Steal My E-Mail, Steal My Life
It's been 3 weeks since some little flea bag hacked into my yahoo account. I know that the yahoo account was never really mine to begin with, but still... When I opened the free account about 10 years ago, I filled the profile with random lies and innuendo, not wishing to disclose too much and figuring I'd never have to refer to it again. Those of us who have had our wallets stolen can relate to the feeling of having an e-mail account stolen, as it feels exactly the same.
I've been reading about people's bad experiences with these so-called "free" e-mail accounts and they go something like this:
"Someone hacked my yahoo account and changed the info and Yahoo told me sorry we can't help, we pride ourselves on your privacy, whatever!!!!"
"My hotmail account was hacked. I have a report due Monday and all of the information is in my e-mail account. I'm going to fail if I don't get access to that account!"
"My account was hacked. One of the things the hacker has done is change my personal info so that I cannot request a new password. How can I get my account back?"
Most answers go like this,"There's not much chance you'll get your ID back. The recovery process is useless. The technical is of no use."
I think the worst part of it is the feeling of being left in the dark. I can understand yahoo's, hotmail's or any of these "free e-mail providers" positions because any Tom, Dick or Harry could say "Hey, someone stole my free e-mail account," - anyone, including the hackers.
I hope that the accounts are at least closed pending an investigation? I've had to send identification in order to prove it's my account. I hope the same requirements go for the new illegal owner? I've heard horror stories of identity theft, etc.
I recently read about one fellow who went on a 3 week vacation and returned to cleaned out bank and investment accounts because all of the personal information was in his hacked e-mail account.
My biggest problem to date with that account is trying to cancel a subscription to a cosmetic club. I can't cancel it because I've forgotten the password and I can't retrieve the password without access to my yahoo account. I try to avoid the delivery man like the plague and guess I'll just have to cancel the subscription the old fashioned way via telephone or snail mail.
The lesson learned from this fiasco is do not leave any personal information in your e-mail account, come up with an unhackable password, remember your original profile information and if you lied on your profile, remember the lies or at least keep a copy of them somewhere safe.
P.S. The photo in the previous post, "Do You See What I See" reminds the Thai people of an elephant, of course.
