Update: Man Sack Hack Redux

Lovely Bag

Blogs are well-suited for sharing funny thoughts, casual observations, and righteous indignation.  Guess which type of entry this is going to be..

Actually, I am only slightly indignant and feeling a little put upon by my PayPal hacking experience. I may have been a bit premature in my effusive praise for the rapid response I received once I reported that my account had been hacked since I am still working through the process.

The unauthorized use of my account to purchase this lovely $250 bag actually did result in some insufficient fund fees being charged to my account. Although my PayPal account was immediately frozen, apparently the funds were already transferred to the seller's account. So, my automatically drafted Netflix bill the next day resulted in a $35 insufficient funds fee and a $6 resubmission fee.

So I called my friendly bank and reported the issue Friday morning. The friendly agent told me that they would be happy to refund the fees once they received confirmation from PayPal that the charge was unauthorized. So, I was off to find a real live person to speak with at PayPal, which is actually a bit harder than you would think. The automated chat support program did not understand what I needed, so I had to do some hunting on my own to find a telephone number. Once I worked my way through the menus, I spoke with a very friendly agent, named Jim, who was happy to call the bank and confirm the unauthorized use of my PayPal account. He later emailed me to let me know that once my friendly bank receives the recovered amount from PayPal, the insufficient funds fee will be refunded.

So far, so good. But, here comes some indignation. While the money was immediately sucked out of my account by my new best hacker friend, PayPal is unable to automatically deposit the funds back into my checking account. However, once the funds are available in my PayPal account I can set up the transfer myself.  In 3 to 5 business days, the funds will be transferred and I can call the bank to alert them of the transaction in order to receive my refund.

REALLY?  3 to 5 days to transfer funds that were stolen without any delay from my checking account?    I am getting on a plane and flying to Asia in 2 days. Completing this process is going to be quite inconvenient and expensive at $1.99 per minute for phone calls. I am feeling a little more righteous now. Grrrrrrr!