My Ebay account was broken into somehow by someone in Indonesia. I really can’t figure this out. But, the damage was done as this person bought a cell phone for $320.00 and used my PayPal account to purchase it. I didn’t notice it until I say that Paypal had dipped into my checking account for that amount. Then, come to find out, I’m locked out of my ebay account.
I set up the Ebay and Paypal relationship long ago, back before all those phishing schemes and fraud was too prevalent. Because of this, my password for Paypal and Ebay were the same. That was a big problem that I didn’t realize, or should have realized could be a potential security breech. Anyway, turns out it was.
After several hours of spending time on the phone with Paypal and using Ebay’s security fraud chat thingy, I finally got back control of my accounts and reset all my passwords. I had to file a dispute with my bank as well.
The bad news is that it is a few days before Christmas and I was counting on that money to buy some presents and what not. Paypal admits that it was a fraudulent charge, but says it will be up to 10 days before they can return the money into my Paypal account. From there, it will be another 4 days to get it in my regular bank account. In the meanwhile, some ACH clearing house is making money off my money by holding it. I don’t know who is the bigger crook – the guy in Indonesia or Paypal.
What I can’t figure out is how my account was compromised. I would never fall for a phishing scheme or email and my computers are clean as a whistle. Being a developer on the web, I know when something is not right and always check my security certificates on trusted sites, since I install those regularly for businesses. The only thing that I can figure is that Ebay’s database was compromised. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear about some major breech in the next few days or weeks. At this point, I do not trust Ebay or Paypal, but more so Ebay.
Stay tuned…
