markp Posted December 4, 2005 Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 Henry; Paypal will let you "charge" your credit card and get used to the convience.....for awhile. Then out of the blue they will require you to "...get verified" which their very clever euphemism for direct access to your bank account. Even with perfect payment they will change on you. It was after $2,500 in agragate purchases. I don't know where ther hidden little policy is now. It was even on TV that one source of identity theft was from Paypal among other websites on their "watchlist". I wonder if there are other bretherin here that have had "the Paypal experience?" Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted December 4, 2005 Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 is a pain at times, certainly one to watch their user agreement I still use it though but I hate it when people still use their credit card after I explain that I have to eat the 4% that the carrier gets but don't want to include the extra 4%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skatha Posted December 4, 2005 Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 I had a friend who had $3K deducted from her bank account via Paypal by persons unknown. I,too, refused to be "verified"-now my account is unaccessible by me because the "have no record" of my user ID, although I still can get on eBay with the same account and I get emails to my web address warning me of unauthorized attempts at access when I (unsuccessfully) attempt to log on to Paypal.... If I was a big eBay shopper..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted December 4, 2005 Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 hundreds if not thousands of transactions, not a single problem. bob, your solution is to require that people pay via "e-check" only. it draws directly from their bank account. max fee is $5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted December 4, 2005 Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 There are spam emails that go out under the name Paypal. They tell you something is wrong with your account and tell you to click on the link that they give you to sign in. They take you to their own site that is identical to Paypal's and have you sign in. Then they steal your username and password. There is hardly a way to tell that the site that they take you to is a spoof - even the links on the site work exactly like they would on paypal. Spoofers do the same with ebay. My point is - I wonder if the people who have had problems were truly uninvolved in their own fleecing, or if they got scammed into giving their username and password out, then someone stole their money? I actually fell for it once, but I thought it smelled funny, so I went back to paypal and immediately changed my password. Then I sent them the spoof email and they confirmed that it was a spoof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgang Posted December 4, 2005 Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 If I receive any emails form PayPal, I always log in via the browser instead of selecting any link in the email. I do the same, 4 years verified and not one problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skategoat Posted December 4, 2005 Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 Has anyone tried an alternative like BidPay or Western Union? What's the experience with them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veector Posted December 4, 2005 Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 I havent had any problems with paypal so far, i dont trust it enough to do direct payments from my bankaccount, so i just use a low limit credit card so even if someone wants to take out money, they can't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Posted December 4, 2005 Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 It's too bad you had problems..... However, PayPal IS a bank. So, obviously they would need that information. Even if a person doesn't "online bank", they are still at risk because nearly every banks data is accessible via a 100 year old copper wire, fancy optics or ole coax. Your ATM card/withdrawls are at more risk than PayPal tranfers..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skatha Posted December 4, 2005 Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 My friend who lost $3K set up her Paypal at the time of an eBay purchase and had her account verified. When the money went missing, she had the bank track the transaction and it went through Paypal. Paypal told her "so sorry" but, although they could confirm that the transaction had occurred, they couldn't track it any further because the perpetrator had a dummy account, much like our fav internet scammers, the Nigerian con guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnO'Brien Posted December 4, 2005 Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 I have been a verified Paypal user for years now and no problems whatsoever. The only risk as a Canadian is that my personal records in Canada are under much tighter scrutiny than the US Banks. Doesn't eBay own Paypal? I also had a spoof e-mail sent to me so I quickly changed my password. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted December 4, 2005 Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 "There is hardly a way to tell that the site that they take you to is a spoof - even the links on the site work exactly like they would on paypal." actually not true. the actual hyperlink might look the same, and the page might, but if you check the url (just copy and paste instead of clicking the link) they will look very, very differnt also, if you check the source of the emails, they will be fishy too. Ive had hundreds of scam attempts, mostly nigerian lowlife wannabe criminals, and many ebay/paypal fake emails...I might be more 'net savvy than your average joe, but all it takes is a tiny bit of forethought and youre free and clear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tilledog Posted December 4, 2005 Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 actually not true. the actual hyperlink might look the same, and the page might, but if you check the url (just copy and paste instead of clicking the link) they will look very, very differnt Solid and safe "bank" in my opinion. Paypal does as much as anyone and more, I think, to safegaurd it's users. I just don't see how to get scammed unless you click on those bogus links. Am I wrong? If so, edumacate me. I believe that the 3K scam was user error, somehow... Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted December 4, 2005 Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 even if you click the links, it doesnt give your password and login. you have to enter those paypal site will say: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/ the "s" means it is an encrypted site. phony sites wont have that. one thing to look for. but, as Jenney said..and it should be noted that paypal will NEVER send emails asking you to login for ANY reason whatsoever (neither does ebay)...dont click the link. just go directly to your paypal login page if you need to get in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Posted December 5, 2005 Report Share Posted December 5, 2005 My friend who lost $3K set up her Paypal at the time of an eBay purchase and had her account verified. When the money went missing, she had the bank track the transaction and it went through Paypal. Paypal told her "so sorry" but, although they could confirm that the transaction had occurred, they couldn't track it any further because the perpetrator had a dummy account, much like our fav internet scammers, the Nigerian con guys Sounds like a ebay scam, not a PayPal issue...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carve4life Posted December 5, 2005 Report Share Posted December 5, 2005 someone mentioned something about bidpay and western union. be very careful when others try to pay you, especially foreiners, becuase these sites are by far the most often spoofed. anytime i sell something on ebay over 1000 dollars i get all kinds of attempts to buy, from africa mainly, saying, "send out the product now and i'll send money via western union." errrr.. wrong!! dont be fooled by this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markp Posted December 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 for those of you using you credit card for protection, your day is coming when you'll hit the aggregate limit, unpublished of course. Then paypal will demand your bank account info and access, If you don't give it to them...BOOM, they cut you off. So why, if you have a perfect payment record with paypal, do they do that. Everyone else in the world accepts my Visa card. Ebay, who now owns paypal, even advertises on every auction site the Visa logo under Paypal....but they won't let you use it! It's boosht mon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jutta Posted December 8, 2005 Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 I've been verified for about three years now - no problem whatsoever. Occasionally do I get spoof e-mails, but as mentioned above: don't use their links and notify paypal about the "iffy" mail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnovak Posted December 8, 2005 Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 Thanks for the heads up dudes on potential paypal scams via e-mail. I'm pretty new to paypal, but have used it quite a bit this year. No problems yet and i want to continue using it, so I'll take the advice to log into my account to check stuff. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeW Posted December 8, 2005 Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 for those of you using you credit card for protection, your day is coming when you'll hit the aggregate limit, unpublished of course. Then paypal will demand your bank account info and access, If you don't give it to them...BOOM, they cut you off. So why, if you have a perfect payment record with paypal, do they do that. Everyone else in the world accepts my Visa card. Ebay, who now owns paypal, even advertises on every auction site the Visa logo under Paypal....but they won't let you use it! It's boosht mon. yeah, i hear they're a police of their own. they busted one of the guy selling bongs and what not. and paypal withheld several thousands of dollars from the seller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patmoore Posted December 8, 2005 Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 Wheniver I get a phishing e-mail, I right-click on it in Outlook's preview pane and select View Source to see which URL the link actually directs me to. In one "PayPal" case it went to the home page of an Austrian youth. Even with my fractured German I was able to figure out his name and where he lived. I passed the info on to PayPal but never heard back from them. I've been using PayPal both as a buyer and seller for sometime and have never had a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.