Someone's hacking my accounts...what should I do?

momaleh

Mon, Nov 30 2020, 4:39 am

I got emails from instagram and PayPal this morning that I should change my PW because of suspicious acitivty. I rarely use either of those. So far everything seems to be ok, but I'm nervous about what could happen - anyone to call? Should I just change all of my pws?

Shoshie

Mon, Nov 30 2020, 5:32 am

The emails you received, supposedly from Paypal and Instagram, could be fraudulent. Open them again and look at the senders' email addresses. If the Paypal one isn't from "mail.paypal.com", then the email itself is a fake. The sender wants you to change your password by clicking on a link within the email. That gives the sender access to your account. I don't have an Instagram account, but you get the idea.

Today I got one, supposedly from Amazon, saying my account is frozen unless I sign in and check my last order. The sender's address is "revision@am͎azoη-service.com" <mailsecuredaccount>. If you notice, the word "am͎azoη" has two foreign characters that resemble English characters. That allowed it to slide through my scam catcher.

Frumme

Mon, Nov 30 2020, 6:46 am

I agree with Shoshi to be careful. At the same time, it might be worth it to change your passwords now anyway. Just make sure you do it straight from the app or website (don't click on the email links unless you are 100% sure it is a valid link).

SisterSix

Mon, Nov 30 2020, 6:48 am

I had something similar from a credit card company, I called the customer service number on my card and it was legit. I changed the password on all accounts that used that password or versions of it. Even though it was seemingly legit, I still wouldn’t use the link they provided, I logged in to the website myself.

momaleh

Mon, Nov 30 2020, 7:02 am

Thanks. They're definitely legit, it's from service@paypal.com and there isn't a link to click, just instructions to go to the site. I'm changing the pw, I just don't know if there's any other actions to take to protect my other info. I changed my bank login as well.

SisterSix

Mon, Nov 30 2020, 7:05 am

If you’re worried you could look into credit monitoring. I think when there was that big hack of a credit agency, I forget now which one, they offered free credit monitoring to pretty much everyone, maybe you could still sign up for that?

caza

Mon, Nov 30 2020, 8:19 am

I had it with PayPal. Got a text message that my account has been hacked and it has been locked, to unlock follow this link. Luckily, the fact it said it was locked didn't make me rush and it gave me time to realise it might be scam so I signed in only through the regular PayPal websire and when I opened the link I saw that none of the other options worked only the part to put in your details (you could not click on help or contact us....) So be very careful.

simcha2

Mon, Nov 30 2020, 8:44 am

momaleh wrote:

Do you have different passwords for each site?

esuss

Mon, Nov 30 2020, 9:07 am

Keep an eye on your credit card and bank accounts for fraudulent charges. I once got a whole slew of wierd promotional emails in one day for businesses that I never heard of. I checked my credit card and found some fraudulent activity that the banks security system didn't flag. So anything strange I check my bank very closely.

Amarante

Mon, Nov 30 2020, 9:15 am

I get this occasionally from sites.

As others have posted, I just change my password at the site and not by following any links.

My financial passwords and email are all very hard to crack and they are all very different from each other. I am less concerned that someone might hack minor websites or even Netflix or newspapers online I subscribe to because what are they going to do with it. And what would someone gain from hacking my imamother account. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

simcha2

Mon, Nov 30 2020, 10:35 am

Amarante wrote:

And what would someone gain from hacking my imamother account. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Post bad recipes under your screen name to be mean?

Just One

Mon, Nov 30 2020, 10:57 am

caza wrote:

Just be aware that my clicking on that link you gave the hackers access to your device

BadTichelDay

Mon, Nov 30 2020, 11:42 am

Just One wrote:

Just be aware that my clicking on that link you gave the hackers access to your device

THIS! Never click on the link in such messages. It can already give them access. Always take the safe long way round through the original website.
For the record, I got a few fake messages and emails claiming to be from paypal. I also got an email saying that my twitter account had been hacked. (I do not have any twitter account).