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Monday, September 20, 2010

I've Been Hacked!!!

My Friday really went from bad to worse.

First was the whole car has a lot of issues with it that are going to cost a lot :(

Then I go home and notice that some money has been moved around in my Scotiabank account. Then I look a little more into my accounts and notice that money ($12,500!!!!!) has been taken out of my Student Line of Credit and put into another account. I was able to view this other account. From this account almost $6000!!!!! has been spent on various paypal payments!!!

I have paypal but I haven't used it in many months! I call my bank who basically tell me I have been hacked (they were very sympathetic) and give me the number of the head security people at Scotiabank. I call them and he talked to his supervisor too and because my parents name is on the LOC they asked me to look into them taking money. It wouldn't be them!! They said everything has been done online. They suspended my online ability and told me that I would have to go to my local branch to fill out dispute forms. They also told me to call paypal to see if I could figure out what the money was being spent on and if there was a name attached to my account number.

I called paypal and they could not help me. They said there was no link to accounts with the account numbers I gave them. Grrrrr!!!

Apparently this person opened a paypal account on September 7th and then started slowly transferring money from my LOC to this new chequing account they created in my name and then made a purchase to paypal on the 9th of over $1000, and on the 16th of over $4000!! At least glad I was able to stop it before they were able to make even more purchases. Very sneaky of them!!

How does this happen??? I've heard of people hacking into credit card numbers, but how would someone hack my regular bank account!! I'm off to the bank shortly now to fill out a dispute form and figure out where to go from here. I really hope I do not have to pay anything because of this. Very frustrating!!!!

10 comments:

  1. Oh that is not fun at all. I hope you are able to get it all back. Keep us updated on the process.

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  2. wow! So sorry to hear this has happend! I hope you get it all sorted out without too much hassle!

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  3. horrible news! I have no idea how they got into your information. YOu didn't fall for any of those links that "paypal" sends you asking to verify your information or anything did you?

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  4. I would also file a police report. I would also check any credit cards or anything in your name, cancel them and get new ones. I am thinking along the lines of identity theft.

    Good luck and please update us when you know more.

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  5. have you ever joined an unsecure wireless internet? Apparently your info can be made available via that route by hackers

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  6. Oh no no no! That sounds awful!! My fingers are crossed that it can get straightened out.

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  7. OH MY GOODNESS

    I am so sorry and I hope it all works out. That is seriously awful!

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  8. Thanks for your support. Things seem to have been worked out now. Although I still haven't checked my new bank account to be certain. I'm a little hesitant in using online banking now because I certainly don't want this to happen again!!

    TFC, I didn't fall for any of those paypal links/e-mails. I do have a paypal account of my own but nothing has happened with it and it hasn't been used since June. I know not to click on strange links like that.

    Bean, I have wireless internet at home, and that's the only place I do my online banking but the network is secure.

    I honestly have no idea how this happened, and neither does the branch or the head office. I still have all of my identification and I have never told anyone any of my passwords or pins!
    There has been some weird things happening with my computer lately, slowing down and opening tabs that I did not click on. So maybe it's time for me to invest in a better antivirus program?

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  9. Sounds like you need to complete wipe your computer (either reformat or get a very savvy computer friend to do a virus check). If your computer is infected, nothing you do on it is secure, so changing your passwords would simply give the new passwords to the thief. I'd just disconnect your computer from the internet right now to start.

    Good luck!

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