My Email Got Hacked? - Off-Topic

#1 Posted by Zomgfruitbunnies (377 posts) - 6 months, 14 days ago

Last night I discovered that one of my email addresses had sent out spam mail containing URLs that linked to what appears to be picture files (jpeg, png, eml, etc.,) to every single one of my contacts stored on that account. Strangely, none of the sent emails appear in the sent mail folder. I asked some of my friends if they had received spam from my other email address and was told that they had not, so it appears only that one email address was compromised. I have since changed my password. Luckily, it was one of my mostly unused emails and there isn't much personal information stored in it. I did some searching but was unable to find anything useful about the nature of the URLs sent in the emails.

Below are two URLs that I was able to collect. (DO NOT CLICK ON THEM!!)

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

http://www.blog4mmo.com/wp-content/plugins/like.php?religious287.png
http://www.expohunt.com/wp-content/plugins/lifenews.php?thrown287.jpeg

I am hoping that someone will be able to shed some light on this.

P.S. If this post is inappropriate (for containing suspicious links), mods, please close this.

#2 Edited by SexyToad (2322 posts) - 6 months, 14 days ago

Luckily it was your least unused email. Do your password have caps and numbers? Mine used to be all lowercases and then I realize that probably wasn't a good idea... Also those links are safe :D. Well I think... I clicked on them through my phone. They took me to a website about rasberries drop helps you lose weight or something.

Edit: *least used.

#3 Posted by Zomgfruitbunnies (377 posts) - 6 months, 14 days ago

@SexyToad: Really, raspberries and weight loss?

#4 Edited by SexyToad (2322 posts) - 6 months, 14 days ago

@Zomgfruitbunnies: Yup, here's a screenshot:

#5 Posted by laserbolts (5125 posts) - 6 months, 14 days ago

That's what you get for researching raspberries and how they can help with weight loss. The depths of the Internet.

#6 Edited by Zomgfruitbunnies (377 posts) - 6 months, 14 days ago

@SexyToad: Well, I guess this confirms that it is spam.

EDIT: Wait, I just saw the FOX News tag on the top right. What the shit?

#7 Posted by Toxeia (630 posts) - 6 months, 14 days ago

FINALLY! A super food I can buy in my local market.

If this was a gmail account they have tools that are useful for finding where the account was access from. Performing some simple whois work might point you in a direction, though most likely you're going to get something saying that the IP address accessing your account was assigned to some internet service provider. Most you can do from there is contact the ISP and let them know about the situation.

#8 Posted by B0nd07 (1637 posts) - 6 months, 14 days ago

@Zomgfruitbunnies: Yeah, they link to a fake Fox News page that does nothing but link to itself. Didn't throw any flags with Avast, so I don't think it's anything malicious.

#9 Posted by SexyToad (2322 posts) - 6 months, 14 days ago

If you order now you can can get the 15 day program for $59.95!

#10 Posted by Zomgfruitbunnies (377 posts) - 6 months, 14 days ago

@Toxeia: It's an old Hotmail account that I used to use for communicating with family members in China because my ISP's email, for some reason, couldn't send mail to Chinese mail servers. Now, it's just being used for random bullshit I don't care about.

@B0nd07: That's good to know.

#11 Posted by Ravenlight (7066 posts) - 6 months, 14 days ago

Google "email spoofing," that's what happened to you.

You can fix it by changing the password to your Hotmail account.

#12 Edited by Zomgfruitbunnies (377 posts) - 6 months, 14 days ago

@Ravenlight: That's what I'm suspecting, though, the hacker(s) would still had to have breached the Hotmail account to get the contacts. I've since changed the password to something more secure.