Worst Sunday afternoon ever….. OMG……

[Bron357]

Whoa, what are an awful awful experience.
I was hacked, they stole my Facebook account and it’s non recoverable but worst they stole my eBay account. They tried to get my Amazon account Instagram and PinInterest.
How I’m not sure, I use an iPad which is meant to be quite secure however…….
The slime who stole / bought my eBay account in less than 10 minutes managed to make 37 purchases and put offer in (why????) another 17 items. Thankfully after an hour on the phone to eBay US from Australia I got my account back. The purchases were cancelled and the offers lapsed. Thank God my PayPal was never breached.
I then spent 4 hours changing every single password I use on every website I visit. I deleted multiple apps off my iPad and iPhone, changed everything I could to 2 stage identification and will now change every password every week to be sure I stay safe.
Im sure I was compromised through Facebook. I was careless and carefree. On Facebook you receive all sorts of stuff through “news feed” and I occasionally click on the link to find out more.
Dont.
One of those items contained malware and from there I was compromised.
Dont leave tabs open on Safari, that’s how they managed to expand their evil activities.
lesson learnt.
sad about Facebook, but not worth the risk to me.

 

[Cinders]

That is just awful!!!

 

[YadaYadaYada]

So sorry Bron, I had my identity stolen years ago and it was a major PIA! Glad you caught and dealt with it quickly!

 

[MamaBee]

I’m so sorry @Bron357! That’s so scary! I had someone open a T-Mobile account in my name..racking up $900. I didn’t even know until I got letters from a collection agency. It took months to straighten it out. It’s awful you had to go through that!

 

[chroman]

Holy c**p Bron, what a nightmare. I hope you can find a good way to unwind tonight!

 

[lulu_ma]

So sorry! Glad you caught it early, though!

 

[kenny]

Sorry. That sucks.

 

[Tremsi]

This is right up there with my top 10 worst fears
and I just went and changed all my passwords!

 

[AprilBaby]

Wow that sucks.

 

[MissGotRocks]

So sorry that this happened to you - the crooks apparently work harder and longer than we do!!

 

[lovedogs]

Ughhhh I am so so sorry!

 

[Diamond Girl 21]

How awful! I'm sorry you had go through that.

 

[Mreader]

That’s terrible!!! I’m so sorry that happened!

 

[Slickk]

Oh no!! That’s the worst indeed. I’m so sorry you have to deal with this!

 

[icy_jade]

Oh no that’s so awful! Luckily your PayPal is ok.

 

[Bron357]

They didn’t steal my Pricescope account. Just as well! In any regard I’m sure their lack of bling knowledge and love would have exposed them as a fake Bron

 

[qubitasaurus]

Do you use whatsapp? It has a very sever insecurity in it. Do you have a missed call on your whatsapp? Even if you dont answer the call it gives the user full access to everything on your phone.

WhatsApp: Israeli firm 'deeply involved' in hacking our users

NSO Group allegedly connected to hacks of 1,400 people including human rights activists

www.theguardian.com

 

[CMN]

OMG. So glad you caught it quickly.

 

[missy]

Do you use whatsapp? It has a very sever insecurity in it. Do you have a missed call on your whatsapp? Even if you dont answer the call it gives the user full access to everything on your phone.

WhatsApp: Israeli firm 'deeply involved' in hacking our users

NSO Group allegedly connected to hacks of 1,400 people including human rights activists

www.theguardian.com

Oh my goodness calling @Alex T. I never got around to doing/installing whatsapp and thank you to @qubitasaurus for letting us know about the security risk associated with that. Alex please check into this. XO.

@Bron357 I am very sorry this happened to you. I use FB for medical groups and have now changed my password. I appreciate you sharing this with us and I am glad you caught it early. What a world we live in where we have to be constantly looking over our shoulder and changing passwords on all sites we frequent. Be safe.

 

[Bron357]

Lesson learnt.
If you have Facebook make sure you activate “alerts”, use a two factor identification plus establish 3 to 5 trustworthy friends from Facebook who can accept a log in key if you get “locked out”.
Other tip, don’t use your Facebook (or Instagram) as a “log on” shortcut to use any other apps or sites.
Same with eBay.
Dont leave your eBay account open on your web browser, unlike PayPal who auto logs you out after 15 minutes, eBay doesn’t.
Make sure your passwords are different for every website you use and are strong and secure ie no real words, use a few Capital letters and add in some numbers as well. Make them 10 digits or longer.
change them monthly.
phew, complicated but the alternative recommended would be to stay away for the sake of your health and sanity !

 

[goldnsilver]

That sounds awful! I can only imagine how stressed you must have been with the eBay breach and not knowing what else they might have gotten hold of. It's the kind of stuff that I have nightmares about.

I had been doing some politics related work a few years ago, and one good thing I've learned during that time was to never use Facebook or Whatsapp to exchange any sensitive information as they are not secure. We were advised to use the Signal app (which was end-to-end encrypted and was safer) for even basic communication. To this day I'm very reluctant to log on to Facebook or Whatsapp at all, and I really should just deactivate my Facebook account.

Good reminder to everyone to be careful on the internet. Glad to hear that you were able to catch it in time and that you are all right. Virtual hugs!

 

[Ally T]

Oh my goodness calling @Alex T. I never got around to doing/installing whatsapp and thank you to @qubitasaurus for letting us know about the security risk associated with that. Alex please check into this. XO.

@Bron357 I am very sorry this happened to you. I use FB for medical groups and have now changed my password. I appreciate you sharing this with us and I am glad you caught it early. What a world we live in where we have to be constantly looking over our shoulder and changing passwords on all sites we frequent. Be safe.

Thankfully I'm not very interesting!

 

[Queenie60]

Sorry this happened to you. I'm sure it's more frequent then we're aware, Sometimes while on a website, another website will pop up in my face. Very frustrating.

 

[Babyblue033]

Do you use whatsapp? It has a very sever insecurity in it. Do you have a missed call on your whatsapp? Even if you dont answer the call it gives the user full access to everything on your phone.

WhatsApp: Israeli firm 'deeply involved' in hacking our users

NSO Group allegedly connected to hacks of 1,400 people including human rights activists

www.theguardian.com

Good to know, thanks for sharing! I'm deleting it immediately!

 

[Arcadian]

It sucks, I've had identity stolen due to some very serious hacks with one of the biggest credit score holders in the US. it took me months to get it cleaned up. I had charges to my bank even which had to be cleaned up from all that. Then Adobe had a hack...... just today I got a text that is supposedly from my ex bank. Its an automatic delete at this point.

To that end, I am careful to open things from all social media and email in a sandbox. Really sorry you're dealing with all of this @Bron357

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Whoa, what are an awful awful experience.
I was hacked, they stole my Facebook account and it’s non recoverable but worst they stole my eBay account. They tried to get my Amazon account Instagram and PinInterest.
How I’m not sure, I use an iPad which is meant to be quite secure however…….
The slime who stole / bought my eBay account in less than 10 minutes managed to make 37 purchases and put offer in (why????) another 17 items. Thankfully after an hour on the phone to eBay US from Australia I got my account back. The purchases were cancelled and the offers lapsed. Thank God my PayPal was never breached.
I then spent 4 hours changing every single password I use on every website I visit. I deleted multiple apps off my iPad and iPhone, changed everything I could to 2 stage identification and will now change every password every week to be sure I stay safe.
Im sure I was compromised through Facebook. I was careless and carefree. On Facebook you receive all sorts of stuff through “news feed” and I occasionally click on the link to find out more.
Dont.
One of those items contained malware and from there I was compromised.
Dont leave tabs open on Safari, that’s how they managed to expand their evil activities.
lesson learnt.
sad about Facebook, but not worth the risk to me.

Oh Bron
That's a real sh*t thing to happen to you

Thanks for the warning about facebook
im very select with facebook and will continue to be

 

[kgizo]

So sorry this happened to you and hope you don’t discover any more issues.
General PSA - In my state you can register for free property tax fraud alerts via the County Clerk website. Might be worth seeing if you can do something similar.

 

[bright&shiny]

Lesson learnt.
If you have Facebook make sure you activate “alerts”, use a two factor identification plus establish 3 to 5 trustworthy friends from Facebook who can accept a log in key if you get “locked out”.
Other tip, don’t use your Facebook (or Instagram) as a “log on” shortcut to use any other apps or sites.
Same with eBay.
Dont leave your eBay account open on your web browser, unlike PayPal who auto logs you out after 15 minutes, eBay doesn’t.
Make sure your passwords are different for every website you use and are strong and secure ie no real words, use a few Capital letters and add in some numbers as well. Make them 10 digits or longer.
change them monthly.
phew, complicated but the alternative recommended would be to stay away for the sake of your health and sanity !

I am so sorry this happened to you, Bron! I would only add that using an authentication app for any changes to your social media is an additional step that can be taken (like authy). A password manager can also be helpful in resetting every password it has logged at the same time - in case of an emergency just like this. It also can help you keep track of any risk factors you have - such as re-using a password or choosing one that isn’t secure.

You really seem on top of it all - here’s hoping for better days ahead for you !

 

[diamondringlover]

This stinks I am sorry it happened...I went thru my debit card being hacked/stolen back in March and I had to change all my passwords just in case...its a hugh hassle, my hacker tried to do on-line gambling to the tune of $700, my bank caught it and I had to close my card...its such a pain....

 

[jaysonsmom]

I'm so sorry this happened to you. I have had my identity stolen and so has my husband....and it is the worst. Lots of phone calls to cancel and block credit cards and file claims to get money back. Lots of lessons learned the hard way!