I mistakenly opened up an email from a colleague last Friday which contained a zip-file attachment with a Word doc inside. My internal alarms should have been ringing at this point but I was still groggy and hadn't had my morning coffee. I opened up the document and got a few random error messages from MS Word without any content, so I pinged the coworker back asking about the email. Of course he told me "definitely do not open the email, my account has been compromised" and I was suddenly wide awake without needing the coffee.
I immediately deleted the email and deleted wherever the Outlook temp file had been saved when I opened it and started a full virus scan, hoping for the best. I was working from home at the time, so I continued to work while the scanner ran and would frantically check my accounts from time to time.
A few hours later, I got a PayPal security alert text to my phone... logged into PP and saw "$3000 transfer from Bank Account to PayPal Cash Account". Saw another PayPal transaction with a purchase through Ebay for $1300. At this point I realized they had access to my accounts through my PC. I found it odd that they would transfer cash from my Bank Account to MY paypal (instead of theirs), and the Ebay purchase was made through MY ebay account as well. I shut everything down at that point and changed all my passwords from another computer, and spent the next few hours cancelling the fraudulent charges as well. Over the weekend I disconnected my home PC from the internet and did a complete Windows wipe and fresh install.
So with all that, I'm still looking for a bit of advice:
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I feel like this should be sufficient to get rid of whoever had access to me accounts, but I'm still wary and unsure. Are there any next steps or follow ups I should be taking to secure my finances?
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Furthermore, the 'hacker' that made the Ebay purchase ended up buying a nice gaming laptop and it's being shipped to a specific address. I have no idea if this is the culprit's address or not, but is there anybody that I should give this info to? The credit card companies didn't seem interested and I considered telling the police but I doubt something like this would get very much attention/effort from them.
TLDR: Don't email while uncaffeinated
Submitted September 13, 2020 at 10:27PM by my_pf_throwaway_ https://ift.tt/3c26b19
