A heads up. Check your PayPal account.

[kopenhagen5]

I never click on links or subscribe to anything but my PayPal account was just hacked.

Just to let you all know to check your PayPal account and call them if there are any unauthorised purchases.

Or check your email, I received 2 receipts for purchases I didn't make.

PayPal immediately put a stop on my account and I changed password.

They also suggested I call the bank and put a temporary block on my card which I did.

Someone purchased an expensive camera tripod and stun guns using my PayPal and having them sent to Russia.

First time this has happened to me but PayPal were terrific.

I also reported the ebay listings as they appear to have been hijacked.

[i-love-my-sheep]

Companies are losing all their data that's not backed up because staff click on links in emails, even when they have been repeatedly told not to. This virus often turns up with several friends, which just escalates the situation, making it even harder to get rid of.

This virus is causing big issues for the online geek help sites. They are running 24 hours a day flat out trying to help people remove it. Normally you can get help really quickly from them, but some sites there is up to a 2 weeks wait.

I managed to remove it from a friends computer in the US without having remote access, but it took 2 days. He was lucky that the program I found him worked. A lot of people it doesn't work for. Worse case scenario is, reformatting the computer.  It was that long wait for online help that helped me decide to try and eradicate this thing ourselves, even though all the geek sites said not to. If worst came to worst, he would've just reformatted (he always backs everything up, so no issues there).

It's interesting to note that if the router is turned off, the dllhost processes disappear. They are only active while the router is on. Probably because it's always sending data when it's on. Some people found a notepad file showing everything that had been sent and some reported seeing really intimate emails and messages that they had sent their loved one.

As much as I hate Norton Antivirus, it does detect it.....well, it detects something, and for the most part it blocks the virus from doing much harm, but it can't get rid of it.

Another symptom my friend had was he kept getting a pop up box saying Internet Explorer had crashed....even when he wasn't using IE. Although I do believe that can be an unrelated issue with the current version, but once he got rid of the virus, the pop up stopped. I instructed him to end all IE processes, which he did, but they kept reappearing, so I think in his case, it was virus related.

Task manager is your friend 🙂

[harley_babes_hoard]

oh thank you for the warning,I hope you get your money back

[kopenhagen5]

Thanks HBH, the bank has put temp stop on the account before they hit that account so all good.

I guess next time we complain about transfers taking time we will be thankful. 

Sure are MB, and yes it was somewhat of a shock as I am usually so careful.

I-love-my-sheep just informed me on another thread there are some scary viruses that can download all info from your computer to Russia. That's where these purchases were to be sent and presumably also the funds.

Checked my laptop and it's clean. Whew.

[mbselections00]

Thank you for the heads up, but oh, what a sickening feeling that must have been for you . . . .

Glad to hear you were straight onto it and that PayPal were so good.

It goes without saying doesn't it . . . . . . . . there are some scumbags in this world  

[amber-eyed-girl]

That's awful Kopes 😞

you mention that it's possible Paypal itself was compromised, which could be, until you know how you were affected, it is a question mark.

do you have second layer security on your Paypal account?

[debra9275]

thanks Sheep, I'll check for that virus too

[the*scarlet*pimpernel]

Thank you Sheep, that was very informative

[debra9275]

thanks again Sheep, have checked task manager & I am all clear of it so far

[kopenhagen5]

amber, my second layer is that I only have a specific to debit card attached to my PayPal that I top up when I purchase.

And that card is not linked to my other accounts.

Usually no money in there as I keep buying stuff. 

(BTW, If this thread seems confusing, the mods have merged 3 threads onto this one)

[amber-eyed-girl]

OK, so you are limiting access to funds 🙂

I was thinking more along the lines of the Paypal second layer where you opt in to receive a one-off code via a token (separate physical card/token from Paypal) or through SMS, to login.

That makes it more difficult for someone to access your account as they need that code as well as your password.

The code changes each time you hit the button on the token, and with each SMS.

Banks use this, also, in various ways.

https://www.paypal.com/au/securitykey

SMSs are free, the token (physical security key) isn't.