PayPal? With friends like these...

Yeah, some “pal” you are, assholes. Second year in a row you leave me high & dry in the middle of a trip, dipshits.

I normally carry three credit cards plus a local debit card in my wallet. Being somewhat quirky with my finances I normally only use one of said credit cards while traveling – I’ll also add funds to it prior to traveling as a way to keep my expenses under budget. Thus I’ll only use my credit line for emergencies and/or unexpected purchases/luxuries. Watches usually “get” me, as I am fond of collecting them.

In any event, as I said, this is the second year in a row that my main CC – the one that I also keep registered with PayThiefs – gets hacked while on an extended trip. I get home last night and there’s a note in my inbox from the fuckers, telling me I’d sent $45 to “John Smith” (I shit you not!). So I proceed to log into my account only to find that between the time they send the mail and my log-in – roughly 45 minutes – I had “sent” over $450 worth of cash to Mr Smith & the much more original “Augustinas Pocevicius”!

Needless to say, I call my issuing bank in order to cancel both, the payments & the CC – endless voice-menus before I could reach a real person, on my dime from overseas, but that’s another story – and also proceed to dispute all six charges on PayFuckers.

Result: I’m pissed and screwed, as that card was also registered for all my utilities. So:

1-“Frozen” cash to the tune of a couple of thou till I get the replacement CC.

2-Three to five day wait till one of my other cards gets approved by the phone & power companies. Might be cutting it close with the power Co. as not to incur in a late charge.

3-Bank “couldn’t say for sure” how long they’ll take to get my plastic overseas. Meaning that should I run out of cash prior to delivery, I’ll be forced to use my credit line for withdrawals.

Yeah, looking at the big picture, it could have been a lot worse. But goddammit PayBitches, try to think twice next time you decide to send my cash to a fuckin’ “John Smith” would ya! Or a Ms Poce-whatever for that matter.

Done with you asswipes.

It seems to me that it was your Paypal account that got hacked. And knowing our local banks I am sorry to hear that you need them for anything.

We have a high-limit CC with a Bank that shall remain nameless. The cards expired Jan 2011 and we have yet to receive the replacements because they a) make the cards, b) send them to our old address, a property we sold almost 4 years ago, c) call me to say the cards will be destroyed after a failed attempt at delivery, ask me if I want the cards re-issued, proceed to step b. 8 times so far.

This has become our special joke and source of entertainment. Regardless of how many times we call, show up and change our address it always goes the same way. Lately a mid-level exec got hold of our case (after we called about canceling the CCs for good), promised everything would be fine and yesterday I get a call telling me they will destroy the cards because they attempted to deliver at our old address.
So, sorry to hear your trip was messed by some vandals. You should see if your computer is infected or something when you are back. Good luck!

I’m sure the P.C. will waive the fees if this is one time thing. I can’t fathom them not, tbh.
That said: I’d consider changing banks, on top of dropping PP. My bank (BofA) has a toll free international hotline I can call when traveling abroad that connects directly to a human. If you do have to pay any fees to call (on the calling end), they refund you the money if you submit the cost to them. Whenever anything even remotely questionable has happened when traveling abroad or otherwise, BofA is quick to fix it in my favor.

sounds to me like you need to be more careful with your sensitive information, unless there was a hack of PayPal’s entire database recently that has somehow escaped my notice, of course.

This is one of those reasons why I’ve never been keen on debit cards (or anything tied to my checking account). I know that if someone gets a hold of my credit or debit card, eventually it’ll get straightened out, but in the mean time I’d rather they ran up my debt then ran down my cash.

Also, if you call the utilities (assuming your a good customer with no late payments in the last few years) they’ll probably be happy to temporarily push back your due date until this gets cleared up if you explain to them what happened and let them know that you’ll call them with the new CC number in a few days or at the very least note your file and when you call back with the new number take off the incurred late fees. But I’d call now rather then call after. OTOH, if the late fees are less then the cost of an international phone call it might not be worth it (can you email someone at home to make calls for you?).

Sometimes they can do both. Happened to me with one of my credit cards.

I have a good friend in Wome called “Augustinas Pocevicius”.

Hacking happens. Not Paypals fault. But why-oh-why did you use your main CC for Paypal purposes? I have a dedicated Paypal CC.

Appreciate the replies. Couple of points:

MG, I know what you speak of. Even though I have good connections with this particular bank the incredibly complex (archaic) system they use, makes the executives look like morons regardless of their intentions. So yes, I’ve been doing a work-around with my other cards as not to get stuck waiting for the new plastic. Normally, I have a “withhold & call” order at the bank w/regards to my CCs in order to avoid the nuisance of anything having to do with the mail system there. Guess asking them to send one ‘all the way’ to Spain is throwing quite the monkey-wrench into the system.

Diossa, I am not counting on any leniency from any of my utilities there. Doesn’t matter that I have a perfect record going back 8/9 years, you are late and don’t have ‘contacts’ you’re screwed – be it late fee or cutting your services. It is what it is, and that’s why I’m already processing a new CC for both of them. Besides, as Joey mentions, should I try to straighten this out via phone, I’ll be sure to spend more on the calls themselves than on any fees they might hit me with. And while I did leave a neighbor in charge of some of my other affairs I really really don’t want to put her out of her way dealing with this crap.

Lastly, I am not sure what got hacked where. Obviously they got into my PayPal account which I rarely use; in fact, hadn’t been there at all since this past May. So besides PayPal, I am thinking my CC number might have been copied in any number of places I’d been using it in. Wouldn’t be a first either. Thus cancelling the card right away likely prevented further charges elsewhere. Bit lucky there. And yes, DrDeth, I can see now how doing what you suggest makes sense – live and learn. And Joey, you make a good point as well vis-a-vis tying cards to cash, but honestly, I just happen to be allergic to debt. Like you say, at the end of the day, I won’t actually lose any of it…but yes, it’s cash that I have in limbo in the meantime.

When I was in college (with no credit history to speak of), I was regularly late on my electric bill by several months. Calling, apologizing, and asking for removal of the fee worked literally every single time. Also, being several months late never involved my power being cut off, oddly enough. One time I got a 15 day letter, but I think I was at least 3 months behind on my bill at that point.

FWIW, now that I’m an adult, I pay my bills well before the due date. But hey, young, dumb college students. . . whatya gunna do? :smiley:

What’s his wife’s name?