unauthorised use of account resulting in debit from bank account that Ebay or Paypal wont admit resp

Hi Peps

 

So in a nut shell my account was accessed last week and a transaction was processed through my bank account for a gift card that was not me. I contacted Ebay with-in minuites of this happening as I get email alerts, chnaged all my details and logged a complaint etc. Now ebay said they would hold the transaction and put me through to Paypal. well two disconnects later and three emails regarding this matter. not one of the companies with take responsibility for a failed security system and I am out of pocket regarding the money and the items.

 

so my question is who do I contact regarding taking this matter further ? any advice please .

 

kind regards P

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Answers (2)

Not what you want to hear, but any system failure is down to you. You are responsible for the security of any tech you use and staying safe online.

 

If your PayPal account has been used, you need to contact PayPal. You say that you've been in touch with them and reported the payment as unauthorised, but are not getting anywhere. Why not? What reason have PayPal given?

 

How did somebody manage to access your eBay and PayPal accounts? Were you opted in for faster payments so that all they had to do was to click the 'buy' button without putting a password into PayPal? Opt out of faster payments for eBay purchases and any other sites you use it for, it's much better to have to input a password to authorise a payment. If your eBay account is compromised, it can't then be used to make payments.

You need to work out how your account was compromised in the first place. Presumably you have up to date security on all of the devices you use? You should be aware of how to stay online, and each site that you use (particularly financial ones) MUST have a password that is unique to that site. Your most important account is actually your email, because once somebody has access to that, it's a gateway to every other account you own.

Most accounts are compromised becuase you've logged in on a network that's not secure (perhaps when out and about), left yourself logged in somewhere, or via a phishing email. An innocuous looking email pretending to be from PayPal or eBay arrives, it features a link which, when clicked on, leads to a spoof log in, where your password is captured. The golden rule is never to click on any link in an email, but to straight to the site in question to see if there really is an issue there.

 

red_magpie
Experienced Mentor

not one of the companies with take responsibility for a failed security system

 

That's because the failure was almost certainly at your end. The overwhelming majority of hijacked accounts result from users being tricked by "phishing" emails into giving away their passwords. Or a few from keyloggers.

 

You need to work with paypal to stabilise your account. Whether or not they will release you from responsibility for the payment may depend on whether they believe you took reasonable steps to keep your account and password secure.

 

PayPal is regulated, so if you have any dispute with them start by reading the user agreement carefully, and use their complaints procedure. If necessary you can even appeal to the financial ombudsman.

 

It's odd that a hijacker would just use your account to buy a gift card. They could have bought a Rolex! I take it you've eliminated the possibility that anyone in your household used your account without your knowledge?

 

 

 

 

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