
Ask HN: Scammed. Now what? - andreygrehov
Hey HN,<p>My wife has just been scammed through a PayPal phishing e-mail. I&#x27;m angry as fu*k, but long story short. Here is what she did:<p><pre><code>  - typed her PayPal username&#x2F;password;
  - provided her name, phone number and address
  - shared her credit card details
  - uploaded a photo holding her driver&#x27;s license and cc. This is the format &quot;required&quot; by the fraudulent web site:
</code></pre>
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ibb.co&#x2F;dAC5t6<p>Now here is what I&#x27;ve done so far:<p><pre><code>  - changed her PayPal password
  - locked her CC
  - changed password on other web sites (email, amazon, etc.)
  - reported scammers to PayPal
</code></pre>
Any other immediate steps I should take?
======
trcollinson
It’s hard to tell through text on a post on HN but make sure you take a breath
and gently show your wife that you aren’t “angry as f*ck” at her. You might
already have done this and if so, disregard this advice. But you sound overly
mad. All of this is fixable. But she now had been violated and is the victim
here. If I were in her shoes I would not want you to be angry with me as well.
Phishers are pretty good at suckering people into these scams and she was
caught. Oops. Life will go on.

Second, and this is coming from a guy who has horrible anxiety and panic
attacks (me) especially when it comes to money and scams, again take a breath.
Relax. It’s going to be ok.

~~~
andreygrehov
Thank you. I am mad, but I handled it properly. She was deeply frustrated, so
I had to give her a hug and explain, that everything is ok.

------
pravula
No point in locking your CC. Ask for new credit cards. Also, add a security
question or key to allow customer service to access your account (different
from online one)

Freeze your credit, add a pin.

Get new DL number?

------
tomascot
Did they buy something? You can make PayPal reverse thr transaction. I was on
the other side of this before, a scammer used a stolen account to pay me.
PayPal reversed the transaction and I couldn't do anything. Really unfair
considering that I wasn't the one phished.

------
samfisher83
You probably need to freeze the credit with the major agencies (experian,
equifax, transunion)

This is for equifax:
[https://www.freeze.equifax.com](https://www.freeze.equifax.com)

~~~
j_s
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15207754](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15207754)
(Sep 2017) <\- the whole parent discussion there may be at least partially
useful

>mistersquid: _tl;dr: Freeze requests for your credit data at the big 3:
Equifax [1], Experian [2], and Transunion [3]. (Note: these services may
require multiple attempts, some persistence, a service fee, or a phone call to
an automated system. YMMV.)_

[1]
[https://www.freeze.equifax.com/Freeze/jsp/SFF_PersonalIDInfo...](https://www.freeze.equifax.com/Freeze/jsp/SFF_PersonalIDInfo.jsp)

[2]
[https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html](https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html)

[3] [https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze/place-credit-
freeze](https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze/place-credit-freeze)

>MicroBerto: _Don 't forget Innovis_
[https://www.innovis.com/personal/securityFreeze](https://www.innovis.com/personal/securityFreeze)

~~~
andreygrehov
Thanks a lot! This is helpful.

------
Slaul
I would start with educating your family about phishing.

It might be worth calling the bank(s) you do business with and notifying them
of the fraudulent activity so they can keep an eye out too.

------
assafmo
You should also cancel the credit card and make a new one

