Just How Safe is Your Paypal Account From Getting Hacked?

I guess this just isn’t my year. Last month, my AdSense account gets click bombed and thus canceled. I lost months worth of earnings. Last week my computer came under a viral attack and was unusable for three days. Thanks Norton for the help, by the way. And, now my PayPal account has been hacked.

I went to check my Triond payment for last month and found that someone had withdrawn $39.00 for something off eBay. Funny thing is that I have never even used eBay. I changed my password and initiated the dispute, which is still ongoing. I’m not usually a conspiracy wacko, but really, three suspicious internet mishaps in the last 30 days?

In the case of PayPal, I’m really concerned. PayPal touts their “security,” but if someone can issue a payment to eBay within my account, then they can access other vital information that would cause a lot more devastation than $39.00. I mean our PayPal accounts often have everything from our basic personal information to our Social Security numbers, credit card info, and bank account info. It really makes me reconsider how “online” I am today. 

My passwords are all now longer than the Brooklyn bridge, but I still don’t have much confidence in all these entities touting user security. I get that some people want ease of use, but a lot of us that have had bad experiences want more security!

I looked around PayPal for some security feature on buying/withdrawing money, but couldn’t find a single one. I don’t use PayPal for anything but to receive money and request a check, so it would make sense for me to be able to block other types of payments and withdraws, but couldn’t find a feature to do such. I would also like to have a security code, aside from my login and password, when making a withdraw, but, again, couldn’t find such a feature. I’d like to be able to set a limit on how much could be withdrawn at one time and have a password that could temporarily override that limit. I’d like my personal information to be under lock and key, with a separate password to access and change any account information. I also think that a confirmation email should be sent when anything concerning the account is changed, and for those changes not to take place until an internal  link is clicked on said email.

I just signed up for a reward card, newsletter, and account with Kroger and had to come up with a password that contained a number, uppercase letter, and be at least so many characters long. Plus, before I could access the account, I had to click an enabling link within an email Kroger sent. My point.. it’s a shame that Kroger’s site is more stringent and secure than PayPal. 

I plan to share my security ideas with PayPal as soon as my dispute is settled. I would like to encourage all my fellow PayPal users to do the same – share your security concerns and make recommendations on what type of security features you’d like to see added.