How to protect your PayPal from getting hacked !

I had my PayPal hacked a few days back , & lost more than $600 , which I got back yesterday, thanks to PayPal.

I thought I should write this tutorial to help others protect their PayPal account from getting hacked & how to recover your money if the account got hacked.

Prevention is always better than cure , so, first -
How to protect your PayPal account :

1.) The Password -
Choose a password which is different than the passwords you use for DP , for your email address or any other password.
A good option would be to visit this password generator & get a good long password like
5W2bPBV1ioM8r6%@lmkf , which is impossible to guess.

Do not store your password in a document on your PC , use Roboform or a Safe , so that even if your PC is hacked , the passwords cannot be stolen.

Do not use your keyboard to type in your password , use the On-Screen Keyboard available in Windows XP & above. This will nullify any keyloggers.

2.) Phishing Emails -
You may get many emails which look as though they have come from PayPal , but are not from PayPal. To differentiate between real & spoof emails , use Iconix , which is approved by PayPal.
Also, please forward all emails which are not approved by Iconix to spoof [at] paypal [dot] com to help PayPal security team to disable it.

3.) Protecting your PC
Use a combination of an Antivirus , an Antispyware & a Firewall to protect your PC from getting intruded.
You can get all fo these for free , & I would recommend -
Antivirus - Antivir Personal Edition - More about Antiviruses
AntiSpyware - Spyware Search & Destroy
Firewall - Zone Alarm Personal Firewall

Use a safe browser , like Firefox & update it regularly. The latest stable version is 2.0.0.7 .

4.) Use the PayPal security key
It’s a device that generates a temporary 6-digit security code every 30 seconds. Use it every time you log in for added security. It costs a one-time $5 fee , but it is really worth it.



Inspite of this , if your PayPal account does get hacked & the hacker uses the $ in your account to purchase different items, PayPal will help you get them back.

1.) Do not Panic - Even though you have lost a lot of money , do not panic, as there is a good chance that you will get all the money back , within 10 days.

2.) Block/Suspend your Credit Card - If you have a Credit Card associated with your PayPal account, block it , so that no further payments can be made.

3.) View the details of all transactions & get the emails of the people/companies the payments were made to. Using your PayPal email address , email each of them that your account was hacked & the payment made is unauthorised.

4.) Login to your PayPal account , change your password , change both Forgot password questions & their answers.

5.) Go to Resolution Center in your PayPal account , & report all the unauthorised transactions.

In my case, as I was in constant contact with both PayPal & the companies to whom the payments were made , I got my money back in 2 business days. You can call up all of them if you like , but imo , email is enough.

Well , that is it , hope it helped,

Thanks
Ishan

 

Excellent information posted there. Its very important to keep your data safe.

 

I agree with Amit, very useful. Thanks for going in debt with solutions and trouble people may encounter.

#2) Phising is quite a common problem, even though some of us think people don't actually fall for these.

 

Just open the OnScreen Keyboard , & click the box where you enter the password. Now click the keys in the OnScreen Keyboard to enter the password.

@ amit & 8everything
Thanks

@deluxdon & disguised
Thanks for the rep.

 

thxs for info ishan

 

I have come across Paypal security key for the first time. Someone explain me in detail plz.

Very useful post there though. Reps for ya.

Edit: tried ordering it got message: The Security Key is currently not available. Please try again later.

 

This is a great thread! Thanks so much for taking the time to write this.

 

Excellent info,thanks for sharing.

 

thanks for sharing.. really useful tips..

 

indeed a great articled dude. thank you very much for sharing the information. most of them would not be aware of this and now that they would have got some basics. also the links were very useful.

 

Thanks Ishan, great information. I've heard stories of people having their paypal account hacked. Had no idea how to stop it from happening to me until now!

 

Thanks for the info and keeping it simple and to the point. Rep added.

 

nice one thanks
worth sticky

 

Yeah, I agree. This thread should be stickied.

 

ask for chargeback simply !
paypal will do that for you

 

This is a really nice article!
The most important thing is too keep your PC keylogger / virus / trojan free

 

Its better to prevent the account from getting hacked , instead of blaming paypal later if they fail to recover the money

 

Nice Info, Thanks

 

what if you forgot all the login details of your account because of long time no use??
i forgot each and every details of my account except my email id..