my email has been hacked

[handyandy]

Hi All

I am looking for some ideas on how to recover my hotmail account.

It seems that some chinese person has hacked into my hotmail account and changed the password and alternate email account.

I am actually able to still get into my hotmail through a second hotmail account that I happened to have linked to the now hijacked email some time in the past.

So I can try and change the password and alternate email the only problem is that I now don't know password that the hacker has inserted and of course this password is initially request to allow these changes.

So I can see all my emails, read them and delete them but don't have effective control of the account.

Any suggestions to recover the account????

Cheers

 

[ziggy2214]

Can't you change the password by selecting the option
forgot your password?

 

[handyandy]

Unfortunately the first thing it asks is 'what is the current password'

I am just looking through the various email received and have received some form ebay alerting me to the fact that someone has tried to access the account and has compromised it. So obviously this was one of their aims.

Cheers

 

[Sim]

Unfortunately the first thing it asks is 'what is the current password'

Are you sure? It doesn't make sense to have a "forgot my password" feature ask you for a password - kind of defeats the purpose. Usually this type of system generates a new random password and emails it to you. I have no idea how they do this on Hotmail though - I've never used it.

 

[hobo-jo]

Go to hotmail.com, go to 'help', go to 'What do I do if I think someone is using my Windows Live ID?' and follow prompts to get your account recovered.

 

[ziggy2214]

Are you sure? It doesn't make sense to have a "forgot my password" feature ask you for a password - kind of defeats the purpose. Usually this type of system generates a new random password and emails it to you. I have no idea how they do this on Hotmail though - I've never used it.

Yes, I would have thought that it would be asking you for other details you have nominated before such as your pets name or similar

 

[Sunfish]

Handy, have they been using your account to spam?

I have a "Bigfoot" account, www.bigfoot.com . It is merely a permanent forwarding address which your friends use. They then forward mail to your nominated account. If you change provider you tell Bigfoot the new account and your correspondents have no need to know.

 

[younginvestors]

Hi All
It seems that some chinese person has hacked into my hotmail account and changed the password and alternate email account.

Any suggestions to recover the account????

We just had this happen to my wife's account last month. It took over 2 weeks of continuously submitting requests to Hotmail to get the account back. They had changed the language to Chinese, set an autoreply vacation message, and hacked her eBay account (and listed a non existent camera!).

We kept getting what appeared to be automated replies from Microsoft saying we hadn't completed all the required information. But we kept at it and tried to provide as much evidence to prove we were the rightful owners.

They'll ask you things (folder names, emails in your inbox, etc) to identify that you are indeed the owner, not another hacker trying to get control of the account.

Try submitting your details on this link

https://support.live.com/eform.aspx?productKey=wlmail&ct=eformts

Don't give up. When you do get it back, change your password to be a strong password, that isn't used for other accounts, (e.g. Facebook, eBay, etc).

Good luck!

 

[Spectre]

its amazing isnt it... the disruption your world takes when your email gets comprimised. Makes you wonder how you used to survive before technology.

i get fake emails from ebay and paypal as well to my work email when they have the personal email for contact details & logins etc.

i figure even if it is real why bother risking it, they'll reset it for me somehow if needbe.

 

[handyandy]

As per YI they tried to access my ebay account. In my case they locked it up as I don't have the same passwords between different accounts.

Just to fill people in on my resolution. I was caught up in the panic of the moment and didn't see the obvious until I had moved all my more worthwhile emails and deleted anything that I thought might be valuable.(this is while hacker still had access)

In the options where password lost there is the option to send an email to the actual compromised account or to an alternate email account. As prior to gaining alternate access to the hacked email account there was no point sending anything to the hacked account (I couldn't access) and the alternate account was set to my hackers.

Ones I gained access (stumble upon this link account) my mind had already blocked the 'use the hacked email' option and I was just concentrating on the alternate email (trying to change it) or changing the password both of which needed entry of the current (hacked) password.

Finally I looked at the options again and the light came on - I could just send myself a new access, be it that the hacker may see it. So did that, changed the password again and I have my email account back.

Ebay in the mean time is locked up but who cares as long as it stays locked. I am not a big ebay user in any case.

Cheers

 

[Sim]

My question is - why are you continuing to use a service that is possible to be hacked in this manner?

Perhaps it is time to change email providers or better yet - get your own web hosting account and domain name.

 

[handyandy]

My question is - why are you continuing to use a service that is possible to be hacked in this manner?

Perhaps it is time to change email providers or better yet - get your own web hosting account and domain name.

Until now its been fine

It actually suited me and we avoided running a mail server whilst I was running a computer based system

Obviously I now have to reassess my approach with my boys suggesting at least using Outlook as the mail handler? rather than the hotmail front end.

At this point in time I am really licking my wounds. Over the last couple of weeks one of my credit cards was defrauded to the tune of $7k, my email was hacked and yesterday my wallet was stolen with $2k cash and all the obvious ID paraphernalia. So one credit card has now been canceled twice in as many weeks.

The wallet scenario is just unbelievable. I had some guys come to look at a sliding door that is no longer sliding. I wanted to get down to view the rollers with the guy but the wallet in the back pocket was annoying me so I took it out and put it on the floor behind me. When they left I was still busy with the door (they couldn't actually help but gave me some hints) when it came time to pack up my wallet was nowhere to be found.

These are people who I have dealt with before.

went down and reported it to the police but really unless I saw them take it there is no case.

Cheers

 

[Perp]

At this point in time I am really licking my wounds. Over the last couple of weeks one of my credit cards was defrauded to the tune of $7k, my email was hacked and yesterday my wallet was stolen with $2k cash and all the obvious ID paraphernalia. So one credit card has now been canceled twice in as many weeks.

That's a pretty disheartening week! Virtual hugs to you, handyandy.

 

[Strannik]

Coming back to e-mails, did you figure out HOW they hacked your e-mail initially?

Are you sure it's only your e-mail account that has been compromised, and not your computer system?

 

[handyandy]

Coming back to e-mails, did you figure out HOW they hacked your e-mail initially?

Are you sure it's only your e-mail account that has been compromised, and not your computer system?

In the week leading up to the hack I was getting strange rejections upon entering the password for the email.

I would start hotmail from my bookmarks and enter my password - this is the same password that I have had since starting the account - and it behaved as if I miss typed it. Typed it in again and it would get accepted. Initially I put it down to my typing skills but this became a regular occurrence (day to day). My kids now tell me that I was most likely spoofed and that the initial login was somehow not the real screen.

I have since scanned my system for both adware and spyware and also do regular virus scans. The adware came up with the usual range of suspects but spyware did not detect a thing. Our internet is firewalled and I also run zonealarm on my computer.

So I have taken and to take in the general course precautions but obviously I have been somewhat slack in the adware department.

Cheers

PS I'll take those virtual hugs (ozprep) as I really need them I am really kicking myself for trusting the guys that turned up and need to become less trusting.

 

[ianvestor]

In the week leading up to the hack I was getting strange rejections upon entering the password for the email.

I would start hotmail from my bookmarks and enter my password - this is the same password that I have had since starting the account - and it behaved as if I miss typed it. Typed it in again and it would get accepted. Initially I put it down to my typing skills but this became a regular occurrence (day to day). My kids now tell me that I was most likely spoofed and that the initial login was somehow not the real screen.

I found this to be a 'feature' (bug) of the hotmail login screen. Basically if you leave the login screen for too long before logging in it would say incorrect password. However if you load the page fresh and then login immediately, it would let you in without a problem.

 

[Sim]

Obviously I now have to reassess my approach with my boys suggesting at least using Outlook as the mail handler? rather than the hotmail front end.

Can I suggest you evaluate Mozilla Thunderbird as your email client too?

Although Microsoft have finally patched many of the evil security holes in Outlook (which were really unforgivable in my opinion), I still believe that Thunderbird is a very good alternative - I've been running it for years now and find it rock-solid. Also has the benefit of being cross-platform.

 

[wylie]

If I change from Outlook to Mozilla, can I keep my email address? Sorry for the dumb question, but I am over 30, so feel sure you will understand

 

[DavidMc]

Hotmail has several known problems with it.

Try Gmail or Yahoo.

 

[Sim]

If I change from Outlook to Mozilla, can I keep my email address? Sorry for the dumb question, but I am over 30, so feel sure you will understand

Oi! I just turned 35, watch it mate

Your email address is defined by the email server you use, not by the email client you use ... so in most cases you should be able to keep your email address.

You can use Thunderbird with most web based mail systems too - if they support the POP standard (as most do), then you can use Thunderbird to access it.

http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/