neville c asks:
Hi,
I think I have had my Yahoo! mail hacked. Recently I have made a lot of emails to and from Abu Dhabi in the last few weeks prior to a visit. Over the weekend I received an email about call girls in Abu Dhabi and a supposed response from me on an Android phone (I do have an Android phone) however I deleted the messages and changed my password and security information.
My wife was checking my email for me while I was away in Abu Dhabi and noticed an email in my sent items. This has caused a lot of stress from stupid people, I believe the emails where malicious and possibly linked to some sort of malware. Does anyone have any information about this sort of scam?
Any information at all would be grateful about how this can happen.
8 Answers -
Adrian Rea
October 31, 2012If there was a mail from your sent folder then this suggests that your login has been compromised, also if your wife has access to you mail she could have sent it inadvertantly!
Muo TechGuy
October 31, 2012Why would someone checking your email have any reason at all to look in the sent items folder? Are you sure it was actually a “sent item” and not just a part of the scam email, as an inline reply?
Trust is expensive. Plus you know, there’s an old saying,’curiosity kills the cat’.
October 31, 2012Douglas Mutay
October 31, 2012If you have already changed your login credentials you should be safe. But if after all that you have noticed a mail on you sent box there is a possibility that you or your wife did send it inadvertantly. Just ignore it and watch out to see if it will happen again.
Ahmed Khalil
October 31, 2012if it is really in your send and you do not do that so this mean some body know your password and open your account, change your password for secure your account
ha14
October 31, 2012well unless you will be able to trackdown the source of the email you will not be able to do much, you can buy some spam software to enhance security and keloggers perhaps like zemana.
Lisa Santika Onggrid
October 31, 2012Your friend might have pulled a prank on you. Or it’s really malicious email. Delete it and don’t click on anything (especially links!) in the email.
Since you’ve changed you login credentials you’re quite safe.
I suggest changing the secret question too.
Harish Jonnalagadda
October 31, 2012Check with the locations the account has been accessed from. this would give you a better idea about who might have logged in to your account. and yes, change the credentials.
Kannon Y
November 3, 2012Hello Neville, as Harish mentioned, you can check Yahoo mail for an IP address. There’s two ways – either through your (1) Yahoo history or from within the (2) source of the offending e-mail.
I’ll try to explain how this works:
Any sent mail would require a login, which would register an IP address. An IP address is a unique identifier, which oftentimes is associated with a physical location. It’s typically around 10-12 numbers separated by dashes. You can even do a google search on an individual IP address to verify the city from where the IP originates from. It’s not exactly 100% proof positive, but it’s solid evidence that you didn’t send the e-mail and should be enough to convince your wife.
(1) So basically, explain to your wife how IP addresses work. Then let your wife examine your IP address access history. The last ten logins will register. Read this article to know more. It also has the link to your Yahoo account history.
(2) You can also check the source of the sent e-mail. It should contain IP information from where the e-mail was sent from. Look at the bottom of the e-mail for something called “headers”. CTRL-F will find it too.
Good luck!
By the way, I would advise extremely caution in dealing with this particular kind of problem. UAE is a Muslim country where, although prostitution is common, it’s also highly illegal. If someone has illegally accessed your e-mail account to make a criminal transaction, you may be the one held liable. Please consider activating two-factor authentication and buffing up your e-mail security.