Updated 11/13/2024:
Over the years we’ve helped lots of clients who’ve had their email account hacked – typically a Yahoo, Hotmail or AOL account. They usually first notice the problem when they are contacted by someone in their email contacts about unusual requests for money or a gift card. Other signs that an email account has been hacked include:
- Lots of emails from “mailer-daemon” in a short period of time
- No new email in the Inbox, and being filtered to the Trash or Archive folder
- Some or all previous email have been deleted
- All contacts have been deleted
- “Reply-to” address changed
- All messages being forwarded to a different address
- Email signature added or changed
- The language changed to something other than English
When attempting to login to their email some have discovered that their password has been changed and they are unable to access their account.
If your Yahoo account has been compromised, below are some helpful links:
If your AT&T Mail account has been hacked:
If you’re still unable to access your account after following instructions in the resources above, you can call Yahoo at 866-562-7219 or AT&T at 800-288-2020.
To help prevent future hacking of your email account you need to change your email password to something that is secure and different from any other password. See How to protect your internet accounts from being hacked.
It’s important that you DO NOT use your email account to send messages until you are absolutely sure that the hacker no longer has access to the account, all changes that were made are reversed, and two-factor authentication is enabled on the account to prevent future unauthorized access. If you need professional help with getting your email account back and everything fixed, give us a call.
Also see:
- How to change your email password – Computer Techs
- Email or social media hacked? Here’s what to do – FTC