Hacked Paypal account

[Ronald M]

My son in law had his Paypal account hacked for $600. Someone had detirmined his password and sent money to Texas. He found it when I gifted him some money and he was moving it.

He reported it and found Paypal was already investigating as it was an unusual transaction. About ten days later, he got his money back.

Not to say your results will turn out so well.

I would suggest you use a more complicated password like a mix 8 letters,
some capitals, some numbers,some other signs like ? or + and do not make it a real word.

 

[colyn]

I would suggest you use a more complicated password like a mix 8 letters,
some capitals, some numbers,some other signs like ? or + and do not make it a real word.

All of my passwords are more than 12 letters/numbers long.

 

[charjohncarter]

That is a good idea. Thanks for the tip.

 

[johannielscom]

So, what was that guessed password?😛

 

[btgc]

So, what was that guessed password?😛

I think "password" should be rejected by any reasonable validation utility 🙂

 

[imokruok]

Can you still get the PIN generator for your account? I still use one of those. Of course, someone can get around it if they also know personal info about the victim, but it still requires an extra step than just guessing the password.

 

[Ronald M]

It was a simple word I believe, but did not press for details. point being make it difficult.

 

[Mr. Oogie]

Someone's account cannot be "gifted".

In the English language, one does not "gift" someone and if you give someone money, the person has not been "gifted".

A person with an IQ of 165 can be considered "gifted" or you can give someone a "gift".

 

[antiquark]

In the English language, one does not "gift" someone and if you give someone money, the person has not been "gifted".

Haha, you're wrong:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gift

Main Entry: 2gift
Function: transitive verb
Date: circa 1550
1 : to endow with some power, quality, or attribute
2 : present <gifted her with flowers>
— gift·ee \ˌgif-ˈtē\ noun

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Someone's account cannot be "gifted".

In the English language, one does not "gift" someone and if you give someone money, the person has not been "gifted".

A person with an IQ of 165 can be considered "gifted" or you can give someone a "gift".

Worst first post ever. Today's slang is tomorrow's gospel--get over it!

As for the original post, agreed, a random series of numbers and letters, changed every now and then, is the way to go...

 

[Mr. Oogie]

These online dictionaries are notoriously inaccurate.

 

[ornate_wrasse]

I've been using the PayPal Security Key for some time now. It only costs $5 and is well worth it.

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/Marketing_CommandDriven/securitycenter/PayPalSecurityKey-outside

I use it to log into both Ebay and PayPal. After my Ebay account was hacked a few years ago, I decided to go for it. I haven't had any problems since using the Security Key.

Ellen

 

[antiquark]

These online dictionaries are notoriously inaccurate.

Haha, you were wrong, just admit it! 😛

 

[wolves3012]

So many passwords to remember these days! Apparently, I have the longest log-in password at my work (13 characters). You can get password-generating programs these days. Keep the passwords in a file on a USB-key and copy & paste. That way you can keep multiple, complex passwords to hand. Anything relating to financial access (like Paypal) really MUST have something non-guessable and weird. Things like RFF, where an account hacked would be not much more than an inconvenience, don't need to be so.

There are some simple ways to generate passwords. For instance, think of a long-ish word, then replace the letters "e" with 3, "a" with 4, "o" with 0 (zero), "i" with 1 (one) and so on, or some combination of these. Another simple method is to think of your word, then type the key to the left (or right) for each letter (so "fred" becomes "dews" or "gtrf", for instance"). Starting, ending with or inserting non-alphabetic characters helps too, like using two words connected with symbols like _ < > | ^ ! etc.

 

[martin s]

So many passwords to remember these days! Apparently, I have the longest log-in password at my work (13 characters). You can get password-generating programs these days. Keep the passwords in a file on a USB-key and copy & paste. That way you can keep multiple, complex passwords to hand.

Constantly having your password in the clipboard makes little sense. I'd avoid this method.

There are some simple ways to generate passwords. For instance, think of a long-ish word, then replace the letters "e" with 3, "a" with 4, "o" with 0 (zero), "i" with 1 (one) and so on, or some combination of these. Another simple method is to think of your word, then type the key to the left (or right) for each letter (so "fred" becomes "dews" or "gtrf", for instance"). Starting, ending with or inserting non-alphabetic characters helps too, like using two words connected with symbols like _ < > | ^ ! etc.

Exactly, people trying to get your password will never guess that.

martin

 

[Roger Hicks]

Someone's account cannot be "gifted".

In the English language, one does not "gift" someone and if you give someone money, the person has not been "gifted".

A person with an IQ of 165 can be considered "gifted" or you can give someone a "gift".

The OED, 2nd edition, on paper, 20 vols (one of my most prized possessions), gives the first use of 'gifted to' in 1619, but does add 'chiefly Sc[ottish]'.

I agree that it's not common in everyday English in England but this doesn't mean it's wrong.

Cheers,

R.

 

[wolves3012]

Constantly having your password in the clipboard makes little sense. I'd avoid this method.

Depends where you are, for most people at home etc there's no great risk. You can always replace the clipboard contents to deter that, even though that's not foolproof either. On a shared machine I'd agree it's less than ideal, although unless you were seen to have done this it's not obvious. If a key-logger was used, it's actually more secure, no?

 

[wolves3012]

The OED, 2nd edition, on paper, 20 vols (one of my most prized possessions), gives the first use of 'gifted to' in 1619, but does add 'chiefly Sc[ottish]'.

I agree that it's not common in everyday English in England but this doesn't mean it's wrong.

Cheers,

R.

Interesting, I've not looked it up but associate it more with american english. Oh well. I'd use "donated" in preference, as an English english speaker.

 

[wolves3012]

Exactly, people trying to get your password will never guess that.
martin

Exactly, a simple thing like "five is greater than four" can make the password f1v3>f0ur. Easy to remember, hard to hack.

 

[antiquark]

To quote a famous character from a famous movie:

"I sense something... a presence I've not felt since..."

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=848768&postcount=1
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1091577&postcount=2

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