The Energon Pub

In spite of our extreme carefulness regarding internet funds transfer etc., some asshole hacked our paypal account and charged over $700 to it.

And of course, the bank and paypal are both giving us the run around. Hell, I couldn't even get through to the bank - their 24hr help line told me to call back during normal business hours (7am-5pm MWF).

At the moment the charges are sitting there waiting for "authorization" from the bank, and I'm praying that we can get this sorted out before they "authorize" it, because it will put us nearly $600 in debt if they do.

Can't you get into your Paypal account to deny the transaction?

Fender Bender wrote:Can't you get into your Paypal account to deny the transaction?

Effectively we did, a Paypal customer service woman walked my wife through it on the phone just a little bit ago.

But Paypal has to "investigate" the situation, and if they don't find anything wrong, they'll want to make us pay, as I understand it anyway.



We hadn't used the account in months and got an e-mail today from one of the places that charged us asking us to verify the transaction.

We thought the e-mail itself was a scam. We'd just heard about a deal where people were getting such e-mails that asked for personal information to verify or deny the transaction. So we logged into Paypal itself to double-check and the transactions were indeed there and already 'verified'. We changed the password to our account of course. Hopefully that will at least keep him from sending us any further in debt.

We've also replied to the afforementioned e-mail, (though we've with-held any personal info beyond our phone-number) notified them that the order isn't ours, and asked them to cancel the order. Though they've already charged us, it sounds like they haven't shipped anything yet, so they might just nix the transaction.

In that case, even if the bank and paypal don't help, we'll come out of this with only a $15 loss. Well, plus a $20 charge for dropping below $0 in our checking account.

My wife seems convinced that the bank at least can be counted on to straighten things out, since she was finally able to get ahold of someone to talk to there.

Ouch,
Let this be a reminder to everyone that you should remain ever careful with internet transactions. Hell apparantly even IF you're careful, stuff can still go haywire.
Hope it works out okay for you Caelus, keep us updated

That sucks man.
I came home yesterday and noticed someone stole my 17"
Lo-pro's. I'm pissed off. When\if I see them I'm gonna go off.

I'm still worried there may be another level to this thing I'm not smart enough to see. I warned Krissy to be really careful if the original e-mailer (the company charging us) contacts her again.

If they want personal info to prove that we didn't order whatever it was they're out of luck. We'll have to trust that paypal or the bank can solve it.

Ouch.. I hope things work out for you guys.

Cyber Bishop wrote:Ouch.. I hope things work out for you guys.

Well, we've done everything we can that I know of, so now it is pretty much just a matter of sitting and hoping.

Thanks for the emotional support guys, I was totally spazzing earlier.

Will let you know when we find out more.

So was the address changed in paypal for where the item should be shipped to? I mean if they buy something with paypal, that's the address that is used for shipping.

Nightwatcher wrote:So was the address changed in paypal for where the item should be shipped to? I mean if they buy something with paypal, that's the address that is used for shipping.

Our shipping address was not changed. We think that whatever was bought was a "service" of some form.



One of the charges was:

PAYPAL *GAMEPAL INC $688.69

I'm sure that's supposed to look like it's from this place, but I still have my doubts.

My first thought was that the guy bought a PS3, but since it looks like 'gamepal' only does software, and since it would have to be something that isn't shipped... could an MMORPG subscription cost that much?



The other charge was 10 Euros for something that may have been phone sex? We're not sure. Apparently it was actually charged to an account we don't have anymore, so it hasn't hit us yet.

Big example never to put information onto the net, since anyone and everyone can get that information if they know what their doing.

Sucks that it had to be you that some asshat decided to attack though. Don't know why some people stoop to such a low level of stealing.

What can one do to be careful with PayPaul, may I ask, other than changing passwords?

intentionally getting your account suspended...i did it.

tequila stu wrote:intentionally getting your account suspended...i did it.

I'll bear that one in mind.

BTW, according to Paypal, Gamepal Inc. has refunded the money they charged us, although it hasn't showed up back in our account yet, so it's still just words.

I hope for you they refund it soon, so it doesn't stay just words. If they got into your Paypal account, I wonder if they went into anyone else's too?

Well, according to our online bank account it looks like the refund from Gamepal Inc. finally went through. We're back up to $105!