Beware of jovelyn.agib@yahoo.com and +886277064035 - Paypal Hacker!

Beware of this number: +886277064035. This number called me at around 5 in the morning. I was reluctant to answer it coz who would do that? Then I thought of Popsy. But he will never call at such ungodly hour! So I woke Peter up and made him answer the call. He couldn't understand why the lady at the other end was trying to ask for my bank account # for some remittance. He gave me back my phone and I asked what this call was about and who was calling. I can only make out the name Kristin and that she would like to verify my bank account number. I immediately grew suspicious so I hung up the phone and went online.

I checked my bank account, everything looks okay and started paying for all my bills before my account gets hacked and all my money gone. Then I checked my email. I saw several from paypal telling me how to change my password, that my password has been changed, and that I sent money to jovelyn.agib@yahoo.com. From the image below you can see how the hacker was trying to learn how to reset my paypal password at 4:27 and he did it by 4:46. And by 4:50 he already got my money!

This was the screen shot of my inbox. The time stamp is in EDT. It was between 4:00-5:00 am Manila time, Oct. 14, when this happend.

OMG! I immediately went on full-blown panic mode! I went to paypal and couldn't log in! I tried several times to no avail! Then I calmed down so I can focus. I followed paypal's instructions on how to change my password. Changing the password would entail me to verify my complete bank acct # tied up with my paypal. Hence, the phone call at 5am asking for my bank account #. Finally, I was able to get into my paypal, made all the security changes and did a dispute. It's under investigation now.

I think this is not just one hacker person.  I think there is a whole company devoted to hacking coz the lady I spoke with clearly sounded like Pinay but really knows how to speak like an American, like those call center agents. And when I investigated the number  +886277064035 used, I found this: http://www.78910.org/886277064035_ID898098.html. Apparently, there's a bunch of other people who got calls from this number pretending to be someone else.

The lesson here for me is to create a whole new other email account solely  for my paypal (never use email addresses I use for people to contact me), connect it with a bank account that is solely for paypal, make difficult security questions, and don't share this information to the public.  I've always been paranoid about phishing so I seldom open emails or take phone calls that I don't recognize. It's good that paypal responds to investigations immediately. And whoever this +886277064035  or jovelyn.agib@yahoo.com / Jovelyn Agib is, she or he will meet her karma soon. I hope this doesn't happen to anyone else so please beware. 

P.S. Here are some more useful tips from Fleire Castro, one of my online friends:

Online transactions security tips --


NEVER publish your bank account details.
NEVER connect your publicly known bank account details on your Paypal account.
NEVER use obvious answers for your security questions.