http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20101130,0,704588.column "When cyber thieves use PayPal as portal to bank account"


And I don't. We were recipients on the 1st fraud class-action suit.

I've only used paypal a few times. They're middlemen who offer basically nothing more than credit card processing on a small scale.
I've had a few bad experiences with them, and I've had several friends who had bad experiences with them as well.
Since Ebay bought Paypal and made it mandatory to use Paypal, I all but stopped using Ebay. I don't support companies like Paypal because I think they're middlemen who just want to leech off of legitimate people. I think that type of company weakens our country's financial state.
--
1990 740 Turbo, on its way to stock specs, maybe beyond

hello all
i set up a bank account for the sole purpose of linking to my papal account in which i dont keep much money in there.
i have used paypal for eight years without any problems.
good luck
Mike

In all likelihood, this has nothing to do with PayPal and everything to do with malware/keyloggers installed on the victim's computer, which allow criminals to suck passwords/account information off of her computer and continue to victimize her. PayPal has nothing to do with it. If you want to blame someone, blame the inherent susceptibility of Windows, or the lack of training the user has in the operating system.

I own a business which uses PayPal extensively and have never had any problems, for eight years now.

People who learn to properly secure their computers against attack from malware/spyware/keyloggers should have no problems. My guess--the victim is female and in her 50s--is that her computer is infected and nothing has been done to remedy that. [I am an IT professional and see this every day]

Relevant 240 content: just replaced my tailgate wiring harness for the 2nd time--10 years after the first replacement.

kourt
87 245
austin, tx

Basically, someone else got her account info and *then* linked a PayPal account with it. They didn't hack into her stuff *through* PayPal.

I've had fine luck with PayPal. Very handy for the international transactions I've made for European 240 parts.

-Ryan

By any chance did you get an email supposedly from PayPal saying that you need to update your account and to click on a link in that email? The email also can be threating saying you might lose your PayPal account. These are called "phishing" emails. They look legitimate but they are not. I get those occasionally and forward them on to spoof@paypal.com, then I delete them without even opening them. I even got one supposedly from my bank. NEVER click on that link, just delete it. if you are unsure you can also call PayPal on the phone first, or whoever supposedly sent it. . Once you fall for it, you are in trouble. If you think you have been victimized first change your password immediatly and call PayPal. NEVER give anyone online-or elsewhere, your password-PayPal NEVER asks for that. Thanks for that link.

Yes, I know about these emails and, n, I've never clicked on one.

This was more about the poor security that PayPal has and their notorious lack of decent customer service.

Some folks have had great luck with PayPal and that's great. I stopped using eBay after 500+ transactions because of their emphasis on PayPal.

But this isn't "you shouldn't ...." it's "why I don't ..."

Reading the article it never mentions her using PayPal, just someone hacking her computer through malware and setting up accounts that drained her $$$$.

Under PayPal's rules if she did have that bank account linked to her PayPal account it would have been safe from anyone doing such a thing. You can only have your bank account or credit card linked to one PayPal account at a time. My wife and I ran into that while trying to link our joint credit card to 2 PayPal accounts, couldn't do it. We needed to setup another card and checking account.
--
Dave Shannon
Durango, CO
'67 1800s
'88-240
My Volvo Pages

Notwithstanding all the speculation on what might have occurred - I had a bad experience with PayPal quite a while back (Ebay) and vowed never to use them again purely on the basis of the poor customer service they exhibited in trying unsuccessfully to resolve the issue. In fact - you couldn't even characterize what they did as 'customer service' -- more like lack of customer service. And it hasn't hindered any transactions I've needed to undertake.
--
82 242 5.0L; 97 318ti; 06 WRX wagon

Exactly my experience. We had multiple bad experiences w/ Paypal/ eBay and that was enough. There have been several lawsuits against PayPal, most about their poor security. We never had direct fraud but we were beneficiaries in the 1st class-action lawsuit.

I'm sure there are many more positive than negative experiences with it. In any case, my message wasn't "...so don't use PayPal." It was "FYI. And IMO PayPal sucks."