Last Friday I became the victim of fraud for the first time in a long time (last time was in 1991 I think). My e-mail is connected to my cell phone so when I get an e-mail, I am notified. As I typically do, I checked the e-mail on my phone in the morning as I watched the morning news. I noticed I got 3 e-mails alerting me to 3 charges made via PayPal. The total of the 3 charges was approximately $550. I was stressing out - as you can imagine. I was able to change the password to my paypal account via my cell phone before I got into work.

When I got to work I checked my bank account and much to my surprise, the money hadn't been deducted from my account yet. Paypal's delayed processing of charges really worked in my favor. I called the vendor that was sent a payment and left several messages - but they are on west coast time so I had to wait to speak with them. Next I called paypal and they started an investigation. Then I called my bank - I had my bank card canceled and asked for a new one sent. As I took my bank card info off the paypal account I noticed that my bank account number was also linked to paypal. So I called the bank back and asked what I could do to safeguard myself from the charges going through and he suggested I freeze the account. The vendor finally called me back and was very cooperative about refunding the fraudulent charges. Phew. I decided to keep the freeze on my bank account until Monday - figuring the refund would be reflected in my paypal account by then and I'd be safe.

Thank God I kept my checking account frozen because on Monday the fraudulent charges were presented to my bank and declined. I was surprised because I thought I had taken steps on Friday that would've avoided the charges getting to that point. I know I'd have gotten the money back regardless but waiting for paypal to get the charges reversed is time I don't have.

I feel so fortunate that I caught these charges so quickly and was able to take action fast enough to avoid major issues. It's unfortunate that the criminal likely got away with the crime. He/she purchased online music so he/she already got the merchandise. I don't know how they'd even go about catching the person.
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