Our nonprofit just has one tiny checking account with $100 in it connected to PayPal, just because we have heard bad stories about things that can happen with it. We transfer donations we receive from PayPal to our larger operating checking account that is NOT connected to PayPal. So far, so good. Our bank was fine with us having a tiny checking account with PayPal and our larger regular checking account.
I don’t even use PayPal anymore. Only Venmo. I’ve never had a problem with it.
PayPal has a set up so people can donate to your org and PayPal pays the fees if you’re a qualifying nonprofit. We are, so that’s the ONLY reason we use them.
I guess it’s time to stop using PayPal. ![]()
Younger S had his PayPal account hacked in HS. They charged $1000 pair of shoes in England. $1000 is a million to a teenager. I was able to run to the bank at 9:00 and stop it in person.
H was visited by the police yesterday at work. They wanted to see their cameras out by the docks hoping it would cover a business down the road. Some man was scammed and put $24000 in cash in a cardboard box behind the store. H got the feeling he was elderly but knows no other details. How sad. And the cameras didn’t cover that area.
Clever thieves, to avoid the areas that cameras covered.
I would be happy to stop using PayPal, but sometimes I’ve gotten paid that way, or been asked to pay for something with it. Is Venmo considered any less risky? That’s usually an option too.
I do NOT have Venmo but D does and as far as I know she’s had no problems with it. It’s how they settle up when they do things as a group and it seems to work well for them. I use credit cards & checks nearly always.
PayPal is useful for my nonprofit for donations. That’s all I use it for.
I love Venmo. Very helpful to pay the dog sitter, the guy who drives us to the airport, our contractor. Our landscaper uses Zelle and I’m not on that yet so I just pay him by check.
Just got text allegedly form Apple Support letting me know my Apple Card has been used to make a suspicious purchase in Orlando and asking me to respond to a different phone number than the one which sent the message.
The text was very good–it sounded exactly like the message I get from my banks when my credit card gets hacked. Case number. Item purchased and location of store. Name of service rep handling the case. I’ve had other credit cards hacked this year so I almost contacted the call back number, but… my spideysense started tingling because neither of the area code prefixes weren’t usual toll free numbers. I contact Apple Card Support at the number they list on the credit card itself----and the text was a fake.
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I am getting near daily scam emails thanking me for my GeekSquad order. And I got a scam evite from an unknown name a couple of days ago. It’s the modern way of life, unfortunately. I never click on links or even open emails if I can help it and always go directly the web site if I have the slightest suspicion something (remote chance ) might be legit.
The bank was able to stop payment to Paypal.
Thank goodness. Now I am going to close it down.
I’ve started using ChatGPT to check out emails I think may be legitimate - I do a Print Screen and upload the photo. I got one today about a State Farm Dividend Payment. Turns out it’s real. But I still entered the official website address myself instead of clicking on the link in the email. I’m getting $137, whoo hoo.
I am getting multiple geek squad bogus orders a day!!!
I got a second one today. You’d think the spam filter would know enough to mark anything with Geek Squad in the body as spam.
Last month, I received the email below. It has all the classic signs of a spam email: a strange subject line (the name of a PDF), a request to open an attachment, an attachment with a suspicious name (“award letter”), and a generic greeting (“Dear Patron”) instead of my name, etc.
So naturally, I ignored it. Then I got a similar email a week later, followed finally by a phone call last week. It turns out the emails were legitimate ![]()
They were from the parking authority for a train station parking where I had applied for a commuter parking permit a year ago. I had completely forgotten about it because there’s typically a multiyear waitlist.
I thanked the woman who called but suggested that they fix their emails so they don’t look like classic spam!
Does Paypal have to have a bank account attached to it? I think I just have a credit card on mine.
Just deleted and reported one of the MyChart scam emails.
I got a follow request on instagram with username that’s my former co-workers name with some numbers. I knew she was a Facebook friend but didn’t bother to check Instagram friends before accepting. A few hours later I got a message from “her” through Instagram asking how I was doing. But she always texts me when we catch up. Then I looked and she was already an Instagram connection with her name and different numbers. I blocked and went in and set up dual factor authentication. It’s the hasty actions that always end up being a problem.
Just came across an article about an uptick in property crimes where scammers obtain a mortgage against someone’s property or even record a deed transferring the property to someone else. Elderly and deceased owners are the common targets. Our county now has an alert system (RANS) where a notification is immediately sent to the property owner if there is any suspicious activity like change of owner’s address. While it doesn’t stop the crime, it can help the owner to control the damage by contacting law enforcement sooner.
Check to see if your county or city offers this service by googling your city/county and “recording activity notification system.”
