I got hacked and someone scammed $2000 directly from my bank account.

[AliShibaz]

I experienced a terrible problem with PayPal that left me shaken and I decided that never again would I ever link a bank account to my PP acct.

Before I continue, I want to make it clear that PayPal was as helpful as they could be in this situation and I cannot imagine how they could have been more helpful.

I'm writing this message to ask if I would be safe from this kind of problem if I only use a confirmed bank acct instead of a linked one.

I will now describe the problem I had:

I had been using PP for many months and I was very happy with everything. I began by confirming my bank acct and then I linked my bank acct to my PP acct to make things more responsive.

But then, one day, I was reviewing my bank acct which I had linked to PP and was shocked to see that almost $2,000 had been deducted from my balance the previous day and I had no knowledge of why.

I was extremely lucky that I had chosen that day to review my bank acct balance and recent details. Previously I only did that randomly. Now I do it every day. I raced down to my bank to find out what happened. It turned out that someone living in Poland had purchased some clothing from a store in London and it was charged to my PP acct which meant (because my bank acct was linked) the money was instantly taken out of my bank acct. I told my bank that I had no knowledge of this transaction and it was not me who purchased this clothing. I was very surprised but my bank was enormously helpful. They cancelled the transaction immediately and bounced the payment back to the store that sold the clothing. However, they left me with a $60 NSF fee which they eventually reversed as well. So I was not harmed financially. But I almost had a heart attack from the shock.

I had often read stories of other people getting hacked and cheated but I never thought it would happen to me. By the way, my bank recommended that I close my acct immediately and open a new acct just to change the acct number. They said that would stop the thief from ever trying this again and I was happy to oblige.

However, I am still very reluctant to link another bank acct and my question concerns "confirming a bank acct".

If I confirm my new bank acct, how likely am I to get hacked and cheated like this again? Can anyone hack into my accts and take money out of a confirmed bank acct?

Thank you.

[PayPal_Cristina]

Hi @AliShibaz,

I am really sorry to hear about your negative experience and I understand how this can be shocking. When you link and confirm your bank account to a PayPal account, we do not share your IBAN with anybody. The majority of unauthorised account access cases are a result of inadvertently providing account information, such as bank or credit card account numbers, on fake PayPal websites or in response to fake PayPal emails. It is also possible that if you have other accounts (email, eBay, etc.) that share the same password as your PayPal account. If one of those accounts was compromised, your PayPal account can be at risk of being compromised as well. If you receive an email and are unsure whether it is from PayPal, open a new web browser window and go to the PayPal website. Don't click on any link in an email which seems suspicious to you. If the email claims that there are issues with your account, log in to your PayPal account and check your Resolution Centre. Any account issues will be listed there. When using the PayPal service, always make sure the PayPal URL address listed at the top of the browser begins with 'https'. The 's' ensures that the website is secure. Even if the URL contains the word "PayPal," it may not be a PayPal webpage. If you think you have received a suspicious email, please forward that email to spoof@paypal.com and then delete the email from your mailbox. Never click any links or attachments in a suspicious email. To learn more about online safety, click the "Security" link near the bottom of any PayPal page. To learn more about online safety, click the "Security" link near the bottom of any PayPal page.

I hope this helps.

Cristina