Fraudulent transaction on my Paypal accout?

Question

I have this paypal account and which has a vast amount of money in it. Because I sell a lot of things on email. I was sitting at my pc today and saw an email come in saying that I have purchased an LG chocolate fone for $550 and the another email saying that I have now purchased an engagement ring for $3000. I have contacted one of the companies and they have cancelled the order but does any have any ideals what I can do to stop this person doing this? The person is based in Lathieria and I am in England. I have a firewall and my laptop is a few weeks old with a top of the range processor . ( what can I do )

Thanks you guys you have both been so helpful I have contacted the company in the USA and they have refunded my money just have to get paypal to take the block off my account - want to top rate u both

Answer 1

This type of scam relies on the inquisitiveness of the recipient. When you receive an email of this type, generally your first thought is 'what the hell is this?' and you open the email. This action can install a virus, keylogger or other spyware on your system.
Second thought is 'what's this all about?' and you click on a link in the email. You have just confirmed to the sender that your email address is valid and active! Plus you could also have downloaded malware etc.
Once a scam sender has validated your email address, he will continue to try to exploit is my various nefarious ways. If you clicked a link in that email, you will undoubtedly have been taken to a page that requires sensitive information from you - yes, the page will appear genuine but it will be a spoof page.
What can you do? First, set your email client to NOT automatically preview emails when downloaded. Second, check the email title, if it seems at all suspicious, delete it. Thirdly, if you do view an email, and then are encouraged to click on some link - DO NOT. PayPal and similar sites will never request your personal information, password, etc. IN EMAILS. To access those sites ALWAYS directly access them from your address bar. If you receive further emails from the same sender, just block that sender in your email client.
When you report a spoof or suspicious email to PayPal, remember to include a) the whole email message and b) the header details (accessible from the email Properties box).
If you ever feel your account (eg PayPal) has been compromised, immediately change your password for that account/site - you can never be too careful, there are thousands of people out there who want to rip you off. So, if you have a naive or casual attitude towards internet security, they WILL succeed!
Finally, do go to the Help pages relative to the spoofed site, and read up on precautions you can take to protect yourself (and your computer). eBay (who own PayPal) have excellent Help pages through which you can browse - see the Safety and Security section.

Answer 2

I am Chief Investigator at a large Internet retailer, I came up through the ranks starting as a fraud analyst. Get a new card account number. There is really nothing else that can be done. Although it sucks, the guy is an evil thief, etc. etc. -- there's nothing the police can do, or have the time or resources to do, and it's simply not worth the time or energy required to go on a wild goose chase. Does that stink? I suppose it does. But millions of fraudulent transactions go on all the time. Thousands of them every day. It's part of the cost of doing business. No single fraud of that kind is worth going after. Only when a transaction is part of a very large case involving thousands of such transactions by the same people is there any value in trying to nail the scum. You can file a police report. Not such a bad idea if if makes you feel better. Just don't expect much. The e-mail address is absolutely useless. It's a disposable address, it was signed up with fake information. The best thing you can do is have the fraudulent charge canceled, get a new card number, and keep that freaking thing to yourself. Oh, and fergodsakes -- QUIT ANSWERING THOSE PHISHING E-MAILS!

Answer 3

Report it to Paypal. They'll leave your account on limited access until they catch the person. Or you could have them cancel the account then make up a new one. I had a problem with someone who somehow got access to my account on Paypal and I called the company and they worked on everything for me. The guy on the phone was really friendly and helpful. Sorry this happened to you and good luck.

Answer 4

RING paypal and get them to trace the ip address it will give an exact location of the router the person used most like his own it can be done believe me and also i strongly recomend you change your password

Answer 5

Run some anti spyware in Safe Mode on your pc to check for a keystroke logger, and change your Paypal password frequently. A keystroke logger is like having someone watch over your shoulder while you type, you must get it off your pc or you'll have the same problem again.

Before attempting to remove malware you must switch off System Restore as back up files will be hiding in there, and it will just restore itself. Go to Start - programs - accessories - system tools - system restore.
Run your anti virus and anti spyware in Safe Mode. To get into Safe Mode repeatedly press the F8 key after the bios screen loads but before Windows loads. You'll know if you made it because the screen will be at 800 x 600 and your pc will be slow.

Then beef up your security. Its easier to prevent malware getting on to your sytem in the first place rather than trying to remove it. All the following programs are free for personal use;

You need to install one firewall.
The Windows firewall doesn't stop malware on your pc from dialling out.
http://www.zonelabs.com Zone Alarm firewall OR
http://www.comodogroup.com/ - Comodo security suite.

You need to install one anti virus;
http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/ -AVG anti virus or
http://www.avast.com - Avast Antivirus

You need all three anti spyware programs, run these in Safe Mode;
http://www.ewido.net - AVG(Ewido) anti trojan.
http://www.lavasoft.com - Ad-Aware SE Personal anti adware
http://www.safer-networking.org - Spybot Search and Destroy anti spyware. Use the Teatimer settings to protect Internet Explorer, and the Immuniser to stop malware getting on your pc.

And these are useful utilities;
http://www.mozilla.com/ - Firefox web browser.
http://www.ccleaner.com Cr*pcleaner Registry cleaner and privacy tool
Winpatrol is a handy utility that tracks cookies on your pc and stops unwanted changes to your startup folder.
http://www.winpatrol.com
Spywareblaster works with Internet Explorer and Firefox. It won't uninstall spyware that is already on your pc, but it will prevent hijacks and other malicious changes to your browser.
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com
http://www.siteadvisor.com -MacAffee Site Advisor warns about malware on sites you are about to visit.

Remember to update and run all of you anti malware programs at least once a week.

Answer 6

also, i think you should not keep large amounts of money in your paypal account. anything over £50 is free to transfer to a bank account.

Answer 7

report to paybal and ask them to investigate. You are covered on their insurance and change you password pronto. Run a hacker check (free) just type it in the google search.

Answer 8

report it to paypal, you should get your money back but may take 2 or 3 weeks.it happened to me.

Answer 9

"...person is based in Lathieria".

There is no such place as "Lathieria" where did you get that from?