‘Hope you get this on time, sorry I didn’t inform you about my trip to Spain for a program, and am having some difficulties here because i was robbed and cash and some other valuables, presently my passport and my things are been held down by the hotel management pending when i make payment.
I need you to help me with a loan of 2,550 euros to pay my hotel bills and to get myself back home. I’ve been to the embassy and police, but they are not responding to the matter effectively, I will appreciate whatever you can afford to assist me with, I will return the money back to you as soon as I return, let me know if you can be of any help? ASAP. I don’t have a phone where i can be reached. I am so confused right now.”
So many of you may be familiar with the above poorly written email which is phoney. Some as recipients, and others as unknowing-yet-unfortunate “senders” whose email accounts have been hacked. the online scam has spread widely, squeezing money from people who are concerned for the well-being of their loved ones, and in most cases, causing the email of the “senders” to collapse, mostly with the total loss of email contacts. Normally, they cannot log in to their own email account.
If you happen to receive this email, or others like it, you should delete them immediately, an information security expert suggested.
How can you know if your email account has been hacked?
Here are some warning signs that you have fallen victim to hackers: when your password becomes invalid even though you are 100% sure that you have keyed in the correct one. It’s possible that someone has gained access and changed the password. It’s also possible that the email service is experiencing a system outage of some sort.
Most email providers offer a password recovery option. If you have a hint that your email password has been compromised, change your password immediately. If you specified an alternate email address as part of the password recovery process, make sure that the address is active and try to monitor the account regularly.
In some cases, you may need to call your email provider and request a reset. Make sure to change your password from the one provided during the phone call and be sure to use a strong password which, in principle, should contain at least eight characters, a mix of upper and lower case alphabets, at least one numeral, and at least one symbol.
Nipon Nachin, an information security expert, urges those with more than one free email account, such as Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo, to set a different password for each account. Internet users should not use the same password for all the online sites and services they use such as email, social networking or internet banking.
In fact, it’s very easy for hackers to get control of your account. They just use your email address, sending an email to the provider pretending that they have forgotten the password, and then the provider will let them reset a new password.
How to get your account back
When you are certain that your email account has been invaded, you will need to contact customer support, which is available with every provider. They will ask you for information about yourself and when was the last time you logged in to your email account.
If you are a Hotmail user, they will ask “what problem are you having signing in?” from which you can choose a) I forgot my password; or b) I know my password, but can’t sign in.
Once you choose the latter, they will allow you to reset the password by typing the characters that appear in the box and ask you to select an option for password resetting, which are: a) Email me a reset link; or b) Send a code to my mobile phone.
To recover your password for a Gmail account, you need to add more information to your account to increase your account-recovery options, for email and SMS. For email, to receive a password reset link at an email address which you can access, and for SMS, to receive a text message with a password reset code on your mobile phone. and you need to answer a question to reset your password.
Once you can log in to your email account, you can retrieve your information if the hacker did not take it, but if all the information was taken out, you are unable to get it back.
In case you feel that your email has been hacked, and can still log in to your account, you should immediately change your password. For example, if you are a Yahoo email user, then update your security questions and ensure your Yahoo Mobile and Yahoo Messenger are both up-to-date. Also visit Yahoo Email Abuse Help. Yahoo has introduced second sign-in verification as an added security measure. it will require that you add a mobile phone number and verify it via a text message.
As information technology and the Internet have become a part of people’s daily life, learning and understanding about information security is a must. Users needs to understand the risks and learn of new, unfamiliar tricks. Security awareness is important for all internet users.
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