What I Did When My PayPal Account Was Hacked and Stolen

*Updated on February 28, 2016

I had the most nerve-wrecking morning today. It's my habit to automatically check my phone for notifications upon waking up. It's the first thing I do before washing my face and brushing my teeth. And thank goodness I formed that habit. Imagine my surprise when I saw the email from PayPal saying that I sent a P10,000 payment to a certain person (name removed as requested by the person. According to her, she was also a victim of hacking). I knew I didn't make that transaction as I was still lounging in bed during that time and I certainly didn't know anyone with that name (name removed). So I logged in right away to my PayPal account to double check and ta-da, the transaction was indeed in my history and the status was completed (I couldn't cancel it anymore). First thing in my mind was to report it. The thing was I couldn't report the transaction as fraudulent right away since PayPal's system was asking me to wait for thirty minutes so that I will receive some email from the merchant about my "purchase". After a few minutes, I started receiving emails about my cards being removed from PayPal and then I suddenly couldn't log-in anymore. A few minutes later, I received another email saying that the primary email address of my account was changed. I was panicking already and on the verge of crying when my dad told me to get a grip of myself and start cancelling my credit cards. 

So I called Bank A first where the P10,000 was charged. The phone conversation was smooth and fast. They told me that I will receive my new card in a few days. And then I called Bank B just to be on the safe side since my Bank B credit card was also linked to my PayPal account. It took the agent several minutes to understand the concept of PayPal. She initially refused to have my card replaced since my card was not really lost as it is still with me. She could not understand that my credit card details were connected with PayPal and since it was hacked, I want my card changed for security purposes. I was so upset that I started asking for her manager since she couldn't understand the reasons of my request. Imagine my anxiety when I couldn't fix this right away and I really felt like time was ticking because this guy who hacked into my account was moving very fast. After several more holds, my request was finally done.

Next call was to PayPal. I only got their number because my dad changed his password and they sent him an email that if he did not request for the password change, he could call +14029357733. So I called the number and I was a bit frustrated since the PayPal answering machine kept on asking for my phone number that I used in PayPal. I wanted to talk to someone, a real live person.

Machine: Thank you for calling PayPal. Do you have a PayPal account?

Me: Yes.

Machine: Please state your phone number when you made the transaction.

Me: I don't have a number.

Machine: Did you make a transaction with PayPal?

Me: Yes.

Machine: Please enter the phone number you used with Paypal. Or say I don't have it.

Me: I don't have it.

*frustration levels elevating*

Me:I want to talk to someone.

Machine: Do you mean agent?

Me: Yes, I want to talk to an agent *exasperated*

(Note: The answering machine system of PayPal was actually quite impressive but a bit frustrating if you're in a hurry.)

And soon enough I was transferred to an agent. The girl was actually helpful but customer service manners were not that great. It's not that she was rude, she just failed to inform me when she's looking something up or doing something because there were several times I felt like the line just died. When I gave her my email address, she couldn't track my account. Good thing PayPal emails you the details if someone adds an email address to your account so I saw the culprit's email address. When I gave it to the agent, she was able to track the account.  Fortunately, after verifying some of my details, she was able to give me back the control of my account. Afterwards, I changed my password and waited for the resolution of my dispute, which can take up to seven days.

And by early evening, I received an email from PayPal that my dispute was already resolved and that they will reverse the transaction on my credit card, which may take a few days *big sigh of relief*.

So overall, I am happy with how PayPal handled my problem but I still won't be using their service anytime soon.

Tips and Lessons Learned:

1. Do not connect your credit cards with PayPal. Or if you do, remove them right away after a transaction you made. I have this lazy habit when I go online shopping where I don't want to retrieve my wallet every time I pay so I saved my card details in PayPal. My cards were linked to PayPal for years but this is the first time this happened to me. The thing is once anyone has access to your account, they can go on a major shopping spree. So better be safe than sorry.
2. Be careful of phishing emails. I'm not sure if I stupidly clicked on something before this happened but there's none that I can recall.
3. When logging in to any website, log-in by opening a new tab and don't log-in from any of the links from your email.
4. Always log-out after your session.
5. Have different passwords for your different online accounts. I double checked if I had other accounts in other websites with the same password and thankfully, I stopped having universal passwords a year ago.
6. If you notice anything suspicious, report it right away. These scammers work really fast and it's best if we put a stop to their doings right away. Don't think of the cost implications of calling overseas. Do it and do it fast.

_____________________________________________________________________

History has taught us: never underestimate the amount of money, time, and effort someone will expend to thwart a security system. It's always better to assume the worst. Assume your adversaries are better than they are. Assume science and technology will soon be able to do things they cannot yet. Give yourself a margin for error. Give yourself more security than you need today. When the unexpected happens, you'll be glad you did. 

— Bruce Schneier

Credit Cards 101

Citibank. BDO. HSBC. RCBC Bankard. East West. Visa. Mastercard. JCB. Amex.

I had my first ever credit card two years ago under my name. Yey, I no longer had to rely on daddy's supplementary card anymore - not.

I thought having credit cards was easy.
Carefree
Adult-like
Rewarding
Desirable (desire and buy - hahaha)

But I found out that it's not.
Careful
Alert
Responsible
Distracting

You need to be careful as you need to make sure that everything is correct. Make sure you sign the charge slip with the correct amount. And when making online purchases, double check everything before pressing the pay button.

Responsibility is very important when having a credit card. It's such an embarassing situation if someone calls your office asking you to pay your bills. Believe me, the collectors are heartless people. Not that they ever looked for me since I ALWAYS pay my bills in full.

And yes, having a wallet filled with credit cards can be distracting. If there's a sale in a mall I happen to visit, impulse shopping is my greatest weakness. And keeping track of how much I charged into each card gives me a migraine.

So here are a few tips on how to attain and maintain a credit card.

• I got my BDO credit card a couple of months after I opened an account with them. It's also my most useful and friendly credit card.
• Don't pay for annual fees (unless you're super happy with the services and perks of that card). Credit card companies usually give the first year of membership free. For the succeeding years, ask them if they could waive the fee. Usually, there's a minimum purchase required (for BDO, you need to charge at least P9,000 on the last three months before your card expires) or you just need a good credit standing.
• Always pay in full (if you can). Interest rates range from 3% to 3.5% a month. I tried not paying in full before just to see how it goes. So my total bill was P13,000, I paid P8,000 and they charged me P800 - that's a pair of shoes on sale! After that, I made sure that I pay up to the last centavo (I sometimes pay an excess of P20-P50 depending on the total). A good credit standing can take you places, and I heard you can easily get a loan should you need one in the future.
• It's nice to know that you can make a purchase and be billed for it after a couple of months or pay for it in 6 months or a year. But remember that when you do that, you consume a portion of your credit limit. Let's say your limit is P20,000 and you go on a shopping spree and spend P12,000 payable in 6 months, by the end of the billing period, assuming that you did not buy anything else, you only have P8,000 to spend. And let's say you already paid the first month, which is P2,000, you will have P10,000 to spend for the next month. Basically, you can use your card more if you have paid the installment completely. So if let's say you made two P10,000 installment purchases, that card would be deemed irrelevant for the first few months as you cannot use it for purchase anymore. So in this case, you can only charge the amount you paid. You paid P5,000, you can charge P5,000 to the card.
• Know the promos. There are several promos where you can get discounts of freebies. I was able to redeem over P500 worth of GCs from SM and I also got free movies (actually, just a discount of P100) and some snacks from fastfood chains. There's nothing you will lose except money if your  way of thinking is if you buy more, more freebies (guilty! But I learned from it, I'm not that crazy anymore).
• There are many payment centers in the metro today. You can even pay for all of your bills in SM. But make sure you pay 3days before your due date as it may take some processing time for the payment to be received by your bank. However, there are several instances that I pay on my due date. And so far, no negative implications yet.

With Christmas just around the corner, and Christmas sale events on the horizon, just remember that credit cards are a good thing but it may lead to bad things. Make sure that you are the one controlling them and not the other way around.

Enjoy your Christmas shopping!