rhochnadel
Colorado
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Anyone had their e-mail account stolen? Started getting telephone calls from friends in my contact list saying they had been solicited for money. Now I cannot get into my e-mail to change the password or even to shut it down. The scoundrels even have the answer to the secret question I use for security. I have been with MSN e-mail for many years but will not set up a new e-mail with them. To add to the problem we are not even at home but on the road with only the laptop. Any suggestions?
* This post was
edited 07/14/10 07:36am by rhochnadel *
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beemerphile1
I'm only 57, I'm not yet a
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I have seen several friends have Hotmail accounts hijacked. It is usually done through phishing emails that the account holder responds to.
I am not sure how to do it but you should try to contact MSN and have the account closed, it happens all the time. You then need to establish a new account and contact everyone supplying the new email address and explain what happened.
If that was the only account you had then you will have a difficult time contacting everyone because you just lost their addresses. I keep multiple accounts at all times and use them for different purposes.
NEVER reply to phishing emails that ask for account info.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing
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Finally Fulltiming
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Have received bogus emails from friends on Yahoo also. Doesn't seem to be limited to any provider.
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deltamaster
Middletown, New york
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My Yahoo account was hijacked several years ago. I was finally able to call Yahoo and get my account back.
When I finally logged in to the account the miscreant had deleted all my email and folders. I lost a lot of data (do not save it there any more).
What they had done was hack my email and eBay accounts so they could run a one day sale on eBay for a car that was advertised for a ridiculously low price.
I caught it early enough that no one had purchased the car and no real harm had been done.
The ad on eBay would have cost me roughly $200.00 but they waived the fees because I reported it immediately.
Funny thing is the miscreant changed my Yahoo password but not my eBay password so I was able to log in to eBay and close the listing.
The only reason I found out was because I logged in to eBay one Saturday Morning to enjoy a little browsing and found the listing in my profile.
Back in those days the CS reps at eBay knew what they were doing and were able to verify my account by asking me about purchases I made several months before that were no longer viewable to the public but they could see. The rep fixed everything while I was online with them and all was well with eBay.
Yahoo was another issue though. I had to get a contact number from eBay for Yahoo since Yahoo did not publish any contact information at the time.
It took a week before I had my Yahoo account back.
After that I changed both passwords (of course) and made sure they were not the same as each other (as I had done in the past) so that if someone was able to get one they would not be able to get the other.
I also change my passwords at least once per year or any time something looks the least bit hinky.
I also NEVER respond to any of those stupid emails that ask for your information. I think that was how they got my password in the first place.
I would suggest you find a telephone number for MSN and tell them the account has been hijacked. They may be able to reset it for you. Chances are that your contacts list is still intact since that is what these miscreants need. You may have lost any saved email or other data, though.
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mockturtle
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I wouldn't like to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater, but our communications technologies have become so large, complex and intertwined (a lot like government) that it's hard to get the toothpaste back into the tube once the problems start. Don't know what the answer is--I know I've become dependent on it.
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DianneOK
Donnelly, ID
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Yes, a friend yesterday. I caught the scam and called her.
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Jerrybo66
AZ
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rhochnadel wrote: Hope this is enough information to keep others from keeping too much information in one place.
Good post. I guess I'm one of those people who think I'm not important enough for lowlife to bother with and "it ain't gonna happen to me". I don't like typing my name and password all the time so I let the computer remember it. That's going to change, now. When my Granddaughter was in high school someone took over her account and sent pornographic mail to the girls on her list. Their parents were ready to lynch her and her Mother and she was going to be expelled until they somehow proved what happened. Anyway, thanks for the warning..
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TMMull
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I'm not saying you caused it yourself, so don't flame me. But I just saw on Face Book where they ask for your E-mail account and your e-mail password to help you "find your friends". I don't know about anyone else but I give pass words to no one.
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pextron
Eastern USA
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Tom N wrote:You had to cause this yourself.
You must have received an email about your account with a link to log to it. You went to that link, which looked like your email provider but was not. When you entered your ID and password on this phony website you gave up your ID and password.
That doesn't necessarily make it the OP's fault.
Phishing is not the only way to get someones email password. Computers happen to be my specialty and I won't give out the dirty details but there are literally thousands of ways that information can be stolen on the internet.
No electronic media is 100% secure but there are some simple rules that can make things a bit safer where email is concerned.
1. Never open suspicious emails.
2. Never open attachments.
3. Never click links in emails.
Lastly, and most importantly, when logging into any site, always verify that the site you think you are logging into is in fact the real site by checking the URL in your browsers address bar.
That covers some of the basics.
* This post was
edited 07/14/10 02:40pm by pextron *
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PattieAM
Maryland
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My daughter's account (under mine) was blocked by AOL when someone got her email address and somehow the password and spammed a ton of folks...I had to contact AOL to get the account re-activated and we changed the password. I've got to give AOL credit for catching that.
I've gotten several solicitations from several supposed banks saying my account is suspended pending further information....and I notice that while it appears official, there is always a miss-spelled word or a gramatical error, so I forward it to the applicable real bank for investigation. I've also gotten 'notice of suspensions' from AOL claiming my information needs to be updated, but again there are errors in the notice, so just forward it to AOL's TOS unit.
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