Today, like every day, we noticed some unusual activity on your account
February 9, 2022 10:41 AM Subscribe
Every time, literally every time, that I sign into paypal.com, I get a message that they have "noticed some unusual activity on my account" and I need to reset my password. The "unusual activity" has never panned out as actual fraud, but the constant password resets are a hassle. I am always using the same computer on the same home wifi network, and the usual tricks like restarting and clearing cookies are no help. Are there other things that are worth trying before giving up?
Turning on 2 Factor Authorization, if it's not on already, might help.
posted by Candleman at 11:02 AM on February 9, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by Candleman at 11:02 AM on February 9, 2022 [8 favorites]
Strongly seconding Candleman, if you haven't done that yet.
posted by mhoye at 11:15 AM on February 9, 2022
posted by mhoye at 11:15 AM on February 9, 2022
This has been happening to me too -- I don't have a solution but it seems to be related to the fact my wife also signs into the same PayPal account on her phone, and/or I sign in from work.
posted by AzraelBrown at 11:15 AM on February 9, 2022
posted by AzraelBrown at 11:15 AM on February 9, 2022
If your paypal login is an email address with a common provider like gmail, then it could be someone with a similar name who can't remember their own email address.
So you could switch the account to use a different email, perhaps one you setup just for paypal with an autoforward to your main email account.
posted by Lanark at 11:15 AM on February 9, 2022
So you could switch the account to use a different email, perhaps one you setup just for paypal with an autoforward to your main email account.
posted by Lanark at 11:15 AM on February 9, 2022
Do you use a VPN? I've started using a VPN recently and it's captchas, forced logouts, and "please validate your email address" everywhere.
posted by Sauce Trough at 11:49 AM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Sauce Trough at 11:49 AM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
Also possibly VPN - or DNS masq service...
At home I use a DNS blocker to allow us to use Hulu from Canada - just today, my MIL tried to create a new Instagram account for business and everyone was confused because it refused a sign-in, stating; "Your IP address is associated with an open proxy". After thinking about it, I realized this must be our DNS masq service.
posted by rozcakj at 12:17 PM on February 9, 2022
At home I use a DNS blocker to allow us to use Hulu from Canada - just today, my MIL tried to create a new Instagram account for business and everyone was confused because it refused a sign-in, stating; "Your IP address is associated with an open proxy". After thinking about it, I realized this must be our DNS masq service.
posted by rozcakj at 12:17 PM on February 9, 2022
Just a note that clearing cookies likely exacerbates the issue and restarting is really unlikely to do anything.
posted by bitdamaged at 12:49 PM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by bitdamaged at 12:49 PM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
Another thing to try: if you're using an adblocker, disable it for their site.
Perhaps they aren't able to track you between sessions (using some 3rd party tool), and therefore identify you as a completely new device each time.
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 12:52 PM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
Perhaps they aren't able to track you between sessions (using some 3rd party tool), and therefore identify you as a completely new device each time.
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 12:52 PM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
The "unusual activity" has never panned out as actual fraud
If you're comfortable giving some details, what is the unusual activity? It's possible that you're using it so rarely or for so many unrelated kinds of things that the fraud "algorithms" (or whatever) are just not recognizing your use as legit?
Like, over the pandemic I started using PayPal for a lot more things - Amazon & eBay & Etsy and other web purchases & some selling (many of them music or music equipment related), charitable donations, paying some bills - and eventually PayPal actually offered to automatically link my home usage to their site. So now any time I click on a PayPal link to buy something on virtually any website, even one I haven't purchased anything from before, it recognizes me and I don't have to sign in separately to PayPal. (I still have to log in separately to the PayPal home website if I want to check my balance or whatever.) But that only happened after a sustained period of regular patterned usage. There are definitely plenty of sites where if I haven't logged in in a couple of years, they're like, "whoa whoa who are you? Better reset your password, buddy."
on the same home wifi network
Eventually that WiFi network has to connect to a router/modem. Is it possible that that modem/router is resetting its IP address? Meaning that PayPal no longer recognizes your network as "you." You may be on the same wifi network, but to the larger web that network is not the same one.
(I recognize that I may be displaying my own ignorance of software & the tubes that make up the Internet, but this used to happen to me fairly regularly with my previous ISP - if I lost power or power cycled the modem, tons of sites would require me to verify my account via a code sent to my email and/or change the password. Clearly something had reset in the modem so the Internet was viewing my connection as a different one than before.)
posted by soundguy99 at 4:13 PM on February 9, 2022
If you're comfortable giving some details, what is the unusual activity? It's possible that you're using it so rarely or for so many unrelated kinds of things that the fraud "algorithms" (or whatever) are just not recognizing your use as legit?
Like, over the pandemic I started using PayPal for a lot more things - Amazon & eBay & Etsy and other web purchases & some selling (many of them music or music equipment related), charitable donations, paying some bills - and eventually PayPal actually offered to automatically link my home usage to their site. So now any time I click on a PayPal link to buy something on virtually any website, even one I haven't purchased anything from before, it recognizes me and I don't have to sign in separately to PayPal. (I still have to log in separately to the PayPal home website if I want to check my balance or whatever.) But that only happened after a sustained period of regular patterned usage. There are definitely plenty of sites where if I haven't logged in in a couple of years, they're like, "whoa whoa who are you? Better reset your password, buddy."
on the same home wifi network
Eventually that WiFi network has to connect to a router/modem. Is it possible that that modem/router is resetting its IP address? Meaning that PayPal no longer recognizes your network as "you." You may be on the same wifi network, but to the larger web that network is not the same one.
(I recognize that I may be displaying my own ignorance of software & the tubes that make up the Internet, but this used to happen to me fairly regularly with my previous ISP - if I lost power or power cycled the modem, tons of sites would require me to verify my account via a code sent to my email and/or change the password. Clearly something had reset in the modem so the Internet was viewing my connection as a different one than before.)
posted by soundguy99 at 4:13 PM on February 9, 2022
Response by poster: If you're comfortable giving some details, what is the unusual activity?
Not a clue! All I get is a page with that message and a link to change my password. It seems to happen whether I've used PayPal recently or not, regardless of what I've used it for, etc.
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:43 PM on February 9, 2022
Not a clue! All I get is a page with that message and a link to change my password. It seems to happen whether I've used PayPal recently or not, regardless of what I've used it for, etc.
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:43 PM on February 9, 2022
Do you have Mint or another similar aggregator set up? In some cases, one of those services getting munged has been known to cause issues like this in the past.
posted by Candleman at 4:54 PM on February 9, 2022
posted by Candleman at 4:54 PM on February 9, 2022
> It seems to happen whether I've used PayPal recently or not
To clarify: Are you saying you sometimes get this message when you haven't visited the PayPal website for the past few days?
If so, that indicates an entirely different issue to me — maybe there is some suspicious activity happening on your account that's not associated with your own usage.
posted by mekily at 8:14 PM on February 9, 2022
To clarify: Are you saying you sometimes get this message when you haven't visited the PayPal website for the past few days?
If so, that indicates an entirely different issue to me — maybe there is some suspicious activity happening on your account that's not associated with your own usage.
posted by mekily at 8:14 PM on February 9, 2022
I get those messages but the email source is always gibberish. Ala: tsuvgygwlivorky-qqull-ouwgpokeiyesvma@belmonttapingtools.com. I assume it's phishing.
Try to load "belmonttapingtooms.com." Good luck.
posted by tmdonahue at 5:40 AM on February 10, 2022
Try to load "belmonttapingtooms.com." Good luck.
posted by tmdonahue at 5:40 AM on February 10, 2022
Response by poster: > It seems to happen whether I've used PayPal recently or not
To clarify: Are you saying you sometimes get this message when you haven't visited the PayPal website for the past few days?
Sorry, to clarify back: I am not talking about an email message that anyone sends me. I would assume such a message was phishing and ignore it.
I am talking about a behavior of the login form on the PayPal website itself. (I am confident that this is a legitimate form on PayPal's actual website. Please don't ask me to prove I can tell the difference, but like, I can if you want. :)
When I enter my username and password and click Log In, the next page that loads has text about "unusual activity" and a form where I can update my password. There is no way to continue with the login flow without completing the password update process first.
But yes, I experience this behavior on their website no matter how long it's been since I last logged in, and no matter how long it's been since I used PayPal to make a purchase.
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:30 AM on February 10, 2022
To clarify: Are you saying you sometimes get this message when you haven't visited the PayPal website for the past few days?
Sorry, to clarify back: I am not talking about an email message that anyone sends me. I would assume such a message was phishing and ignore it.
I am talking about a behavior of the login form on the PayPal website itself. (I am confident that this is a legitimate form on PayPal's actual website. Please don't ask me to prove I can tell the difference, but like, I can if you want. :)
When I enter my username and password and click Log In, the next page that loads has text about "unusual activity" and a form where I can update my password. There is no way to continue with the login flow without completing the password update process first.
But yes, I experience this behavior on their website no matter how long it's been since I last logged in, and no matter how long it's been since I used PayPal to make a purchase.
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:30 AM on February 10, 2022
Hmmmm. welp, looks like that rules out my previous ideas.
Under general troubleshooting ideas:
1) Do you get the password update message if you go through the process, log back out, close the PayPal tab/window and then immediately open a new tab and try to log in to PayPal again?
2) have you also cleared your browser cache, not just cookies?
3) If you're on a Mac you could try moving your browser app's "plist" from the Library where it's normally stored (exactly where depends on your OS) onto the desktop and restart your browser.
posted by soundguy99 at 3:49 PM on February 10, 2022
Under general troubleshooting ideas:
1) Do you get the password update message if you go through the process, log back out, close the PayPal tab/window and then immediately open a new tab and try to log in to PayPal again?
2) have you also cleared your browser cache, not just cookies?
3) If you're on a Mac you could try moving your browser app's "plist" from the Library where it's normally stored (exactly where depends on your OS) onto the desktop and restart your browser.
posted by soundguy99 at 3:49 PM on February 10, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by kschang at 10:46 AM on February 9, 2022