*Actual Important Announcement*

"hethoughtofcars" (hethoughtofcars) 05/23/2014 at 18:24 • Filed to: ebay, scam, hacked

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I know a lot of my fellow die-casters use eBay to offload extra cars or buy the ones you just never could find in stores. As such most of you are probably aware of the website !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

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I heard about it of course, but didn't bother to log on, much less change my password. Other sites, ahem... !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , have been hacked before and no ill effects came to me. Besides I'd been using the same password since July of 1999, what was I supposed to do? Remember something else?

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Anyway last night I found out. At 12:14 AM Pacific (3:14 AM EDT) I received an e-mail from Paypal claiming that at my request my bank account information had been removed from my account. This was odd, because I wasn't actually anywhere near my computer (or considering removing my bank account, for that matter). I was just reading in bed. A few minutes later another e-mail came in saying that my credit card information had also been removed. The e-mails looked legit and actually had personal information like the name of my bank (it is not a mainstream one) and the last four digits of my account. This was troubling. I logged directly on to Paypal and found that both my bank information and my credit card info had, in fact, been removed. I was now "unverified". There was a little over $50 in my account but it hadn't been touched that I could tell.

I sent a message to Paypal and reset my password. I (finally) went to eBay where my account was linked to the Paypal Account and changed that password as well (it's possible they were both the same password, like a lot of people I have most of my passwords saved in my browser). I went to my bank account and changed that password too. No money was missing.

I was up for another hour changing passwords at pretty much all the websites I could think of that have any more personal information.

Anyway, today I have been checking my accounts with both Paypal and my bank constantly. I haven't dared to re-enter my bank or credit card information. Nothing appears amiss. Paypal got back to me about the first e-mail, which it said was a forgery but I'm not sure they actually looked into it or just sent me a form letter thanking me for keeping the internet clean.

Right now I'm still worried but I don't see how removing my information could have allowed anyone to steal my info. To me it seems like breaking in to someone's car just so you can turn their lights on in the hopes that the battery will die on them. Was I lucky just because I happened to be awake at the time when most people wouldn't be and able to get into my account and change the information before the thieves could steal anything? Am I safe now?

Regardless, if you use eBay and haven't already, go there immediately and change your password!

Carnage717 > hethoughtofcars 05/23/2014 at 18:06

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Thanks for the head up, just changed all mine.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > hethoughtofcars 05/23/2014 at 18:31

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Thanks for the reminder got mine changed. Paypal has always seemed a little sketchy to me since I've seen so many have those compromised so I pay for things by linking my debit card then immediately removing it, not sure if that'll work if you're selling stuff though.

Slave2anMG > hethoughtofcars 05/23/2014 at 18:44

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I *never* linked my Paypal to Ebay....for just this reason. It never seemed like a good idea. In any case I changed my Ebay password yesterday

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > hethoughtofcars 05/23/2014 at 18:49

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Thanks for the reminder. Just reset mine.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > hethoughtofcars 05/23/2014 at 21:08

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Done & Done, thanks for the heads up. There's no bank account linked to either my ebay or Paypal accounts, no funny emails from them either, and no money missing or suspect transactions, but I changed both passwords just to be sure. I just wish I had written them down somewhere, I have no idea what's my new passwords anymore...

area man > hethoughtofcars 05/23/2014 at 21:38

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Whoa, that's crazy! Like you, I've never changed a password after a site was hacked, but there was something about the tone of the stories about eBay made me think I probably should - now I'm so glad I did.