I recently made a purchase on ebay (which I rarely do) and used my Paypal account (which I rarely do).   About a week later, 3 mysterious charges from Paypal showed up on my First Bank checking account.  They were all for small amounts ($10-$15) so I wouldn’t usually pay attention to them.  I happened to be balancing my checking account that morning, so I did pay attention to them and logged onto my Paypal account immediately.

Paypal Account Information

When I looked at my Paypal account online, I noticed 3 charges from Europe for Skype on my account.  I wish I were leading the jet set life and traveling all over Europe, but those were definitely not me.  I tried to dispute the charges in the Paypal Resolution Center, but Paypal had already taken care of it.  They were all showing “Refunded” status.  I think it’s great that Paypal caught them right away, but it would have been nice if I had been notified right away too?  If I hadn’t caught the charges when I logged onto my First Bank, I would have never known.  I would have never known that someone had somehow gotten my password.  When I called the customer service rep at Paypal, he assured me that as long as I changed my Paypal password, my account would be safe.

After I got off the phone with him, I started thinking and became too paranoid to believe that Paypal rep, so I closed my checking account immediately with First Bank and opened a new one.   First Bank was great and took care of everything right away.  I had a new account in few minutes and First Bank’s customer service was working on transferring all incoming/outgoing charges on my old account so that nothing bounced during the process, but also so that no more charges could be made on the old account. 

After I had all of that resolved with First Bank, I tried to change my password for Paypal online, but so far have been unable to.  According to their online instructions, I am suppose to login, go to My Account, Profile and then click on Passwords.  There isn’t an option for Passwords under Profile? The Paypal online instructions for changing a password seemed incorrect.  I don’t know if they recently changed the navigation of their website, but something wasn’t working right there?  I emailed customer service and should receive a response in 2-3 days.   

Paypal Change Password?

I am not sure why Paypal never notified me?  If indeed the customer service rep was correct and I had nothing to worry about?  Or if they do not want to alarm the public everytime this happens because it may cause them to be a little freaked out about internet cash transactions?

I will probably use Paypal again in the future if I ever decide to venture on ebay again, but I will have to make sure I keep a close eye on my accounts.  First Bank also suggested that I link my PayPal account to a savings account instead of my checking account in the future to make it more secure.