

[Europe2013]

I noticed that you are volunteers (which is awesome by the way, thanks) while browsing the forum, I had no idea since this is the first time I post here. In the meantime I have already contacted customer service.

[jaht]

yeah, me too. Password stops working, out of blue. It's just paypal way of doing things, instead of asking users to reset or reconfirm, they simply invalidate password forcing you to confirm your account by reseting password. One might ask - why try to hide this from user? Simple, it's pay-pal...