I did a silly thing....

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:48 pm

Two of my characters (baiting the same Lad), after a period of correspondence, agreed to set up Yahoo accounts so they could chat with him. I use Hide IP, so had no concerns about using Yahoo.

The Lad then claimed he had entered their mail accounts. Certainly my passwords to them no longer work, so his claim seems likely to be true. But how could he change the password in order to gain access?

I don't find Yahoo Help very helpful (I accept that might just be me looking in the wrong places!), but it seems that if I 'forget my password' I can change it by 'giving my sign up details'. My only sign-up detail except for the obvious name (which is displayed on outgoing emails) is the given date of birth.

I used the characters' dates of birth.

The Lad had been given the age and birthday of one character; and the date of birth of the other.

So he could give the required sign-up details, change the password, and take control of the mail account.

It is no problem. The only mails in there are to a couple of other baits, and the contents are 100% consistent with whatever he received about my characters' daily lives and so on. But a word of advice: if you are going to use Yahoo, don't give your character's birthdate! Give a random date instead!

Master Baiter Joined: 26 Aug 2008 Posts: 139

So wait, the lad was able to change your password by going to "forgot password" and just giving your name and date of birth? If true, Yahoo mail can be easily penetrated. Yikes.

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 5:47 pm

Allegedly that's how Sarah Palin's Yahoo account as hacked last year. Google gave the hacker her DOB and the answer to the security question.

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 6:14 pm

If there was the option of a Security Question when setting up the Yahoo accounts, I certainly didn't take it. The only info I entered apart from name and choice of email address was the date of birth.

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 6:15 pm

I don't think DOB is enough. I thought you needed a security question as well.

Any chance you just forgot to turn off caps-lock or something?

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 6:17 pm

Did you try to get them back? Usually there is a "contact" email that will notify you of changes made to your account.

I think I would email the account that the lad has (if you cna't get it back) and try to get him to pick up a new character you create and go on baiting the creep.

Imagine if this were a real person and the account contained RL information including banking and CC. In my baiting, I don't give that kind of information even for my charaters. I don't even use the same address. I am baiting then, not dating them, so all "truth" (even the made up kind) goes out the window.

Cheap lesson. Shocked

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 7:33 pm

I've got so many passwords for so many accounts that I always just copy and paste them in. Just in case, I also tried them by typing. Lad had already said he'd entered the accounts; I thought at first he was lying.

Absolutely no security question opted for, and no alternative email address given either. I didn't see the need: I wasn't going to forget the passwords seeing I had them in those characters' notes.

It was a Love bait so refusing to talk about birthdays with him would have been strange. I don't think my mistake was giving him that (invented) information; my mistake was using the identical information to set up the accounts.

I could change my passwords back by telephoning Customer Care, apparently. Can't do it online. I'm not going to bother; when I get round to it I'll just be like a Lad and set up yet more accounts. This time with unguessable birthdates!

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

A lesson well learned, and worth remembering for everyone.

But now you have a fantastic chance that you could not get any other way. You can introduce a character to the lad as a friend of your original character who doesn't know the account has been hacked. The new character will be much more believable to the lad than one who just replies to his scam, since they appear to have a life outside the scam.