Originally posted by SlowBowinMO:
Very few Paypal accounts get "hacked". The vast majority of problems are due to people falling for fake "phishing" e-mails and giving their account log ins and passwords away.
Just remember Paypal (or any other reputable company for that matter) will not send you e-mails with links or forms asking you to update or confirm any information.
That is exactly right. Never EVER! respond to an email that you might receive puporting to be from PayPal (or a bank for that matter) Even if you think it might be legitimate correspondence, go directly to what you know to be the correct website and log into your account the way you always do. NEVER EVER follow a link to a log in that is included in an email that you receive.
The scammers make the link address in those emails look pretty darn convincing hoping that you will not notice there is one character in the web address that doesn't belong.
DON'T BE TEMPTED TO TAKE SHORTCUTS AND FOLLOW A HYPERLINK TO LOG IN TO ANY TYPE OF SECURE ACCOUNT!!
(There, did I yell loud enough???
)
I spent 30+ years in banking, and I can tell you, very smart people fall for the scammers tricks all the time. PayPal or your own bank can't possibly protect against giving away your password to a scammer.