Hotmail account hijacked

[heraclito]

There's this friend of mine who got his account at hotmail cracked (I always thought that was kinda difficult) and now somebody is using his account to send annoying emails to other people and using it in MSN messenger... what this annoying subject is doing is getting close to criminal, it's almost like stealing someone's identity...

Could anybody tell me what actions should be taken either to get the accoun back or get it deleted. Sending emails to abuse@hotmail.com has only given automated responses...

Thank you all

[mrZxC]

heraclito,

The fastest way to take an account down is by answering the secret question-- The question you get to ask yourself when you forget your own password. This is filled during the registration of an account.

How about giving it a try yourself? Maybe the crackers left this area intact, thus, get your friend to answer his question, and hopefully access is guaranteed.


Hope that works.

[RejectKnowledge]

Well, I recently had the same problem. A friend of mine had his hotmail box stolen. Ofcourse, he didn't remember his secret question, otherwise it wouldn't have been a problem, right? Now, heres what I suggested to him, and it worked.

Click on Contact Us in any email box of hotmail. They'll provide the email themselves ( don't really remember it, sorry ). Send them an email saying your account has been taken over blah blah blah, and that you donot remember the answer to the secret question ( if you actually don't remember it, otherwise do what the previous post tells you to. ) Now you'll say, "I've already done that!", but heres the catch. Send them your previous password too, and if you remember the FIRST password for that box, then send them that aswell. That'll pretty much do it for you. They'll send you a reply to this alternate address, the one you're mailing them from, and hopefully, [shadow]you'll have your account back.[/shadow]
Enjoy.

[alittlebitnumb]

It might be legit, because nowhere in the message does it say how to retrieve or crack a password. However, I am leary on HOW crackers got a hold of it, even if it happened at all.

If it is the way you said it happened, then I suggest:

1) DO NOT use the account anymore, and re-register a new account and remember NEVER give away a password, or fall for lame social engineering attempts.

2) Use long and strong passwords and change them every now and then to avoid brute forcing.

3) NEVER use personal information for the public to get a hold of. Even if it's marked private, if a cracker gets a hold of the account, you're screwed. I use hotmail accounts for junk anyway, and shouln't be used for mission-critical mails...

Also, if this is a social engineering ploy to gain illegal access to any account, then do not ask it here.

[X=-FakeBoy-=X]

Originally posted here by heraclito
Could anybody tell me what actions should be taken

Contact the FBI's Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) Sector, and report an identity theft report. - http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp