PayPal Gremlins

[Nixer6]

OFPEC needs to look at other options besides PayPal for donations.

I opened a PayPal account just to donate here some months back, and there have been numerous attempts from somewhere/someone to access my account, including fake messages to me from PayPal that are redirected to somewhere in the shady side of the web.

FWIW, I will NEVER give a bankcard number to PayPal again. I cancelled the one I used there.

Please keep up the great work with the site. I still visit and download stuff all the time.

[Tyger]

That's very strange  

[Nixer6]

That's very strange

No, actually it's very sinister, criminal and downright nasty.

I posted this here wondering if anyone else who donated thru Pay Pal had anything funny happen to their account.

I didn't have cash in the account, just my former BankCard number.

Please don't think that I am accusing anyone at OFPEC, I am not. It's probably just a PayPal problem.

However, I do remember OFPEC being hacked a couple of times, could that have been a cover for something else?

[Tyger]

I think the hack was just a bunch of insert your favorite bad name here who wanted to piss off some people.

I, or rather my dad, has a paypal account, and nothing ever happened to us ?...

[MachoMan]

Sorry Nixer, but that doesn't make much sense, the transaction just doesn't work that way. I'll try and explain how paypal works.

When you make a payment to for example OFPEC you insert the name of the ofpec account into the paypal system. The link you click on OFPEC, which fills in the correct data, is just that, a link, nothing more. Not much data about the transaction is passed to OFPEC; All we get is a payment ID and the user who paid. Data about the paypal account is not hosted on our server, it all happens inside paypalls server: no data about your transaction is saved on the ofpec server.

[Tyger]

If you're having problems, I suggest you call/e-mail PayPal and talk to them about it.  

[THobson]

I have used paypal for a few things including donating to ofpec.  I, and several of my colleagues, have had spoof e-mails saying things are happening to our paypal account and will I please verify a strange transaction and do so by clicking this nice link they provide and of course keying in my password.  It is a very common spoof.  It is called phishing.  Click on the link, put in your password and you might as well have answered one the those Nigerian 419 letters.

This is nothing to do with Paypal, someone else is trying to steal your money.  But nevertheless I don't like them.  I always feel a need to confirm with the recipient that they got the money - which reminds me I am still waiting for my latest confirmation from ofpec.

[Artak]

I've never used PayPal, but still get these suspicious e-mails from "them" occasionally. It's pretty standard.. I used to get over 100 spam mails a day in my old e-mail address until I finally gave up on it.  

[Nixer6]

phishing  

Ahhhhh, so that's what it is. Do they send these to everybody, or do they know I have (had) a Pay Pal account?

Thanks for the responses and the concern

[Planck]

They send them to anybody, they are bound to catch a few people who actually have PayPal accounts.

Those who don't have PayPal accounts would probably ignore them.

I even get emails about increasing my breast size.   :noo:


Planck

[Nixer6]

Thanks again all.

Enough of this seriousness. I was having a real bad day today, until someone on a Flight Sim Forum I lurk at translated a discussion that was turning into a flamefest using this translator... LMAO  

http://sites.gizoogle.com/?url=http://www.ofpec.com/yabbse/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=26344;start=0;boardseen=1

[Artak]

The good news is, now that we've got this settled out straight, everyone can freely donate to OFPEC as much as they want through PayPal with no worries on their mind.  

[Nixer6]

All sorted out?

  You all might wanna find out why my computer sends information to Pay Pal when I connect to this site.

Yep, I got a screen shot to prove it. It happens everytime I connect to OFPEC or if I refresh a page here.

That's with all cookies that are related by name to Pay Pal deleted!

The address my firewall shows is www.paypal.com.https

Also a Yahoo address (might be a cookie of mine) and something called webdynamics.

Anybody have a clue why?

[Artak]

Does it happen on other sites besides OFPEC? Does it happen on a particular page at OFPEC or all pages?

The only thing I could imagine it is, is the PayPal donate link image down at the bottom of every page on OFPEC. This one The image is linked from paypal server, so your browser has to 'go fetch' the image from there. Here's the link https://www.paypal.com/images/x-click-butcc-donate.gif

And yes, I truly believe the matter 'PayPal Gremlins' IS sorted out and that there are no Gremlins or Goblins at PayPal, just nasty people somewhere exploiding the good name of the PayPal service.

[macguba]

Post the screenshot, lets see what's going on.   I suspect Artak has it right.

For the avoidance of doubt, OFPEC does not pass your personal information or indeed anything at all to third parties.

I used to get phishing emails before I'd even heard of paypal.   They are nothing to do with OFPEC or Paypal itself.

[Nixer6]

Actually, Artak's explanation makes sense.

Maybe I'm just overreacting

Privacy is an issue we should all pay attention to.

[Sui]

I can confirm that the only thing your browser will request from paypal when you log into OFPEC is the .gif file for the icon at the bottom of every page.

Paypal gets all it's 'OFPEC specific' information from the client ID in the link address when you submit a donation. There's no information sent behind the scenes

Security is an issue, and one we do take seriously. Though I've heard a few horror stories (none involving OFPEC however!), I've never had any issues with paypal myself. We're always willing to listen to any concerns you might have though.

[456820]

just one thing over here in Britain just incase your not
i was watching the news and it shows the headlines and im pretty sure it does say something about paypal in the bottom i couldnt get a good look becuase it was small text and it was in the bottom corner but i may be wrong it might of said something totally different

[Wolfsbane]

I'm sure that OFPEC would like to take this moment to reassure all its loyal friends, visitors, families and the bloke we met in the pub that night, that OFPEC has never, and never will, be involved in any illicit activites involving their members Paypal accounts.....
*Puts his villa on the Costa-Del-Sol on the market and starts burning paperwork*

The world is full of nasty people, but the Internet, if viewed with an upto date firewall, virus checker, some other misc. security programs and razor wire around your telephone line, as well as some savvy, is an exceptionally safe place to shop and spend. I personally throw hundreds away each month on 'tinternet.

Where else could I get my Thailand brides from?