WARNING!!! PLEASE READ!

***UPDATE*** 

April 3, 2012, 10:23 p.m.

One of the "hackers" using the name PATRICIA JENURIO sent me an email saying...

"Hi, what happened? Why did you file a dispute? We had a great transaction and now you file a claim? Haven't you received the items? I will ask Rommel about this cause he referred you to me."

SERIOUSLY??? THE NERVE!!! LIAR!!!

I decided to check my Paypal account again before going to bed and what a nice surprise!  Paypal reversed everything except for one more pending worth $80.00.  I called Paypal again (for the 4th time) to ask how long it will take for the reversals to appear on my credit card.  The nice lady on the other end said around 30 days.  I'm fine with that.

Thank you, Paypal, for your immediate action.  

Praise God!!!  

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I got a call on my mobile phone around 8:30 in the morning from somebody who sounded like a foreigner.  She had a heavy accent; I couldn't understand clearly what she was saying.  She said she's from Paypal.  I was very skeptic because I never got a call from Paypal since my account was created five years ago until today.  She asked me if I made a transaction to a certain KATHERINE MANAHAN.  She also asked me when my last transaction was.  Of course I couldn't remember!  Then she asked if I wanted to file a dispute on those transactions.  Now wait a minute! What dispute??? I thought this woman was crazy!  I hang up.

A few seconds later, my home phone rang.  It's her again.  Now, why would she know both my mobile and home number?  She might really be from Paypal.  She was going on and on with this dispute thing so I told her that I will have to go online first. I still wasn't sure if this call was legit or not. She asked me what my email address was. Seriously???  I said, "Why would I give you my email address?  Aren't you suppose to be asking me security questions instead?"   I didn't feel right about this.  I asked her to call me back in just a bit.  (Now, just when I needed internet badly, my stupid connection was acting up again!!!)

When I finally logged on to Paypal, I thought I was going to have a seizure! It was ZERO balance!!! OMG!!!  I reviewed all my transactions and to my horror, I got ripped off a total of $1,115.  My Paypal account was hacked!!! Most of the transactions were transferred from my credit card.  This is a nightmare!

The lady called again.  Now I know she's really from Paypal... Malaysia (That explained the heavy accent).  She was very patient and helped me file a dispute with 13 unauthorized transactions from March 24 to April 2.  I thanked her and apologized for doubting her.  Had she not called, I wouldn't have known of those fraudulent transactions.  Thank God she did!!!

Next, I had to call Citibank and report this too.  I had to go to the nearest Citibank and file a report. Thank God, I have a friend working in that branch.  She helped me with the procedure and she emailed their dispute department to make sure my report reached them ASAP.

I feel so bad because one dear friend was dragged into this mess.  I don't know if I should mention her name, but we all love her dearly.  The hacker made an unauthorized transfer from my credit card to her Paypal account.  I'm really sorry for the inconvenience this might have caused her.

PLEASE CHECK YOUR PAYPAL ACCOUNT TRANSACTIONS AND MAKE SURE TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD.  IF YOU HAVE ANY CREDIT CARD OR DEBIT CARD LINKED TO YOUR PAYPAL ACCOUNT, PLEASE BE ADVISED TO TAKE EXTRA PRECAUTION.  I WILL LEAVE THE DECISION TO YOU WHETHER OR NOT TO UNLINK THOSE CARDS FROM YOUR PAYPAL ACCOUNT.

I pray to God that this gets resolved immediately.  I also pray that those crooks get caught.