What to do if your email account has been hacked

Recently we’ve had a lot of clients report that their Yahoo, AOL or Hotmail email has been hacked. They first notice the problem when they are alerted by their email contacts claiming that they are receiving spam emails with links to prescription drug or work-at-home websites, or a plea for money after being robbed while traveling overseas.

When attempting to login to their email some will discover that their password has been changed and they are unable to access their account. Others have reported some or all of the following changes:

  • All contacts have been deleted
  • “Reply-to” address changed
  • All email being forwarded to a different address
  • Email signature added or changed

If your Yahoo or AT&T/Yahoo account has been compromised, below are some helpful links:

If you cannot access your email account you can call Yahoo at 866-562-7219 or AT&T at 877-722-3755.

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.