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----
My latest posts can be
found here:
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----
Previous blog posts:
  * WhyTopPostingHasWon
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  * ConsideringASphere
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  * GenericAdviceForWritingAThesis
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----
Additionally, some earlier writings:
  * RandomWritings.
  * ColinsBlog2010
  * ColinsBlog2009
  * ColinsBlog2008
  * ColinsBlog2007
  * ColinsBlogBefore2007
********
Recently received as part of the newsletter of a publishing company.

While this particular incident ended happily, that's not always the
case. It's worth knowing about these sorts of scams -- forewarned ...

----

Well, we've been living in interesting times at Wildside Press
since our last newsletter. Our PayPal account was VERY creatively
hacked, and we briefly lost about $15,000 of the money we'd been
saving up for royalty payments to authors.

Here's how it was done: Someone logged into my account on a
Saturday and transferred $850 in a single transaction ... I
guess as a test. At this point, I assumed someone had hacked
into my PayPal account directly or gotten access through
LastPass (which remembers passwords for me). So I reported it
to PayPal, changed all my passwords, ran security checks on
every computer I use (plus my phone), and assumed all was well.

*WRONG!* The next weekend, I got a call from PayPal, but
when I answered it, no one was there. I assumed it was an
automatic call and the robot dialing had disconnected.
But it was a sign for me to check my account. I did so
-- and there were 7 more $850 transactions, all going to
different accounts. Again, I reported it, changed all
my passwords, and vowed to watch the account even more
closely. Just bad luck to be hit a second time, right?

*WRONG!* The next weekend, I got another call from
PayPal, but when I answered it, no one was there once
more. I logged in to check the account, and money was
disappearing in $850 transactions. I called PayPal and
had them shut down the account. But the damage had
been one: another dozen transactions had gone through.

The total thefts had now reached just over $15,000.

This time, the PayPal employee suspected what had happened.
Someone had cloned my phone's SIM card (I assume by randomly
generating numbers) and used my phone number to get a password
reset from PayPal. He then intercepted PayPal's phone call,
logged into my account, and stole the money.

This is apparently a new security threat that is hard to stop.
I had to go to T-Mobile and get a new SIM card installed in my
phone. But that seems to have done the trick.

A VERY nerve-wracking experience! If you use PayPal and a phone,
you might not want to connect the two. Just a suggestion ...

But I'm happy to say that both PayPal and TD Bank came
through and we had our money back quickly ... all 3 times.

/Added/in/edit:/

I have since switched all my recovery phone numbers to
Google Voice, which is apparently free from this sort of
security problem.

http://www.wildsidepress.com

----

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