Identity Theft - It just happened to me :(

[~bs]

$2254. Someone hacked into my email account and paypal account and bought $2254 worth of stuff and used my paypal account to pay for it. They then changed my email to forward and then delete all my incoming mail so that I wouldn't know until it was too late. I was suspicious on Tuesday after coming back from vacation and seeing that I had no new mail. I checked my spam and trash and finally found all my new mail - including a notification that I just sent a transfer of $2254 to Newegg. I was so pissed!! I've filed a claim with paypal and contacted newegg about the transaction and am waiting to hear back about my claim. I've transferred money from my EF so that I don't incur any fees with my bank account. I changed all my passwords. This just sucks. I feel so violated. I've been doing business on the internet for YEARS without problem.

What else should I do? I have a shipping address that belongs to an apartment complex in tampa, FL that I've looked up on google maps. My wife thinks I should contact the Tampa police dept. I just want the money back.

You likely have a virus on your computer, some sort of keylogger. Either that or you used insanely easy password or use the same password for multiple sites, and someone got ahold of your information off a database, and was able to figure out you had a paypal account as well. If you have a keylogger, you're STILL at risk because they know what your new password is as well.

Not sure what email you have, but gmail has a program where if a login is attempted from an unknown IP, it will confirm your identity via text. If you had something like that setup, it would have prevented your email address from being compromised, even if they have your password.

[~bs]

I feel for you. I lost about $300 from my checking account because of a large-scale compromise of Visa numbers. My credit union moved to MasterCard after that. I'd still prefer not having a debit card on my account.

Also, project15, have you already taken steps similar to those recommended at How to Dispute Errors On Your Credit Report? Check that out just in case you haven't.

This is the reason why it's smart to use credit cards for transactions. With a debit/checking account, all you can do is ASK the bank to reimburse you, but they really don't have to.

[~bs]

^

Depends on the nature of the transaction and who you're dealing with on the other end. None of my transactions are ever subject to the 21 day hold. That's more for newer users or users without consistent large transaction history.