My payoneer account was hacked and emptied.

[basak-gunturkun]

On September 25th, FOUR transactions were made without my knowledge and approval. They were all unauthorized.  I didn't receive any sms or email for verification or approval. They seemed to have been transferred to a bank called Monobank where I had no account, no transfer history, nothing. The descriptions for them show  "Transferred to your own account" - What does this mean?  Payoneer keeps sending me messages that they are going to get back to me in 24 hrs. Also they don't reveal where my money was being reserved. I can't see that info, too.  They don't provide these info (-Bank name-Bank Address-Routing (ABA)-SWIFT code-Account number-Account type-Beneficiary name)

All my savings are gone. 

[PradeepH]

Hi Basak,

I am sorry to hear about the issue with your Payoneer account. Could you please clarify if the transactions were associated with Upwork? If not, you may want to reach out to Payoneer support for further assistance.

- Pradeep

[alexandernovikov]

I wonder how it is possible without SMS confirmation. Payoneer requires SMS confirmations for bank withdrawals. Was your phone hacked? You use Android right?

[mechleo]

I am a friend of Başak. And no, it looks like it has nothing to do with phone hacking. We did some research and found out they are withdrawn by the Monobank app, which has inside integration with Payoneer. Most likely Payoneer does not ask for additional verification if you have a Monobank account with the same name as Payoneer. So if your Payoneer is hacked then they build up a fake identity account in Monobank to get the funds easy. That is the theory but high likely true. One interesting thing is, Monobank only accepts registrations of Ukranian or people with Ukranian residency. So whoever hacks your account fakes such documents to sign you up on Monobank. On the Payoneer side, they are responsible for trusting such a 3rd party in my opinion without additional verification and Monobank is responsible for letting easy account creations with fake IDs. And no, Basak uses an iPhone and Macbook to answer your question.

[alexandernovikov]

I talked to my personal manager with Payoneer and they confirmed that they are working on the problem.

[mechleo]

Thanks. We did everything that could be done including contacting Payoneer and Monobank and in the end, Monobank is also knowledgeable about the problem. After a long hold up and research, they asked us to go to Ukranian police instead of fixing the fault. It is like we are being ghosted. I wonder if they will accept their fault and refund.

[4f208d35]

Gorkem, thank you for your input I had the same problem this morning. I am devastated. My research also points to Ukrain. Let's join forces, Basak, Sofia. I already reported it to local police and consumers rights office.**Edited for community guidelines**

[freelance_milica]

Count me in. I was robbed also one month ago. Payoneer is still doing some "internal investigation "  and proscrastinate with no intention of returning thst money back. 

[kristinanik]

Hi I want to join too, they stole part of it on November 23rd and they stole the rest today. They absolutely must return that money I don't care how. What can we do, what lawyers can help us?

[kristinanik]

Please contact me, can you DM on upwork? I can't seem to find a way to do it. 

[d22beac2]

Dis you get your money from Payoneer?

[4f208d35]

They dont hold themselves accountable for these issues.

[alexandernovikov]

Faking documents is SO extremely easy these days that i'm really waiting for the day when no scanned or photographed documents will be accepted online anymore, only in person. It WILL happen before long, very soon registering anywhere that requires a photo ID online will become impossible just because it will finally dawn on everyone how absurdly easy it is to fake.

Crypto ICOs and launchpads created a lot of demand for these "services", because they were all about spamming ICO or launchpad from as many different names as possible and then 1% of them got in with $500 that went up 10x. So you made ~$50 per account, meaning your high-quality fake identity to flood the system with tens or hundreds of thousands of them, had to be cheaper - and scammers' market responded to demand, now it barely costs $5. And they are everywhere.

[87a036af]

Same just happened to me!! I just tried to log in to my payoneer account and all of a sudden I got an email that "My transfers were confirmed to monobank". I did not make any transfers and did not get any verification number to do so. I am desperate. How can we join forces to push on payoneer so they give us our money back? This is their fault, they are not checking for possible hacks and not taking care of their customers.

[mechleo]

Please do check if you logged in WARNING PHISHING WEBSITE (auth-payoneer dot com) WARNING PHISHING WEBSITE? That I believe is the phishing website, people fell for and shared Payoneer information including SMS verification which then directs you to the original Payoneer website. If you enter that once it will direct you to payoneer.com. So please see if you went to that website ever by the browser history.

[87a036af]

Hi Gorkem, 

Yes! That is exactly what happened. but it was a payoneer.com web page. And I got the verification SMS to sing in to my account. But it seems that is used as verification for the transaction?

I already discussed with Payoneer for the last month. And nothing happened. they already answered the following:

"It is important to clarify that there has been no security breach in Payoneer's systems and that the phishing scam did not target our platform. Our records show that the withdrawals and transfers in question were made from your account through a proper login process, using your exact username and correct password. These transactions were authorized with multi-factor authentication, including a one-time password sent via SMS to your mobile device.

For an extra layer of protection against these types of threats, we highly recommend reviewing best practices for protecting your account and password. You can find this information in the Security Center on the Payoneer website."

I truly think that we should start a joint claim and start a dirty internet campaign. 

Payoneer is not doing ANYTHING to return the money.

[freelance_milica]

Count me in. I think that they won't return money, so we have to find the way to return it. 

[4f208d35]

Hi again Milica, let me know if you can see my email address, as Upwork seems to be hidding it for community rules?
Unsure how to get together otherwise

[97cbd38a]

count me in

[4f208d35]

Hi Sofi, please get in touch to organise claim.

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[4f208d35]

Sofia, I had the same problem this morning. I am devastated. Yes, let's join forces.

**Edited for community guidelines**

[NikolaS]

Hi All,

A few posts have been removed or edited from this thread for Community Guidelines. Please, be mindful of the Community Guidelines.

A gentle reminder that posting contact information, be it your own, another person’s, or company's for any purpose. Posting email content, chat transcripts, or other private communication. This includes any form of doing is not allowed in the Community Forum or via private messages. 

You may want to look into the Upwork Network option if you want to connect with other freelancers. 

[freelance_milica]

Same thing happened to me yesterday. Still waiting for Payoneer actions, I called, I set messages, so far nothing happened. 

[mechleo]

Please do check my response to Sofia and tell if that is the case.

[alexandernovikov]

That could only happen if your phone is hacked. Then malware could have received confirmation SMS and "swallowed" it so you never receive it, log in to your email and delete the mails confirming addition of the withdrawal account and actual withdrawal itself, etc.

Don't use Android.

[attila_hungary]

Today morning - 21th of October (2023) - exactly the same hapend to me. I have just logged into my payoneer account. A minutes later got e-mails only. Without any kind of verifictaion the money at my Payonner account were sent by someone to Monobank and A-bank...

[mechleo]

Please do check my response to Sofia and tell me if that is the case.

[2d59e453]

Görkem bey merhaba aynı durum başıma geldi. Aramak istiyorum. Size nasıl ulaşabilirim 

[attila_hungary]

The truth to be told, I logged into my account via the original payoneer website. BTW I use Norton 360, Malwarebytes, windscribe vpn and a secure browser...

I've been using payoneer since I opend an account with upwork. And in the past I never faced any kind of security problem. If the number of the victims increases maybe payoneer will do st... 😞

[mechleo]

I see. Generally, the people I speak with all have that phishing website in their browsers. Even though that website is blocked simply without any extension initially it was not triggered for most. So you have no "that" website in the browser history? It should be directing you to payoneer.com whenever you try to go there now if you ever logged in.

[4f208d35]

Gorkem, something dodgy is happening. Payoneer and Google can see and allow these websites to stay up on top of the search. They come up as Sponsored and as "identity verified by Google". They are somewhere in Ucrania. You dont have to be a CIA detective to see what is happening. They are being negligent to say the least. Also the scamers succeed becasue they have a Payoneer account, meaning that Payoneer has also failed to verify their identity and that's why payments go straight away and cannot be cancelled, because they are Payoneer members. Is Google and Payoneer funding war with our money?

[alexandernovikov]

Events like this really make me consider opening a proper bank account for my company...

[111c07dc]

The same happened to me Yesterday. 

As it is weekend, i cant even call payoneer. Nobody answered. Even with live chat, i could not find abybody to communicate. Send a lot of masseges and wating for them to call me

[fdf7d281]

have a nice day.
On Thursday, October 26, the money in my account was transferred to another Payoner account without my knowledge.
This is a process that I have absolutely no knowledge of.
I have been writing to Payooner for 3 days and they are not making any transactions.
If they cannot prevent this loss of mine, I will initiate legal proceedings with the information.
You are not the only victim.
Kind regards.

[freelance_milica]

Has anyone got money back from Payoneer?

[mechleo]

I liked your positive vibes but there is even a doubt if they will ever return the money. That is a breach caused by user error and the only way to go about it is, even though Payoneer account information was stolen, it caused a big loss because of their weak integration with Monobank which allows offenders to steal money more easily. Rest, they probably will not accept any liability.

[1ad93a3c]

Hello Gorkem, 

i was wondering if your friend have any updates since it's been more than two months now, the same happened to me on the 5th of november and i'm still waiting ... 

[rhodesvedan]

I am so sorry for what is happening. I am using Payoneer too. Last week while I was withdrawing the money from Upwork to my Pioneer account it kept telling me that the password is not right. I changed the password and got verification SMS but while trying to use a new password it kept saying it was a wrong one too. And that was after sending the money from Upwork to my pioneer account. I got an idea and changed the password right away another time. And this time I successfully withdrew the money to my personal bank account. But just after doing that while using the same password to log in and check my October statement it keeps saying the password is not right. I am not sure if it is related to this but I thought it is worth sharing.

Paypal is not accepted where I live in Tanzania and pioneer and M-Pesa are the only cheap methods for international transfers. M-Pesa is available on Upwork for Kenyans who are our neighbors but not Tanzanians. I wrote to Upwork requesting M-Pesa being added to Tanzania, they replied they will work on it but it has been more than six months and I haven't heard back. Hopefully, M-Pesa will rescue us from this Payoneer thing that has emerged. 

[d22beac2]

I had the same issue today with Payoneer. The account was hacked and emptied. 

[NikolaS]

Hi Sherije,

I am sorry to hear about the status of your Payoneer account. Could you please clarify if the transactions were associated with Upwork? If not, I would encourage you to reach out to Payoneer support for further assistance.