B*st*rds have hacked my personal email account!

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Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 9:51 pm

I just checked my personal RL hotmail account, and it seems someone has sent out spam to all my contacts... some of my friends ain't too happy with me. Sad

Obviously I've changed the PW and reported it to MSN.
Question is... does this mean my own computer has been hacked into? A keylogger maybe? Or has someone just hacked my hotmail account?

I've run an AVG check, and there doesn't appear to be anything nasty on the computer.
Can I ever use the MSN account again (i.e. is changing the PW enough) or have I lost it?

If it's any help to anyone, the spammers are sending out adverts linking to [email protected] and [email protected]

Not quite a Newb Joined: 19 Nov 2007 Posts: 65

In my opinion I think you're fine... I think you might have been phished... I don't think that there is too high a chance someone hacked your computer, a keylogger is more likely, but since AVG says no, I don't think so, go download Clamwin (another anitvirus program) and just double check, but overall it's my best guess that you were phished. Check the IP of the headers of the emails sent and see if it was your IP that sent them. If so then it is more likely that your computer was hacked. Otherwise, as I said three time now, I think you were phished.

But these guys might be bait able....

Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 10:14 pm

Mugatu wrote:

Question is... does this mean my own computer has been hacked into? A keylogger maybe? Or has someone just hacked my hotmail account?

First and most obvious answer is just that someone is spoofing your email address. Get one of the headers that was sent to an address on your contact list and take a look.

Next on the list, it's possible it's just your email that's been got at. It's doubtful though if you can still get into your account. Someone would have to guess the answer to your personal question and then change the password. Dude, above says you may have been phished but you've got to be some kind of dipshit to have hung on Eater as long as you have and fallen for a phish. Believe it or not, I give you credit enough to reckon that you haven't. Very Happy

But to be on the safe-side, I would go for a full reformat. If you've got a KL installed and if it's a decent one, a virus scan will just ignore it. Like I said, probably just a spoof but a reformat will give you peace of mind.

Whatever you decide, I would ditch the account. Spoofed, phished or KLed, it's now compromised.

Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 10:21 pm

Fich80 wrote:

But these guys might be bait able....

Oh I don't know... I just killed off his hotmail account already. I don't mess about. He's a spamming phonelad at the end of the day so I'm not wasting time with him.

60.10.210.196 China Langfang is the IP that sent the mails... so hopefully my computer is okay.

It's unlikely I was phished... I'm very careful with that sort of thing (been here too long for starters).

Ah well. Thanks for the suggestions.

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

I can't imagine you falling for a phish.

As Slightly said, it could be spoofed. I've gotten a ton of "bounces" before that weren't sent from my account.

What you're describing sounds a lot like this situation as well: http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=148923&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

Not quite a Newb Joined: 19 Nov 2007 Posts: 65

Slightlyoutofit wrote:

Dude, above says you may have been phished but you've got to be some kind of dipshit to have hung on Eater as long as you have and fallen for a phish.

Just to make it clear, I was not saying Mugatu was some kind of dipshit. I've read enough of his posts to know he's smart, but plenty of my friends in the last three weeks were phished, and I know some of them are extremely cautious. We type in our passwords so much these days, you just stop looking eventually... Also I use a mac, so I tend to forget how prevalent Keyloggers are.

Slightlyoutofit wrote:

First and most obvious answer is just that someone is spoofing your email address.

If the emails are in your sent mail folder, then your address wasn't spoofed.
Plus if they emailed all his contacts, they couldn't have gotten that by spoofing.

Slightlyoutofit wrote:

I would ditch the account. Spoofed, phished or KLed, it's now compromised.

I would disagree. Don't ditch your account, change the password (as you already have) make sure it's a secure password. The thing that I would do however, is if you use that password anywhere else, change it.

Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 10:34 pm

I agree with the spoofed theory. That has happened to my business email account a couple of times and it's a real PITA. Evil or Very Mad

Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 10:40 pm

Fich80 wrote:

Just to make it clear, I was not saying Mugatu was some kind of dipshit.

Go on. You know you want to.
OK. I'll say it.

Mugatu is some kind of dipshit.

Laughing

@Mugatu.

If it's a Chinese phone-lad, it's almost certainly a spoof. Little buggers have a long history of spoofing any account they come across based in the West. They send out so much spam, they need any account they can get their hands on. If you want to keep the account, you can probably try to weather it out. They might move on in a couple of weeks. You'll have to let everyone in your contact list know what's going on though.

edit. Hang on. They've sent mail to your contact list. AFIK nobody can do that unless they're in your account can they?
edit again Just noticed that Fitch has already pointed this out.

Master Baiter Joined: 19 Sep 2008 Posts: 114

I'm in no way an expert on this interweb thingy so this is a question about spoofed accounts really, but would the lad be abole to access mugatu's contacts if it was only spoofed

Chuck Norris Joined: 11 Jun 2007 Posts: 1369

^ ^ ^ No, they would not.

Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 11:03 pm

One of my baiting accounts gets a load of spam from, er, me. Shocked

I think an angry lad is chucking out or forwarding spam spoofing my email, because I have upset him in some way.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

On the other hand, is he sure they did? A really wide ranging spam run or virus using his address* may hit enough of his contacts to look like it did. However the headers and the account's sent-box will tell the tale.

I would add though, that any other service using the same password has to be assumed to be compromised.

----
* I did a Google search for my personal email the other day, and it shows up on an anti-virus website as being used by a trojan. So that's why I get so much crap.

Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 11:36 pm

Just to confirm, yes they got into the actual account... I still have no idea how that's happened. The spam was sent from the account, I checked the sent file, and got the IP address (as stated in post #4).

I've copied then deleted all contacts, and closed it down, and opened a new account elsewhere.

I think I've done all I can. Thanks again for the suggestions. (even the rude ones from SOOI). Laughing

Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 11:36 pm

Check your IP and hotmail addys sent box. If the IP on these emails is different from yours and the sent box isn't showing these emails then you've been spoofed.

Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 11:43 pm

I've found stuff in my spam folder from "me" that isn't ever in my sent mail. Does that imply spoofing?

Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 12:42 am

^^sounds like someones spoofed your email addy and put you on the receivers list.

Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 6:40 am

@Mugatu, if they definitely hacked your account, and it wasn't by phishing then the most obvious answer is a keylogger. Have you got Spybot Search and destroy? If not, I'd recommend you get it, update and run a full scan. Trust me, it will find all kinds of stuff the others miss. Clicky

Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 8:07 am

^^^

im a noob but how do we know that this down load is the real deal??? i googled it and your down load looks different to the one i googled Rolling Eyes

Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 8:14 am

^^It's the real deal. I use Spybot and just updated it last night!

Very Happy

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

A SKYHOOK wrote:

im a noob but how do we know that this down load is the real deal???

FileHippo is solid, but if you are ultra paranoid, here are the official download mirrors from the site. Click

Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 9:16 am

why does a free down load need my credit card details ????????

Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 9:26 am

Filehippo is 100% risky free, honest. I've been using it since about 2000 and never had a problem. Wink

Keyloggers generally create a text file, then upload it to a site where the hackers can access it. It's a good idea to type some random stuff, like "nastykeylogger" in notepad, then delete it, then do a search of all text docs created/ modified in the last week, and see if that exact phrase turns up, (in advanced options select search system and hidden folders.)

Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 12:08 pm

Thanks Roger, I downloaded your suggestion. It found 29 further problems (mainly advert trackers) but it's all cleaned up now.

188.com haven't killed this guys addy yet, but the hotmail one is gone.

Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 12:18 pm

Did you have an e-mail titled "New shopping - New life"?
Friend of mine did. NO trace of a virus, no reports in anti-virus forums of it being one, but it deleted all of their address book and sent the spam message on to all the contacts. Sounds like it could be what got you. Suggestions are that some Chinese password hackers are at it again.

Some reports here:

long link

Is that the one that you had?
Have a look in your sent items if you haven't already, see if it's been passed on.

Chuck Norris Joined: 11 Jun 2007 Posts: 1369

The Chinese hackers are legion, and you can read more stories about others who have had their hotmail accounts hacked here:

Hotmail account hacked and contacts spammed.

There are a LOT of comments on the article from people with similar situations.

To be on the safe side, you might try downloading and running Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. It has a free version with which you can do the full scan and remove whatever it may find--the paid version just adds real-time protection.

You can download it here:

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

Even if your problem isn't malware-related, it is an excellent application to have on-hand anyway.

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