Alert! Amazon Hack

I find three nice emails from Amazon this morning thanking me for letting them know that I had changed my email address and password, the result being that I can longer access my account - so thank you GraceHale@inbox.ru. whoever you are, which all seems totally pointless as there is nothing gone out of my bank account (cannot now check my Amazon orders) and now I have enlightened Amazon via their "distress" number, my Amazon account is now frozen and I am now waiting to hear from their investigation team in the next 48 hours.

All I can say, is thank Heavens all my Christmas shopping was done two weeks ago, otherwise I would have been right up the proverbial with no paddle.

I would thank Amazon for their prompt attention BUT this did take me two phone calls, much wailing and gnashing of teeth to get something done as the first woman was useless!! IF they are going to use foreign switchboards for initial contact they will they PLEASE get somebody who can understand and speak a reasonable level of English. Grrrr

Those sneaky f**king Russians.

You were warned on here of an imminent attack

I find it that only after I began to buy things through MercadoLibre which is like our Ebay, more and more suspicious ads and weird emails arrive at my mailbox. Should've stick to cash.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 18th December 2017, 11:40 AM

I find three nice emails from Amazon this morning thanking me for letting them know that I had changed my email address and password, the result being that I can longer access my account - so thank you GraceHale@inbox.ru. whoever you are, which all seems totally pointless as there is nothing gone out of my bank account (cannot now check my Amazon orders) and now I have enlightened Amazon via their "distress" number, my Amazon account is now frozen and I am now waiting to hear from their investigation team in the next 48 hours.

All I can say, is thank Heavens all my Christmas shopping was done two weeks ago, otherwise I would have been right up the proverbial with no paddle.

I would thank Amazon for their prompt attention BUT this did take me two phone calls, much wailing and gnashing of teeth to get something done as the first woman was useless!! IF they are going to use foreign switchboards for initial contact they will they PLEASE get somebody who can understand and speak a reasonable level of English. Grrrr

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I sympathise but it's only younger people who have enough teeth to make gnashing worthwhile.

Quote: A Horseradish @ 18th December 2017, 6:33 PM

I sympathise but it's only younger people who have enough teeth to make gnashing worthwhile.

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But, but, Hercule is, like me, one of our most senior members here.

Quote: billwill @ 18th December 2017, 8:24 PM

But, but, Hercule is, like me, one of our most senior members here.

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Yes indeed.

Gnash ye not each of you.

It isn't good for your temporomandibulars.

I have enough to gnash on one side.

Sorry to hear that Herc because I know how it feels and there is nothing worse than getting crap service and then getting even crapper service when you report the crap service. One of my email accounts was hacked and it made me change my passwords to something even WOPR couldn't crack. Now a typical password looks like this (randomised) lwuXn579nsl%o1b&^49lLp£hJ

Very long and impossible to remember from memory but impossible for anyone/anything to decipher.

Quote: Definitely Tarby @ 18th December 2017, 11:56 PM

Now a typical password looks like this (randomised) lwuXn579nsl%o1b&^49lLp£hJ

Very long and impossible to remember from memory but impossible for anyone/anything to decipher.

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Try a password manager. Personally, I use 1Password. Every site/service I use has its own lengthy, random password, but all I have to remember is one (lengthy/difficult) password of my choosing. It has a great browser plugin and mobile app, so use is a breeze.

Now what do I do. Received this within 6 hours of the original despite Amazon telling me on the phone that I should receive an email within 48 hours - is this really Amazon I ask myself........................

-----Original Message-----
From: account-alert@amazon.com [mailto:account-alert@amazon.com]
Sent: 18 December 2017 14:38
To: ***************@ntlworld.com
Subject: Recent changes to your Amazon.com account

Hello,
Thank you for telling us about the unauthorized activity in your account. To protect your information, the credit card details in your account cannot be accessed via our website. We also do not display full credit card numbers in your account.
We have taken these steps to restore your account:
-- Disabled the password to your account.
-- Reversed any changes made by this party.
-- Canceled any pending orders.
Please allow 5 hours for these actions to take effect.
After 5 hours, you will be able to reset your password and regain access to your account. On the Sign In page, select "Forgot password?" and follow the instructions. After you enter your email or mobile phone number, you will receive an email or SMS message containing a personalized link. Click the link and enter your new password.
If you have any trouble resetting your password, call Customer Service at:
Customers in the U.S. or Canada: 1-866-216-1072 International customers: 1-206-266-2992
You will also need to:
-- Re-enter your complete payment method information the next time that you place an order.
-- Re-enter any addresses that you recently added to your account.
-- Check your subscriptions, if you have any. You may need to update them.
We do not know how this person got your sign-in information because that happened away from our websites. Some techniques include using malicious software to capture a user's keystrokes, trying common passwords, and sending fraudulent emails that request account information (known as "phishing").
To learn more about safe online shopping, visit the "Security & Privacy" section of our Help pages.
Sincerely,
Account Specialist
Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com ================

I'm not familiar with Amazon so not sure if that kind of email is genuine but it does look odd in places. You can look at the email headers to see if the sending address has been spoofed or if it really is from amazon.com. If the account was hacked it's most likely because of a weak password.

Quote: DaButt @ 19th December 2017, 12:52 AM

Try a password manager. Personally, I use 1Password. Every site/service I use has its own lengthy, random password, but all I have to remember is one (lengthy/difficult) password of my choosing. It has a great browser plugin and mobile app, so use is a breeze.

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I use Keepass at work and installed it on my home PC a few months ago but had never used it. Instead I keep all my passwords written down on a piece of paper and I would be in big trouble if I ever lost it. As a new years resolution I'm going to update keepass with all my logins so I can throw the piece of paper away. The file size is only a few kilobytes so it's easy enough to make duplicate backup copies of the Keepass file.

I'll check out 1Password as the mobile app looks interesting. I don't think Keepass has anything like that.

Keepass sounds like underpants that stop your bum from wobbling.

OK, so finally sorted it with Amazon and this morning I have been hacked again with a new Russian email address!
I just don't get it. I changed the password to an odd family word that only me and my deceased parents knew and made it into upper and lower case, stuck in a number and a symbol.
Just how are they managing to get into my account and change my email?!?!?! Surely it has to be internal?
Checked my online bank statement this morning and nothing has gone out, so it all seems a pointless exercise - just effin' annoying!

I'm no expert Herc, but could you have a keylogger hidden on your PC ? That way they would get every password you type in. Doesn't matter if you change them.

Good point. I will get my son to look into that, Ta!