Someone hacked my wife's email last night. :(

[Terath Ninir]

Okay, Darlena was checking her email yesterday whilst talking to me on the phone. She wasn't paying full attention and saw she had gotten an ecard. Or thought she had. She clicked on the link, which then led to a screen asking her to re-enter her Yahoo ID and password. Yes, yes, she knows better; she just wasn't paying attention.

When she got home last night, she tried to get on her account, and it said her password was invalid. She tried looking up her Yahoo ID and it wouldn't come up. She tried to get on to her account from work this morning, and briefly saw, instead of her normal greeting, hack_az. So she definitely got hacked.

So, has this happened to anyone else? More importantly, does anyone know how to *actually* contact Yahoo? I have this sneaking suspicion that emails sent to their automatic customer service form get sent directly to the electronic equivalent of a garbage can. Any info of any kind would be very welcome.

 

[der_kluge]

I think the important question is does she have any kind of financial information stored in the Yahoo account?

If so, then you probably want to contact any financial institutions that could be affected.

Also, she'd want to make sure that that combination of user id/password is not something she might use other places, such as Paypal, or eBay. I know I often have the same user/pass to a lot of places, so the hackers might try to see where else it might work.

I do find it odd that the hackers would want a Yahoo account. I would definitely have your wife create a new one, and then notify the admins of any mailing lists or groups she might have been a part of to remove the old account.

 

[Terath Ninir]

I think the important question is does she have any kind of financial information stored in the Yahoo account?

If so, then you probably want to contact any financial institutions that could be affected.

She's pretty sure she has deleted everything, like online orders, but I checked with our bank first thing. Nothing so far, fortunately.

Also, she'd want to make sure that that combination of user id/password is not something she might use other places, such as Paypal, or eBay. I know I often have the same user/pass to a lot of places, so the hackers might try to see where else it might work.

Thank you very, very much! She has used Paypal and eBay, but not for at least a year, so we didn't think of that right off. And her password isn't working on Paypal, so it may have been compromised. Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!

I do find it odd that the hackers would want a Yahoo account. I would definitely have your wife create a new one, and then notify the admins of any mailing lists or groups she might have been a part of to remove the old account.

Well, since they don't seem to have cleaned out our Visa or bank account yet, it may just be some dumb kid doing it just for the hell of it. We're changing everything that they might be able to access right now.

 

[Desdichado]

I've actually been able to receive responses from yahoo, if I remember correctly. Especially with claims of hacking, I'd think they'd take that pretty seriously. I think your sneaking suspicion in this case may be wrong.

 

[Terath Ninir]

Well, I've gotten a response, so you were right. Only problem is that she's been on the internet for years and years, and isn't 100% sure what her password question and answer were. Could have been any of 3 different ones.

 

[fett527]

If you think there is financial info of any kind in her account I would highly recommend putting a fraud alert on your credit report. You'll have to call one of the credit handling companys, like Equifax or TransUnion. This would stop someone from opening any line of credit by just using the info. We did this when my wife's purse was stolen.

 

[Terath Ninir]

If you think there is financial info of any kind in her account I would highly recommend putting a fraud alert on your credit report. You'll have to call one of the credit handling companys, like Equifax or TransUnion. This would stop someone from opening any line of credit by just using the info. We did this when my wife's purse was stolen.

All right. I'll talk with her about that tonight -- I think she has to do that herself. Thanks!

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I am so glad that I am paranoid!

I would like to take the hackers and spammers and lock them in a refridgerator car...
At the bottom of the Thames.

The Auld Grump, after an all you can eat baked bean, hard boiled egg, cabbage, and beer bash...