Emails Keep Getting Hacked! What to Do?

• 

  UncommonName on 11/05/2015 - 08:38

  +3

  Use Gmail, with 2 step authentication.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 11/05/2015 - 09:28

    -3

    Most of the spam emails I get from friends are from Gmail accounts which have been hacked.

    • 

      UncommonName on 11/05/2015 - 10:42

      +5

      with 2 step authentication.

      Then they are not doing it right.

• 

  GnarlyKnuckles on 11/05/2015 - 09:42

  +2

  I've found Yahoo accounts seem to be commonly hacked/hijacked. Most hacky/hijacky emails I get from 'friends' come from their Yahoo accounts. None of them have ever totally succeeded in eliminating the problem from a Yahoo email account; they've all just abandoned the accounts. If you do that, make sure you actually close the account/s, otherwise they will continue to send out SPAM, and the hijacker has essentially "won" (i.e. they've effectively managed to steal your email address from you). If you formally close the account, I'm told the hijacker can't open it again themselves; at least not for a certain period of time (does anyone know if that's actually true btw?); so they'd just move on I reckon.

• 

  pjetson on 11/05/2015 - 09:42

  +9

  I'm not sure that your email accounts are actually being hacked, in which case there is nothing that you can do about it.

  Most junkmail/spam is spoofed - that is, it appears to have come from an address that it has not come from. They're most likely not sending it from your account at all.

  Also popular is for spammers to use the same email address in the From: field as in the To: field.

  • 

    clarebear on 11/05/2015 - 10:12

    seems like this then.

  • 

    retiredfeline on 11/05/2015 - 10:14

    +2

    Yeah may not be you at all, OP. Maybe some correspondent of yours had their address book stolen, and then you start getting spam which seems to be coming from yourself, but is spoofed, like pjetson describes. It's annoying when it's nothing you did or failed to do.

  • 

    RockyRaccoon on 11/05/2015 - 14:36

    Agreed pjetson, has hit the issue on the head.

    To avoid spam (or much of it**) never open emails from friends that have all those cute photo's etc. They are just email harvesting tricks.

    If your friends insist on sending them, just tell them you will ban their email address as they are doing you no favours.

    ** I have assumed you already use another email address for non friend emails.

• 

  MynyMouqe on 11/05/2015 - 09:49

  Chances are your computer has a virus/spyware on it - every time you change your password, it just gives the new one to the spammers.

  I'd be immediately changing your banking passwords, and checking statements carefully, from a known clean device (say something that's harder to comprise, like a Windows Phone or iPhone, not an Android if you've been using dodgy APKs as they can contain the same malware).

  Then you need to clean your computer - I'd honestly suggest a format and reinstall, "nuke from orbit" can be much more effective than a drawn out hunt if it a decent virus/malware. Then make sure you're running some decent virus protection - and keep it up to date. Last, be careful with the links, sites, and programs you're using - this is often how these sort of nasties sneak in, from people looking at dodgy pr0n sites or using dodgy programs from uncle torrence.

  • 

    clarebear on 11/05/2015 - 10:11

    Computer has no virus etc we already have internet security installed. No one downloads stuff like that or looks up porn0 on it.

    The nexus 7 has the same paid internet security installed.
    The newish samsung galaxy tab has a freebie AVG so it seems like the issue may lie here but I never really use it though, and I don't think I log onto email accounts on it.

    All the other devices are IOS not jail broken.

    Bank account is fine I always check that, they will be pissed off if they hacked that anyway as most of the time its empty.

    • 

      ozhunter on 11/05/2015 - 10:32

      +2

      It just the way hotmail is lol, I use both hotmail and gmail and my I think I've only ever gotten one spam email on gmail, and have received hundreds through hotmail.

      • 

        BobD on 12/05/2015 - 08:16

        +1

        Gmail is the go. The spam detection is very good and if something is not spam but you don't want it then you can set a filter to auto delete it. Too easy.

• 

  CyberMurning on 11/05/2015 - 10:01

  how about tweeter account getting hacked? i mean suddenly i am following someone i dont know. ban him and few months later different guy appears on my "following list"

  • 

    terrys on 12/05/2015 - 10:52

    Err, that's a little like being followed by a sparrow - how would you know it was the same one. It's a feature of twitter that people can "follow" you, and a feature of people that some will choose to…

    • 

      CyberMurning on 12/05/2015 - 11:46

      no no, i am following them. so seems someone found a way to hack/force people to follow. and different account.

      for example, you can make bill gates follow you without his permission.

      • 

        terrys on 12/05/2015 - 12:10

        Whoops - read in too much of a hurry. That does sound like an annoyance, compulsory fandom :-/

      • 

        CyberMurning on 12/05/2015 - 12:12

        +1

        @terrys: yeah annoying but i dont get it why they picked me, not bill gates or david becham?

  • 

    1bug on 16/05/2015 - 15:27

    Have you authorised any Twitter Apps or Widgets? (go to your Account >> Settings to check)

• 

  grog on 11/05/2015 - 10:32

  clarebear ::

  Spoofed is the word as mentioned above by pjetson

  I sometimes get emails from myself.

  Somewhere in the world my email address is on a computer that really has been compromised, all email addresses on that computer have been harvested and forwarded to crims who uses them for all sorts of annoying things like you have mentioned.

  Email Spoofing has been used by crims and annoying bar stewards for at least 15 years.

  I have a email address i use only for government things like medibank, etax etc and they never get spoofed emails.

  My other email addresses are used for non important stuff.

• 

  goosegog on 11/05/2015 - 15:32

  Had one from Paypal last week stating that our purchase of $109.00 to buy an Ipad air cover had been received & to check on the link to our account for more details. " HELLO" - wasn't born yesterday & the in brain warning antennae said contact Paypal direct. Sure enough they have received heaps of complaints re this particular scam. Unfortunately many people will have fallen for this knowing that they hadn't ordered the item & opened the link & therefore a whole can of worms. We're with bigpond, also have anti scamming warnings installed - but they still get through - just get directed to the junk box - which you do have to check, as many times legitimate mail gets directed there too !! Would love to know the answer to it all & the person who finally can stop all these unscrupulous thieving low lifes from their scams will become an instant multi millionaire - very deservedly.

  • 

    GnarlyKnuckles on 12/05/2015 - 02:13

    "… & the person who finally can stop all these unscrupulous thieving low lifes from their scams will become an instant multi millionaire"

    That will be impossible / never happen hombre; it's a bit like suggesting that the dude who can stop file-sharing-based piracy will be a millionaire.

• 

  zerocritical on 12/05/2015 - 08:44

  As many mentioned, it's to be spoofed email. Just to be double sure, change your security questions too along with password.

• 

  geoffellis on 12/05/2015 - 11:53

  Spoofing it is.

  A good way to deal with this is to set up a filter so that anything with a 'from' address which is the same as your own is sent right to the trash. Unless of course you frequently send yourself emails… in which case this is a bad idea…

• 

  1bug on 16/05/2015 - 15:52

  Even with antivirus software, it's possible for malware to sneak in (bundled with software downloads, for example).

  Sending spam emails to yourself, or sending spam emails to people in your address book, sounds like a malware lurking in the background. The malware doesn't even need to know your password …it sits in the background and waits for you to log on to email, and then uses your address book to propagate spam to yourself and/or your contacts.

  To rule out malware, I'd suggest you run full scans (using latest database updates) as follows:
  1. Antivirus software
  2. Malwarebytes (Free version)
  3. Windows Defender (if Windows PC)

  • 

    RockyRaccoon on 17/05/2015 - 14:23

    Simply checking your sent mail will tell you if this is true. If nothing there then it's a case of spoofing your email address.

    • 

      1bug on 21/05/2015 - 15:11

      Not always true. If malware can be programmed to send emails, it can also be programmed to delete the spam emails from the Sent Mail folder.

      I used to get spam emails from friends/relatives (typically for shonky weight-loss products or similar). When I contacted them and told them to scan their computer, sure enough they usually found malware/viruses.

    • 

      retiredfeline on 21/05/2015 - 15:21

      The Sent mail folder is usually a convention that's supported by the User Agent, i.e. the mail program the user runs, e.g. Outlook, Thunderbird, etc. When malware sends out spam, they usually make direct outgoing connections to the recipient's mail service, bypassing saving a copy. So you normally would not see outgoing spam in the Sent mail

• 

  [Deactivated] on 21/05/2015 - 14:49

  If you have actually been hacked, you might look into gmx.net or gmx.com, or my new favourite india.com
  I think as explained above (greenpossum etc), your address may have been nicked from others you sent email to.

  Don't be annoyed by it. Find a different system. I have used disposible email addresses for > 10 years for most mail. And @gmx.net for all important email. A good one is yopmail.com
  I once had over 3000 junkmail in my permanent email address. Now I get < 1 a day, but could easily solve that.