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 Replies: 13 / Views: 2,455 |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Last week I had a buyer contact me about a charge back because his account was hacked into and 10s of thousands of dollars of fraud were spent with his account. If any of the tips can prevent anyone from having to go through the same situation then this thread was worth it. Some of you probably already know this and do a lot of these things, but I wanted to share some ways of making your paypal account more secure for those that may not have put much thought into it.
1. If you use text messaging I highly recommend enabling the text message security feature on paypal. What that will do is require you to enter a confirmation code that gets texted to your phone when you try and sign in. If nothing else getting the text message will be a good alert someone is trying to get/got into your account.
2. Make absurdly hard security questions, even if the answers make absolutely no sense and are actually just extra passwords. You will probably want to write these down and keep the answers somewhere safe so you dont lock yourself out but its important that these are hard to crack. If theyre easy to figure out you can log in bypassing the text message feature.
3. Most of us have a bank account linked to paypal since it makes it easier to use. I HIGHLY recommend opening up a new account at your bank for this especially if they have free checking accounts. Only keep the minimum 20 or 50 dollars or what ever they require in this account. If you need to make a purchase with it move the money in just before the purchase. If you withdraw anything into that account immediately move it to an account that isn't linked to paypal. You could actually just use your current checking account if nothing is linked to it and move all your money into savings, but the idea is to have an account with basically no money in it as the one thats linked. The credit card charges you can get canceled usually, if money comes out of your bank theres no assurance youll ever get a dime back.
4. If possible a separate credit card would be ideal for the one that is linked, but this is probably the least important suggestion. Whatever card you do use check the charges on it at least every couple days, daily would be ideal though. Same goes for paypal itself, check the account a few times a week to make sure only charges that are supposed to be there are there.
5. Finally have a difficult password or change it from time to time. This is one area where you dont want to use the same passwords as your email or your generic password.
If you only pay attention to one thing in this thread the dummy bank account being linked is the most important take away.
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Moderator
 United States
16679 Posts |
Quote:
Finally have a difficult password or change it from time to time. I change mine once a month. Combination of letters, weird characters, numbers, and words that most people would not even think of. swcoin.ecrater.com
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Forum Dad
United States
24175 Posts |
6. Never EVER click a link to Paypal in an email no matter how certain you are its legitimate. I have received at least 5 spoof Paypal emails that addressed me by my full name. Always go to paypal.com in your browser and log in.
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Bedrock of the Community
 13014 Posts |
Great point bobby. Anything from paypal or ebay will show up in your accounts there, theres no reason to ever click a link in an email from either or them. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
4078 Posts |
Thanks members! I printed these pages for me to check my security.
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
477 Posts |
Great post Basebal21, one thing I'll add is always log yourself out of paypal. Sometimes you may log in not from your home source, for instance in a cafe. It may leave your data in an open source for anyone to access. the best way I can describe this is, if any of you use smart devices at home in conjunction with having a PC/Laptop-you will notice that the search results are shared. This sometimes leaves people being able to access your prior searches, for instance someone uses my wifi with their smart device. And I can see exactly what they were browsing, and if they don't close their email A/C I could open the link. In public areas such as libraries, sometimes you may use these computers and in a rush not logout properly. Instead just closing the open windows, this leaves everything you've accessed open to the next user(s). Be very careful as alot of people don't log-out, believing closing windows will automatically do it. Sometimes it will after a time period, but not always. I worked under the official secrecy act for a while, this is why I know of this. Also as mentioned in the above post, passwords are key-an unprecedented amount of people use the obvious passwords. that little bit of extra effort goes a long way. This link shows the most common passwords used, if yours is on the list-take the time to change all your passwords into complex ciphers. Edit:- http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_t...out_you.htmlFinally to avoid writing an essay, be careful who you trust with your information. All it takes is a friend being nosy on your email, then there friend and so on-until details end up in the wrong hands. Trust yourself and yourself only, then you can narrow down the blame ;). Edited by awallin01
04/07/2014 08:37 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1130 Posts |
 Very good information. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
I've heard the suggestion to not even have a credit card attached, and only use the designated bank account, and like you said, keep the account with very little $ in it. Personally I have a credit card attached to my paypal account, and haven't had any problems.
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Moderator
United States
16679 Posts |
I don't leave a big amount in there. If I sell a big $ item, I immediately withdraw it from paypal.
swcoin.ecrater.com
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1804 Posts |
Very Small paypal balance.
No bank connection.
Change password OFTEN.
Hope for the best.
I personally had to have a CC to start ... but at least I have CC (100%) protection from fraud. What ever that is worth.
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Valued Member
United States
402 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2124 Posts |
Domain555: If you don't have bank connection, how do you withdraw money from Paypal?
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
726 Posts |
Same question as me...I hav account for years already and only leave money in to buy with (Even when I sold-money was respent)...How can yu take yu money out?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1804 Posts |
Persis.....
arianzo.....
Slow as all get out......... I just ask for a check.... and keep funds at next to zero..... not hard to do, as I haven't sold lately
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Replies: 13 / Views: 2,455 |
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Posted 04/06/2014 11:54 pm
