OT: attack by a computer hacker
My wife has a netbook computer with Wi-Fi. She mostly uses it for looking for work and has a hot-mail account. Well, someone has hacked into her hot-mail account and sent out a brief note to everyone on her address book asking for $2800. Our friends and relatives know we wold never do this. But, the e-mail they rec'd is signed with my wife's first name.
My wife is in the process of getting her password with Windows changed. Some friends have told her that the easiest way to correct the problem is to close the e-mail account if she can and to start a new one--maybe not with hotbail. Some of our friends and relatives wrote back saying they had heard of this scam a few weeks ago. So, I guess the scammers can just go ahead and start this up at any time.
The note sent to everyone says that Karen has found herself in a tough position and is stuck in London. Everyone we know knows that Karen was out of wor****il this Feb and there is no way she would be in London. This is just one of those abnormal pain-in-the neck situations. I'm glad that she can take care of herself because my patience just gets worse and I would be floundering if I had to handle this. Bob
My wife is in the process of getting her password with Windows changed. Some friends have told her that the easiest way to correct the problem is to close the e-mail account if she can and to start a new one--maybe not with hotbail. Some of our friends and relatives wrote back saying they had heard of this scam a few weeks ago. So, I guess the scammers can just go ahead and start this up at any time.
The note sent to everyone says that Karen has found herself in a tough position and is stuck in London. Everyone we know knows that Karen was out of wor****il this Feb and there is no way she would be in London. This is just one of those abnormal pain-in-the neck situations. I'm glad that she can take care of herself because my patience just gets worse and I would be floundering if I had to handle this. Bob
Sorry to hear this, Bob .. I had that happen to one of my clients recently .. I was quite puzzled when I received what looked like an email from her (a single gal in her 20s) on my office computer, claiming - in a nutshell - that she had gone to London for some kind of treatment and, while there, she had been mugged and all her funds stolen. She claimed the hotel she was staying at was holding her passport until she could pay her bill (I thought that part sounded kinda fishy), and she was begging people she knew to send her some $$s so that she could make it back to the U.S.. She didn't give any address to send/wire the money to (or phone #), though. 
It was a very plausible story, in the way my client wrote it, I knew she had recently underwent some court-ordered, in-patient substance abuse therapy here in Texas, so my first thought was she was making this story up to possibly get $$s for drugs. I had the email address of her mother, though, so I emailed her and asked her about that strange email. Her mother informed me that her daughter's account had recently been hacked into, and someone was sending those emails to everyone on her addy list. Ugh!
It was a very plausible story, in the way my client wrote it, I knew she had recently underwent some court-ordered, in-patient substance abuse therapy here in Texas, so my first thought was she was making this story up to possibly get $$s for drugs. I had the email address of her mother, though, so I emailed her and asked her about that strange email. Her mother informed me that her daughter's account had recently been hacked into, and someone was sending those emails to everyone on her addy list. Ugh!
Frank talk about the DS / "All I ever wanted to be was thin, like that Rolling Stones dude ... "
HW/461 LW/251 GW/189 CW/274 (yep, a DS semi-failure - it happens :-( )
This is a common occurance on many online email sercives. The issue is that many people stick with such simple passwords that cracking programs pretty quickly hit the right word(s).
You don't need to close the account as this can be a huge effort. The best fix is to simply change the password to a Strong Password. This is a password no less than 8 characters including 1 Numeric and 1 Special Character. Most people use special characters to replace characters that the reseble in some manner. The longer more complex the password the safer you are.
Examples could be
$jb0b$Wif3
P@ssw0rd$
D!fficul+T0Cr@ckP@ssw0rd
Avoid names, dates and all numbers.
You don't need to close the account as this can be a huge effort. The best fix is to simply change the password to a Strong Password. This is a password no less than 8 characters including 1 Numeric and 1 Special Character. Most people use special characters to replace characters that the reseble in some manner. The longer more complex the password the safer you are.
Examples could be
$jb0b$Wif3
P@ssw0rd$
D!fficul+T0Cr@ckP@ssw0rd
Avoid names, dates and all numbers.
Paul C.
First 5K 9/27/20 46:32 - 11 weeks post op (PR 28:55 8/15/11)
First 10K 7/04/2011 1:03 First 15K 9/18/2011 1:37
First Half Marathon 10/02/2011 2:27:44 (PR 2:24:35)
First Half Ironman 9/30/12 7:32:04
First 5K 9/27/20 46:32 - 11 weeks post op (PR 28:55 8/15/11)
First 10K 7/04/2011 1:03 First 15K 9/18/2011 1:37
First Half Marathon 10/02/2011 2:27:44 (PR 2:24:35)
First Half Ironman 9/30/12 7:32:04
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