Description

Received an email from what was believed to be PayPal that there was an attempt from a Mac Store to take money from my PayPal account and if I didn't recognize this transaction, I needed to call or it would be approved. Called the number listed and got a guy named NAME and I needed to call him at Phone Number I did call him at that number and then he said, I have to call you from a different number. He called me back from Phone Number2 that comes up on my caller ID from Santa Maria, CA. He told me that he was going to help me set up 2-step verification on my PayPal account so that hackers could not get the money. He did tell me that I was being hacked by someone in Miami, FL. He had me get on my computer and enter pcs.help3.top (which is an execution file in order for them to get access to your computer). He gave me a code to enter and then he had control of my computer. He had me log into my bank account and my PayPal account, then my screen when blue "Hold on, we' re updating your computer" (or something like that). I saw the mouse on my screen move and I asked him if he had control of my computer to which he responded, "yes, PayPal technical assistance is working on getting your account secured." He then asked me if I had received any messages from my bank and I said no. A few minutes later, I received a call from Fraud Detection. I had my cell phone on speaker and my other phone on speaker so he could hear the whole thing. When Fraud Detection asked if I recognized the first transaction I said no...he said "oh no!" I said was that you attempting to see if it worked? Because he had asked me to verify my credit card number, which I gave him the card information and the cvv. It was after this that he then figured I was on to him by what I had asked (which I really wasn't) and he asked if he could help me with anything else. I asked if I should delete my PayPal app from my phone, he said yes and I should not log into PayPal for 24 hrs in order for everything to take effect. I got off the phone with him and immediately called my bank to keep an eye on my account for any fraudulent charges. They are the ones that suggested that I had been scammed. So I then looked up the correct number for PayPal Customer Service and it did not match the number in the email. When I spoke to them, they had no record of anything that had just transpired. I removed my bank account and debit card from PayPal, changed my password (again) and had to close my bank account and open a new one. They did attempt to withdraw $752. They did also ask me if I had any cryto or bitcoin accounts or other bank accounts that I could log into and I told them no, they were not linked to my PayPal so why would I need to log into them. The whole situation was a HUGE red flag and I never once picked up on it.