Thank you for the info.I pay most of my bills on line, too.My bank helped me to set it all up,since alot of things about a computer,i don't know yet. So the bank set it up for me to pay all my utility bills and showed me how to do it,and I been paying them on line now for about a year.

Jean

Jean, no!! Paying your utility bills, mortgage, telephone, water is all safe! That is what I have been doing with this particular account for years & NEVER had a problem until I started using it to pay for dls on the LA.

Please don't be afraid to keep up with paying those type of bills. It is so nice to have that luxury isn't it?

That is one of the reasons why Paypal is safer than using personal checks. I have never written and will never write a personal check to something I have purchased online.

If you look at your checks everything a thief needs is on them. Your full name, address, phone number, checking account number, bank routing number, and YOUR SIGNATURE! They could in all honesty (or dishonesty) order checks, and use them.

You may have had a bank statement stolen. I had a man come to the front door one day asking for an Avon brochure, there were some in the box, but he said there were none left. What he was really there to grab the mail out of our mail box. About a week later I got a call from a credit card company asking if I needed a new card. I told them no and they said someone had requested one but couldn't give them my SS#. Luckily they froze the account right away, and contacted us. They couldn't use the account number because they did not have the security code on the back of our cards. They could have if they were smart enough, used them to purchase gasoline at the gas pumps.

lalalandwi;Yes, to me it is a luxury to be able to pay my utility bills on line.Saves me from having to mail checks out or driving all over to go pay each one of them, or to mail them,takes stamps for that.I live on a fixed income and gas is expensive to have to go all over to pay bills.Much easier to pay them on line.Alots easier for my back problems too...
Jean

bambi too, it never occured to me that they would go to the point of getting checks made with my info!! It has been such a long time since I ordered checks & if memory serves you need to supply a voided check & deposit slip? I looked at my checks & it doesn't say where I got them from so I'm hoping it would be difficult to order some. My drivers license is on mine too.

I know it couldn't be from a stolen bank statement because they don't send them to me any more since I do all my banking on line.

I only have 2 bills that I still send out checks to & they have both been cleared by the companies I sent them to, so I know someone didn't get a whole of the info that way either.

The only 2 checks I sent out in the last 6 months that were noncorporate people was the WI Daylily Society & the jokester I bought dls from on the LA. I highly doubt it was the WDS so it leaves all fingers pointing to the jokester on the LA. He only takes checks & money orders & to save myself an errand to the bank I just sent him a check. I guess I just put too much trust in the goodwill of the human race. Sort of look at the world through rose colored glasses.

Once again, I'm the idiot because my sign on ID was waaaaay too easy to figure out, it contained part of my email address. So in addition to having my bank info, they would also have to know my email address. Lesson learned that is for sure. I just want to give people a heads up & be careful. Money orders for me from here on in, if that. I probably will only be bidding on the people that take paypal from here on in & never, ever again from the alleged jokester.

Oh, I'm SO sad to hear that even that safest of havens is getting bad apples!! I'm so sorry, lala...
marea

I'm sorry too, Marea. 2008 keeps ringing true about modern day society & I want to keep living life like my mother, who has a polyanna attitude towards everybody & everything. I'm tired of this rollercoaster lifestyle & feel like I get more callous everyday! I'm afraid I'm going to turn into the rest of them (being more callous that is)! I know this makes me sound old, but I'm really not...just middle aged. I just want to carry on in life without having to watch my back 24/7. I guess this is what life is amounting to these days. It still bewilders me that is goes on in the world of gardening where everything is suppose to be pure & sharing out of the goodness of your heart. I guess that is part of what drew me to gardening to start with was all the kindness & good feeling that went along with it, on top of the feeling you are in paradise when you surround yourself with beautiful things!

Here's a true story as it was on the news a couple of months ago and some of you may have heard about it:

A bank was sending the cancelled checks of patrons to a shredding company for them to dispose of. The shredding company was selling the shredded materials to a company who was using it as packing materials.
A woman received a box of items she ordered and inside were these shredded pieces of paper. She noticed some of the shreds of paper were actual checks so she taped together some of the shredded materials and was able to reconstruct patrons of the bank cancelled checks. Just goes to show you just never know where your bank stuff is going.....

lalalandwi: Your bank should be able to tell who tried to access the account since every computer has a unique IP address and if I'm not mistaken (and I could be)this is tracked on the banks computer log system.

Julia

What is the LA?

The Lily Auction. Be warned.
A great way to spend money :-))

Here is a link that might be useful: The Daylily Auction

I pay with a money order when I win a daylily on the Lily Auction. I could use Paypal but I do not entirely trust it. So every auction win is paid with a money order.

Julia, when I called to find out what was going on they never offered to check an IP address. I'll call them tomorrow to see if it is something they can do. I never did hear that story about the check shredding! Geez, how stupid can they be? You probably shouldn't mention the name on here, but I certainly hope it at least wasn't one of the major banks.

I'm still up in the air about paypal. Not from this transacion, but other stuff I have heard. Your log on ID is your email address, which gets people half way there. My sis-in-law got her hotmail account taken from her by an identity thief. The thief hacked into a site she bought some cosmetics from. He was then able to block her out of it by changing her password & then went after her paypal account. She had an excellent credit card company tagged to it & instantly knew something was up & called her. She said the credit card company AND paypal knew what was going on before she did. A little safe haven, but if you have your checking account attached, not sure if they would be able to detect it as quickly. I know this situation is pretty unique & doesn't happen often but it sure makes reality set in. The key is having rock solid passwords that no one can figure out.

Someone did steal my debit card number, and they ran up several thousand of dollars worth of merchandise. The bank called me, and I told me of the withdrawals and the number was stopped. Thank goodness I did not have to pay for anything, because the bank had insurance to cover it. It was stressful, and now I do not use my debit card on line or use a check. I only pay with money orders when buying on line. I check to make sure that they have a number that I can call and get an address then purchase money orders for purchases. I pay my utility bills either in person or by money order. It is a pain. I also have only my name and address posted on my checks, so when I buy local I write the rest of the info. on the checks at time of purchase.I have learned a hard lesson, because there would have been no way I could have afford to buy for the items that were bought with my stolen card.

For those of you who use Internet Banking, i recommend installing a safety software. I recommend PrivacyKeyboard. I have been using it for quite some time now and it has not let me down.

You can fin the latest version here:
http://softproblem.com/?p=26

I had an identity theft last summer and it was horrible, because of a check given to Walmart.
A bank must cover forgeries and expenditures wrongfully paid (whether it has insurance or not). My bank made good on everything but it was a lot of paperwork for a while.
I no longer use checks at all because of the risk- not of losing money because the bank is liable if it pays over a forgery, but because of the horrible disruption in ones life that all the resulting paperwork entails.
Scammers really have it down too. The bank told me that check thieves can 'wash' checks, leaving your signature but putting in different amounts'
Also, many stores don't take the time to check signatures on checks under $1,000 or so, the person who forged checks on my account had a completely different signature but they had the access numbers they needed for the account.

thank you for taking the time to inform us!!!

We want to think that the world is like it was 20 or even 10 years ago---but no! it's not! scarry!!
That's why I live 30 mins into the mts on a dirt road---my closest neighbors
are the redwoods! and the closest Walmart is 2 hours away!!

It's Heaven.......only leave when I go to a dog show or a shoot for work!!!
But to think they still they can rip you off!!!

peace cole

Your log on ID is your email address

NO NO NO

here is what you do when you create a paypal account:
1. call your internet service provider and request TWO new email accounts, or set up a TWO brand new email accounts with one of the free services such as gmail.
2. now you sign up for a PayPal account with one of these new and fresh email accounts. you will say three times 'I will NEVER use these accounts for anything else' while you do it.
3. once you have set up your paypal account - this email is your login - go to profile and add the second account and make it your 'primary'.
4. done. what you have done is create a login (don't get new accounts with names like '4paypal@domain.com') that no one knows. the email address shown to your customers (or vendors) will in no way help anyone gain access to your account - AND - MOST IMPORTANT - you will automatically know that any mails coming to your 'regular' email accounts and wanting you to go to PayPal because 'your account is restricted' or whatever are phishing and spam mails.

When you pay with PayPal or Google checkout, your vendors do not see your account or credit card information.

Hi lalalandwi,

If you have time, would you email me at:

mlwgardener@hotmail.com

I need to talk to you about your problem. I just had a similar experience with my Paypal account. Thanks Mona

So, how good is the PayPal Protection Program? I ordered one item from a seller, and it seems that I got sent two of them. But because the seller used the same postage on both boxes, I have to pay extra postage for the unwanted box or send both of the boxes back.

I rather suspect that if I send both boxes back, I may not get my item at all - or a refund either - if the seller is willing to cheat on the postage. (He also didn't respond to email questions before I purchased the item.)

The seller has been reported for mail fraud.