What Should I Do If My PayPal Account Was Hacked

by: Omri Toppol Oct 06,2016

The popular online payment system has about 188 million users who use it as a popular payment method and to transfer money online. As PayPal has become a second wallet, no wonder, PayPal accounts are a desired destination amongst hackers, who use various methods to obtain users’ information, hack their PayPal accounts and then sell the credentials for as low as $2.

If you suspect your PayPal account has been hacked, but still have access to your account, do the following:

Change Your Password

First thing first, go to https://www.paypal.com/myaccount/settings/security and change your password by clicking on “Password”.

Choose a complex password, with lower case letters, upper case letters and digits. If possible, add special characters like hash or exclamation point. Make sure it is at least 8 characters long. It is best not to pick dictionary words.

Verify Your E-mail and Phone Hasn’t Changed

Go to your account settings page at https://www.paypal.com/myaccount/settings/account and verify that no additional E-mails have been added to your account. Or, if you have multiple E-mails associated with your account, that none of them have been changed. If there are additions or changes to the E-mails associated with your account, this is a major indication that your account has indeed been breached. Remove any added E-mail addresses or fix any changes made to existing E-mail addresses.

It is also important to review the associated phone number(s) to make sure nothing has been altered.

Review Activity

Paypal accounts are extremely lucrative to hackers for the obvious reasons – they can enable anyone with access to your account to make payments on your behalf. If you suspect that your account has been hacked, go to https://www.paypal.com/myaccount/activity and go over your activity.

Look for anything that looks suspicious. If you do see a recent purchase you did not initiate, click on the activity and click on “Report this as unauthorized”.

Check Your Other Accounts

If you are re-using your password in other websites, such as Gmail or iCloud – change the passwords on these services immediately. Make sure you are still able to log into these services. Attackers often take advantage of users’ tendency to re-use password (an ill-advised but common practice) to gain access to additional accounts of the victim!

This is extremely important, especially if you are using the same password for both your Paypal account and the E-mail account associated with it.

Enhance Your Security Settings

On the security page, https://www.paypal.com/myaccount/settings/security, click on “Security Questions”.

This option would allow you to add (if not already enabled) security questions that will be presented to anyone trying to log into your account (hopefully just you). If a hacker has your E-mail and password for your Paypal account, by enabling this security option, they will no longer have all the details required to log into your account.

Run an Anti-Virus on your Computer

Many times attackers gain their victims’ passwords using Trojan horses that were installed on the victims’ computers. If your machine is infected, changing the password will not help, as the malware will capture the new password and send it to the hacker. It is therefore recommended to run an anti-virus on your computer. The sad reality is that many malwares can remain undetected from anti-viruses, but it certainly can’t hurt to run a scan.

If you are unable to access your account and you believe this is the result of a hacker, do the following:

Check Your Other Accounts

Make sure that you still have access to the E-mail account associated with your Paypal account. If you are using the same password, change it as soon as possible. Do so on any other online account that shares the same password as your Paypal account.

If you are unable to access your E-mail address as well you may try to recover it. Check out our guides for Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo.

Reset Your Paypal Password

Go to https://www.paypal.com/webapps/accountrecovery/passwordrecovery?execution=e1s1, enter your E-mail address and follow the process to attempt and recover your password. If you are able to recover the password, follow the steps above.

Contact Paypal Customer Service

Contact Paypal Customer Service, either by phone or by messaging. To contact them by phone, access https://www.paypal.com/il/selfhelp/contact/call. Don’t be discouraged if the page asks you to log in, note that they have a link to receive their support as a guest.

Final tip - Get Log Dog!

Download and install Log Dog from Google Play or iTunes App store . Log Dog is a mobile Intrusion Detection System which monitors and protects your Google Account as well as your other accounts such as Facebook and Yahoo?

Find out more:

Protect your eBbay account - What Should I Do If My eBay Account Was Hacked?

Make sure your Netflix account is protected - What Should I Do If My Netflix Account Was Hacked?

Learn how to protect your Steam account - What Should I Do If My Steam Account Was Hacked?

Visit our Blog and use the Search Box to find out more guides for more online accounts.

Written by  Omri Toppol

Omri is LogDog's marketing guy. He is passionate about technology, digital marketing and helping online users to stay safe and secure