A hacked PayPal account needs fast action because it can move real money. Handle the account login, unauthorized transactions, linked funding sources, and future alerts in one pass.
Does this affect you?
Use this for PayPal personal or business accounts when you see a payment you did not make, receive a purchase confirmation you do not recognize, notice changed bank or card details, or cannot sign in with the usual password.
If you can still log in
Do this before investigating every detail.
- Go directly to paypal.com and sign in.
- Open Activity and check for payments, transfers, purchases, or withdrawals you do not recognize.
- Open any suspicious transaction and choose Report a problem to start an unauthorized-activity dispute.
- Go to Settings > Security and change the password to one not used anywhere else.
- Review login devices or security check information and sign out sessions you do not recognize.
- Open Payments > Automatic payments and review linked bank accounts and cards. Remove anything unfamiliar.
- Turn on two-factor authentication under Security.
If you are locked out
Use PayPal’s official recovery and compromised-account route.
- On the PayPal login page, choose Forgot password and try the email or phone recovery method still under your control.
- If those methods were changed, open PayPal Contact Us and choose the account-recovery or compromised-account option.
- Be ready to verify ownership with name, address, recent transaction amounts, or the last four digits of a linked card or bank.
- After PayPal verifies you, ask them to review recent unauthorized activity.
- Once access returns, change the password, review sessions, check automatic payments, remove unfamiliar funding sources, and enable two-factor authentication.
More control
Call your bank or card issuer too
If money moved through a linked bank account or card, report it there as well. Banks and card issuers have their own fraud protections and deadlines.
Expect follow-up phishing
After a PayPal compromise, fake security emails and texts are common. Do not click message links or enter your password from an email. Type paypal.com yourself.
Turn on notifications
Settings > Notifications can alert you about payments and logins, which helps you catch the next problem within minutes instead of days.
Change reused passwords
If your PayPal password was reused on another site, change it there too. Many takeovers start with a leaked password from a completely different service.
Sources
- PayPal Help Center – I think my account has been compromised (2025)
- PayPal Help Center – Report unauthorized activity (2025)
- PayPal Security Center – Protect your account (2025)