buying a smart card reader

Anonymous wrote:Jim-I ordered the card reader for $40.56 and the software from this site for $99.00. Do you think I got ripped off?

Dawn

Not too bad then, good you had me worried. You just paid $10 over the lowest price, compaired to the 2 Factor hoops not bad. When I looked on that site it came up $189??? That would have been terriable. Jim

It's good you got the software from CPAP.Com, the other site has Version 1.4i, that's old enough to have mold on it.

Jim-I'll be looking to you for help if I need it once I get up and going with this software. You seem to be right on with the computer stuff-thus the great user pic

I was thinking of using my true pic as a aviatar, but I would hate to ruin my camera. Jim

*Sigh.* I'll say it again. Paypal is not unsafe. I've used them for hundreds of transactions, and never had a single problem. In fact, the one time I had an unscrupulous eBay seller try to take my money and not send me anything, PayPal gave me my money back.

I think some of you have fallen for or seen what are called "phishing" emails. These are NOT FROM PAYPAL. Scammers send out phishing emails that simulate emails from just about every bank out there... Wachovia, Bank of America, etc., and PayPal is just one more on that list. Paypal has never and will never send you an e-mail asking for your personal information. If you received one that claimed to be from PayPal and asked for your credit card number, etc. it was from a scammer.

byront, If someone used your credit card through Paypal, that means someone has gotten your Paypal password. Did you ever receive an email that took you to a site asking you to verify personal information for PayPal, and you had to "log in" to access it? If so, that wasn't really from PayPal, it was from scammers - and they now have your PayPal password. You need to change it immediately, and contact PayPal and let them know what's going on.

The e-mail your friend received was most likely a "phishing" e-mail, too. These scammers are getting really good - they now send out e-mails like that, saying that your account has been compromised, with links that say "click here to log in," and when you do that, you've just given scammers your password.

If you ever receive an e-mail from paypal that says anything like that, or asks you to verify information, forward it to spoof@paypal.com . They'll send you an e-mail back telling you if it's fake or legit - and it's always fake.

I repeat - scammers do this to every financial institution, not just paypal, and it's no reflection on PayPal's safety. Paypal itself is exceptionally safe.

CollegeGirl wrote: I think some of you have fallen for or seen what are called "phishing" emails. These are NOT FROM PAYPAL. Scammers send out phishing emails that simulate emails from just about every bank out there... Wachovia, Bank of America, etc., and PayPal is just one more on that list. Paypal has never and will never send you an e-mail asking for your personal information. If you received one that claimed to be from PayPal and asked for your credit card number, etc. it was from a scammer.

I'm sure that's what mine was, I didn't reply, they said the were going to close my acct. No harm was done. I just saved the emails under Scam. I have onle had one problem with internet buying, one of the sites I shopped got hacked bigtime and 4 months later charges appeared on my CC Card, I filed a false purchace notice and they were removed. (Small Hassle) Jim

It didn't involve Paypal at all.

It's unbelievable how many phishing/spam e-mails I get about E-Bay, PayPal, bank accounts, etc. But, other than an E-Bay account, I've never had PayPal or done any banking online.....or even used/given any credit card information or done any online transactions.
Some of those spoofs are very well done and could fool a lot of people (as I'm sure they have). The ones I can't believe people fall for are the ones who promise you part of a fortune if you can help them get the money out of the country.....(usually some country in Africa)
P. T. Barnum was right.

Den

CollegeGirl - I don't really get any junk mail and if I do I just toss it, always have. I have never gotten a phishing e-mail like you described unless it happened to be some unopened piece of junk mail that was tossed. I don't subscribe to things - I like to keep my e-mail very basic and uncluttered. I have only done one transaction through PayPal and that was with a debit card from a different bank. It was a one time transaction and was told the bank information was not retained. I don't believe I had to register for that, but I am not sure. In any case phishing did not take place, the only 'sign in' that may have taken place would have only been for that one transaction. I have not been to their site since, at least not until I ran into this snag with 4-Factors. I had only used my credit card online twice prior to my getting hit, apparently one of the retailers I purchased from ran it through PayPal - I was unaware of that. I was told by my credit card companies investigation dept. that one of the false purchase attempts was run through PayPal. I contacted PayPal and their response was that it could not have been them because they were very 'safe' -- my impression of their response, denial and not really concerned - end of matter. I was not going to drop the matter quite so easily so I responded asking them to explain how they became a link in the chain, I got no response. Like Jim, it was eradicated by my credit card company before it ever even got processed and it would also have been no big deal except for the fact that someone got ahold of my personal information and I wanted to know who and how. I see no reason why confidential credit card information cannot be erased immediately upon completion of each transaction. I am glad you have had good experiences with them I have not. -- BT