Has Paypal Been Hacked?
Paypal still insists that they have great security and have not been hacked. They claim that in all such cases, the user must have visited a fake site or in some other way compromised their security.
There are disturbing aspects of these reports that worry me. 1) Reports are coming in almost daily about hacked Paypal accounts, some of them from very computer-savvy people (even a ZD Net reporter as shown in a story below). Are so many people visiting fake paypal sites?
2) Even when the Paypal security system flags an account due to suspicious activity, it first lets the suspicious activity complete and then restricts the account.
If a hacker gets into an account and tries to take $1500 out of the bank and is turned down because there is not enough money, he tries again for $1400, then $1300, until he hits an available amount.
After removing this amount from the bank account and sending it on its way, Paypal then restricts the account. Talk about locking the barn after the horse escapes. 3) After the security system has restricted the account, you would think that Paypal would be very interested in resolving the problem.
Not according to most posters. They have to call, write, fax, contact their bank, credit card company and FBI and after 40 to 60 days, Paypal may finally take some action. Here is just one more such report Another hacked account.
None of that does anything to reassure me. I think I'll just play it safe and avoid Pay Pal.