Scammers Can Access Your Online Accounts That means if hackers gain your email account logins, they can get into all your online accounts. Even if you don't use the same password, they can still click “forgot password” and use the link to reset and change the password to access your online account.
What can a scammer do with your email? Stolen credentials allow a scammer to send malicious messages or malware links to your contacts, extract personal or financial information from your saved messages, or get your friends and family to send money to them under false pretenses.
It's also possible hackers could use your email account to gain access to your bank account or credit card information, draining funds from an account, or racking up charges. They might even use your email and password to sign up for online sites and services, sticking you with monthly fees in the process.
Having their hands on your account will also give hackers access to your social or professional network, allowing them a mailing list of your friends and family for phishing campaigns, or a way to contact your colleagues and penetrate your company's network security.
Consider Creating a New Email Address
Many experts do warn against deleting email accounts as most email providers will recycle your old email address. This could mean a hacker could spam every site they can find with 'forgot my password' request and try to impersonate you – identity theft!
In many cases, scammers can use your email address to find enough information about you to steal your identity. Here's how the scam works: Thieves collect your personal information through a combination of data breaches, hacking, fraud, physical theft, or phishing scams.
No, don't delete your email, even after it's been hacked. This is because most email providers will recycle old and deleted email addresses.
Your email reveals more about you than you probably think. It can be used to track down anything from your social media to Spotify account and where you work. Once a hacker matches your phone number to your email, they're ready to run a sophisticated social engineering attack.
The easiest way to become a victim of a bank scam is to share your banking info — e.g., account numbers, PIN codes, social security number — with someone you don't know well and trust. If someone asks for sensitive banking details, proceed with caution.
Never provide information to someone who contacts you. Ask for the name of the organization that contacted you, find their number independently and contact them directly. If you bear in mind that email can get you in trouble, and act accordingly, you can save yourself a lot of grief.
Changing your passwords may not mitigate all the damage from malware or a successful phishing expedition. Still, it can keep future attackers or scammers from accessing your accounts or impersonating you further. Use a different device from the affected one to change your account password.
Look for strange emails in your sent folder that you didn't send. You're getting password reset emails you didn't ask for. Once a hacker gets access to your inbox they can see which services you use. For example, Facebook email notifications tell them you have a Facebook account.
Through a suspicious email, the hacker can put malware on your computer or mobile device. This malware can track you and gain access to even more of your personal information. In particular, the malware will look for access to your bank account and credit cards, which they can use for identity theft.
To get yourself off mailing lists, try to find an email address for the sending company (either online or in the materials that they sent you) and ask that they remove you. Legitimate companies will listen to your request.
Professional spammers rely on bots that crawl millions of websites and scrape addresses from pages. Other spammers get email addresses by approaching sellers on underground cybercrime forums, or in open-air markets where addresses are found in mailing lists, websites, chat rooms, and domain contact points.
What they want are account numbers, passwords, Social Security numbers, and other confidential information that they can use to loot your checking account or run up bills on your credit cards. Identity thieves can take out loans or obtain credit cards and even driver's licenses in your name.
If scammers know your name and address, they can target you with phishing campaigns, spoofed advertisements, and fake offers. Any information you give them can be used to fully steal your identity.
Hackers include links in spam emails or on fake websites, which will trigger a malware download if you click on the link. Keylogger programs enable hackers to spy on you, as the malware captures everything you type. Once inside, the malware can explore your computer and record keystrokes to steal passwords.
Step 1: Change your passwords
On accounts or devices that contain sensitive information, make sure your password is strong, unique—and not easily guessable. Adding your birthday to your mother's maiden name won't cut it.
You'll lose all the data and content in that account, like emails, files, calendars, and photos. You won't be able to use Google services where you sign in with that account, like Gmail, Drive, Calendar, or Play.
Fraudsters can try to access your online accounts (i.e., social media or banking) using your phone number. They can send a password reset to your phone and even trick automated systems into thinking they are you.