Beware of the PayPal hackers

A couple of days ago, someone used a hacked PayPal account to make a purchase at my site.

Fortunately, both PayPal and I reacted quickly, PayPal by locking the hacker out of the account, and I reacted by telling PayPal I wanted the payment refunded.  The hacker didn't gain anything, and the account owner's money was returned.

But having their account hacked is an extremely stressful thing for anyone to have to deal with, so here are a few tips on keeping your payment processor accounts safe.

1. Don't share your password with anyone.
2. If you can choose your own password, make it something easy for you to remember (so you don't have to write it down), but difficult for anyone else to guess.
3. Make sure your anti-virus and security software is up to date to protect you against keylogger scripts that can send your password to a hacker.
4. Change your password frequently.
5. Ignore any email that tells you to click a link in the email to log in to your account.  It doesn't matter how genuine they look, they are ALWAYS sent by people trying to gain access to your account.
6. If you think someone may have obtained your password, change it IMMEDIATELY.  Hackers act very quickly when they have access to your accounts.
7. If you can, avoid accessing your accounts from shared computers.  (If you can't access the internet from home, but you have a laptop, take it with you to the internet cafe rather than using their computers.)

Following the tips above will help to keep your payment processor accounts and your money safe.  If you have any other tips or suggestions, please add them below.