Mail Spam Bomb and PayPal Fraud

SeaDragon

SeaDragon


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Yesterday morning my Mac Mail (@mac.com) got what I call Spam Bombed for lack of a better description. It started around 7 a.m. and lasted for almost 2 hours and it was insane. By the time it was all said and done there were over 600 of these little buggers. They were from many different places, 10 or more from the same address and then 10 new ones from some place else. They all concerned my supposed request to join a mail list. Which I had not.
Then at 7:38 a.m. someone mysteriously orders a MacBook from HSN and charged my PayPal account $3724. Luckily security at HSN suspected somehthing was amiss and called me this morning.
To say I was floored is an understatement.
Has anyone here heard of something like this happening? Surely I can't be the only one they hit.
Thanks for information you can give me.
Monya
 
chscag

chscag

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Someone has cracked your PayPal account by getting hold of your password. That's the only way they would be able to order something using your account. You need to contact PayPal and the credit card account holders or bank account you have listed with PayPal and cancel those accounts immediately.

You also need to change your password for your email account which was compromised. That's probably how they got hold of your PayPal account information. And, I strongly advise you to start subscribing to an identity theft protection plan. Your bank may have one you can join or you can find a good one on the internet. Be sure to read all reviews first.
 
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SeaDragon

SeaDragon


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Yeah, that much I figured and I have done most of those things you suggested. Spent the morning doing that actually.

I guess my question at this point is whether or not the two are possibly related. The timing is very suspect.

Thanks chscag.

Monya
 
chscag

chscag

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I guess my question at this point is whether or not the two are possibly related. The timing is very suspect.
Click to expand...

I have no doubt they're related. Anyway, glad to hear you're on top of things. When stuff like that happens we have a tendency to freak out. Just causes more gray hairs!

Another suggestion for you: Use a password program; one that will generate strong passwords and remember them for you. I have so many passwords to remember there is no way I can do it from my old memory. ;) We recommend using 1Password. A bit expensive but well worth it for peace of mind.
 
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SeaDragon

SeaDragon


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chscag said:
I have no doubt they're related. Anyway, glad to hear you're on top of things. When stuff like that happens we have a tendency to freak out. Just causes more gray hairs!

Lord knows I don't need anymore of those and freak is pretty much what I did.

Thanks for the info on 1Password. I will check it out.

Monya
Click to expand...
 
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SeaDragon

SeaDragon


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chscag said:
I have no doubt they're related. Anyway, glad to hear you're on top of things. When stuff like that happens we have a tendency to freak out. Just causes more gray hairs!

Another suggestion for you: Use a password program; one that will generate strong passwords and remember them for you. I have so many passwords to remember there is no way I can do it from my old memory. ;) We recommend using 1Password. A bit expensive but well worth it for peace of mind.
Click to expand...

Slowly getting 1Password up and running but now I have another problem. Because of this mess, I ended up changing the .mac password and now my devices aren't playing nice together again.

I am sitting here with my laptop and my ipad and if i delete a mail from either it won't delete off the other one. Things that I did at home (Notes) aren't showing up on either.

I have entered the new password whenever I am asked but nothing seems to work.

Any thoughts?

Monya
 
TattooedMac

TattooedMac


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SeaDragon said:
I have entered the new password whenever I am asked but nothing seems to work.

Any thoughts?

Monya
Click to expand...

Unfortunately this is a iCloud problem. I recently changed my .me come iCloud password and it took a few days to catch up.

I suggest, going into all your devices and Mac, and physically change the Password via iCloud Account. This is a pain in the butt, but it is worth it in the long run.

Do this, by signing out (using the new Password) and then sign back into each and every account, on each device.
 
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SeaDragon

SeaDragon


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TattooedMac said:
Unfortunately this is a iCloud problem. I recently changed my .me come iCloud password and it took a few days to catch up.

I suggest, going into all your devices and Mac, and physically change the Password via iCloud Account. This is a pain in the butt, but it is worth it in the long run.

Do this, by signing out (using the new Password) and then sign back into each and every account, on each device.
Click to expand...

Well that is what I thought I was doing but obviously not. On the chance of sounding like an idiot, where do I specifically sign out so that I can sign back in?

Thanks

Monya
 
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TattooedMac

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On your Mac, System Preferences>iCloud and on your iOS Devices Settings>iCloud . . .

Make sure though that you restart all the Devices and Mac after doing this. This will reset things, and bring it all into line.
 
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SeaDragon

SeaDragon


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TattooedMac said:
On your Mac, System Preferences>iCloud and on your iOS Devices Settings>iCloud . . .

Make sure though that you restart all the Devices and Mac after doing this. This will reset things, and bring it all into line.
Click to expand...

Thanks! That seemed to do the trick. There were more steps than I realized so I was definitely missing a few.

Monya
 

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