I need some serious guidance here, folks.

[laylah]

Someone has hacked my e-mail account and is sending "Emergency" e-mails out to my contacts saying I am stranded in Nigeria and need $2500.

I don't know what to do next so I am hoping the fine DU minds can guide me through the process.

Thanks in advance.

[notadmblnd]

1. cancel your e-mail account and create a new one

or send another e-mail to all your contacts letting them know what has happened. You can always do both.

[bluebellbaby]

2. I'd contact everyone in your address book and tell them...

Do a search of the IP address and see if you can forward it to someone...say the FBI...or your State Attorney Generals Office...explaining the scam...

The State Attorney General's office here in NY helps alot with these things...and usually I get a response within a few days...

[Atman]

3. It begs another question...

Do you really have friends dumb enough to believe any e-mails with the words "Nigeria" and "send money" in the same sentence?

:shrug:

.

[laylah]

6. unfortunately...

[Atman]

Well, you still might not have to change your e-mail addy

I have my own domain and e-mail, so when my name got spoofed, it was a real problem. I couldn't very well just reprint all my business cards and promotional material and web site. So I called my web host and they were able to move my name to a different DNS and it stopped the scam e-mails quickly. Haven't had a problem since. So I'd say if you e-mail addy is important to keep, your IP or host should be able to help you.

.

[havocmom]

18. good info. Thanks for tip

Live in a really small town and most email accounts in these parts are through local telephone co-op. Seems LOTS of us have our email addresses spoofed. Hell, I get spam from my husband, and myself. Never thought the service provider could do anything about it. In such a small population, it gets attention when mail is from an address/person you are familiar with.

Makes me wonder though... could my provider be the reason the addresses are spoofed in the first place. While many here abouts are sorta naive about internet safety, my husband and I are pretty well practiced and careful. I have other 'throw away' email addresses for those forms one has to fill out online and never sure if things are as secure as they should be at the other end. But it is the REAL email addy that gets spoofed.

:shrug:

[Spike89]

22. Make sure your core account password is strong

Most people use a mail shell, i.e., MS Windows Email, Outlook, Outlook Express, etc. and rarely, if ever visit their host e-mail system. If your host system gets hacked (mostly happens because the password is too easy), a hacker can do lots of mischief including sending mail under your name (it won't show up in Outlook, etc.).

I had this happen with my work e-mail, the IT guys simply made everyone's password the same as their account name (first initial, surname). They told us to change the password as soon as possible, but I was hacked almost immediately. I changed to a good password. My work computer never showed a problem and I'd have never caught on that the account was compromized if I hadn't logged directly onto the server when travelling. My outbox was stuffed with old messages that had been sent during the few days before I changed the password. I also had numerous settings changed, including custom signature files that were full-blown SPAM messages and a rule that copied messages I sent to a spammer address. Fixing all this was easy enough, but I'd never have known about it if I hadn't gone directly to my mail server.

[elleng]

4. My guru on such things is out of town,

but I'd quickly contact your e-mail 'provider,' and tell them to shut it off (and shoot the hacker!)

[lamp_shade]

5. Bookmarking. Thanks.

[MannyGoldstein]

7. Contact Your Email Provider

They should be able to shut down access from the miscreant's IP address.

It's best to have an email account where a username and password are needed to send mail - again, contact your email provider for this.

Finally, email everyone in your address book and give them a heads' up. Actually, you should probably do that first.

[Uben]

8. Damn, I sent you the $2500.......

......can I get a refund?

[laylah]

14. Darn, Uben...

you sent it to the wrong account. Let me PM you with the correct one :rofl:

[Uben]

15. We need to settle the first transfer........

...then I'll wire you more. I didn't spend three years in the third grade fer nuttin!

[FedUpWithIt All]

9. I'd say to contact your provider.

They deal with things like this a lot.

[nebenaube]

10. ok... everything others have stated applies...

However, you should consider the possibility that your workstation has been compromised and that's how the scammer got the username and password to your email account.

[eShirl]

11. they might not have hacked into your account at all

it's possible for someone to make their emails look like they come from your address
("spoofing")

[Orsino]

19. +1

The thing to do is to have the OP's ISP review the headers of these alleged e-mails, and confirm or clear the OP as sender.

[Why Syzygy]

12. Please post this in the Computer Support Group

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=242

If someone "hacked" your email, you may have a malware infection on your entire system.
If you use this suggestion, post which email client you use, the name of your ISP and what OS.

[laylah]

13. Thanks for all of the

replies :hug:

I have already notified those on my contact list, Hot Mail (they have already shut down my account), will call ATT at 8 when they open, my bank, and a friend suggested I contact Western Union since the perp is using them for the scam.

I'll keep checking in and will cross-post this to the computer forum.

Again, many thanks.

edited to add I have also done a malware screen and there were 3 plus some other strange things. Strange because I am technically challenged.

[HamdenRice]

16. I'd contact the US Consulate in Lagos. They can help you get home without the donations

Oh wait a minute ...

[recoveringrepublican]

17. I have no idea, but I got one of those once, and I almost fell for it

it was from a very good friend of mine and being in Nigeria helping others wouldn't be a far fetched story for him. The only thing that made me leery was that this friend would have told me he was going to freaking Nigeria! So either the hackers knew and knew his friends may fall for it, or they were very lucky. He was out of town which made it even more real for me. Luckily another friend who was with him checked her email and saw my "HELP our friend needs help" email and told me that he was aok in Georgia!

Hope you figure it out!

[lame54]

20. Write him a check...

:sarcasm:

[dgibby]

21. I don't know if this is related, but the conflicker worm is still alive and well.

[Dorian Gray]

23. Would any of those people believe that you are actually there?