RedGage

 First of all, I have skype credits in the victimized account and it is linked to my paypal. Also, the default setting is that whenever it falls below 2 EUR dollars, it will automatically recharge.

I have two skype accounts. I logged on the other one today, and noticed this one although offline, yet displayed a weird icon. It turned out to be an indicator of call forwarding. Thereby, for those in my contact list, they can call me and have the call redirected to the phone I preset for free, while I will pay for it using the skype credit.

But I never set any call forwarding. I tried to call this account myself and got connected to a weird number. There was only “di--du””di--du” sound in the other end. And later when I checked the call history of the account with credits, I did see money deducted. So the call was through indeed.

I then logged on to the stolen account. Luckily, the password remained unchanged.

I have only a few contacts in total, and I quickly identified an unfamiliar one. One named wangcheng123113. This guy has the same skype name and display name. I googled him, but found no record.

 Then I logged into skype website to check the usage history. It turned out, in the last 2 hours, he had been calling me on and off several times, each lasting from 10 min to over half an hour. All the calls were redirected to Barbados at 1246 8599371. The one I tried just now was also connected to this number. Meanwhile, I checked my paypal record. I have been recharged twice with EUR 10 dollars each during this period.

 After a short while, a skype notification popped up. I was not very familiar with skype’s many features, and didn’t realize what was going on at that moment. I only saw that I’ve been added to a conference call group, and it showed all the record of wangcheng123113 calling me just now. (I only found out later, it was this thief trying the last time to call me only to find that I am online, so he quickly hang up. ) There are three other people in the group. All Chinese, including me. I first thought it might be the accomplice, but quickly discovered that all three have skype names starting with z, just like me. Also, when googling these people, there are lots and lots of record.

 I think these should all be victims. Skype only gave answer like “change your password” “scan your computer” and “we will try our best to provide security” but nothing more regarding this situation, I contacted the three with info found on the web, and quickly talked to one of them on skype.

 Astonishingly, he had the exact same experience as me! That is, the number he was redirected to is also the same one.

 This is really weird. Why should everybody all be connected to a number that seems not even a real one, at the same time?! It appears only to take away our money! Is this from inside Skype??

 Hence, you are strongly advised to cancel any payment method that is linked with skype, and stop auto-recharge your credits and subscription. None of these is compulsory anyway. So better do it yourself than being stolen.

Also,can anyone advise me as how to get back my loss?The money was taken from my paypal balance, and I did authorize skype to take money from my paypal in the first place…