this happened yesterday when every contact I had received an ad on homeworking from me, when I did not even use my computer and would not think of doing such a thing. Friends, co-workers, employment agencies, everyone received this and I want it to stop, but how can I stop it? Would I need to change my email address? Please help as this is most upsetting.
Categorized | Affiliate Marketing 101
How Can I Stop Someone From Sending Out Junk Mail From My Account To All My Contacts?
Posted on December 13, 2012.
Yahoo’s advice is to change your password, but there are several more security settings to change than just your password. This Help page has more information, stated clearly, with several links to clarify the steps.http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?page=cont…
1. FIRST, check that the alternate e-mail address/mobile phone number is still yours, under Options, Mail Options, Account Information, but then change the alternate address! (so the hacker will not be notified of the change). Check the ‘Reply To:’ address as well to be sure it is still yours.
Then change both your password AND your secret questions and answers. Make the password a long, strong one with mixed characters! Length = Strength for passwords! Start with a sentence and make substitutions with numbers, symbols and punctuation. Go to “Update password-reset info” to change your Secret Questions and Answers. Make sure they are unchangeable, unique, and easy for you to remember. For a Yahoo account, you can change your password at https://edit.yahoo.com/config/change_pw. If you can no longer access your account, you can get a new password at https://edit.yahoo.com/forgotroot/.
See http://strongpasswordgenerator.com/ for more tips on creating a strong password(and what NOT to use)
2. *** If spam mail was sent to any of your contacts, apologize, and notify all your contacts NOT to open short e-mails, especially those with no subject, and definitely not to click any links. Warn them to change their passwords and scan for malware too, just in case. (The limit is 100 addresses per mail, and 200 per hour, but send to far fewer than that in each message, just in case you trigger Yahoo’s spam ‘suspicious activity’ detector.) Set up an alternate ‘alias’ account to use instead. This allows you to use a different address for sending, but still keep all saved mails and contacts and the first address active too for incoming mail. Your friends can trust this new address! There is a choice of address in an arrow in the From: box. Also add a signature to your mail so your friends will be sure the mail is really from you …http://edit.yahoo..com/config/list_alias (alternate address)
*** Changing your password also deletes the cookie which apparently inserts that sly ‘trojan’ address grabber that sends spam to your Contacts list. ***
If you used this password for other accounts, change them too – make every one different. Make the password much longer than 8 characters, with mixed symbols.
Usually, this is all you need to do, although mail will still be sent in the name of the old account for a short while – there’s nothing you can do about that. Once spammers have a valid address, they continue to use it, even after the account is closed/deleted!
Answers is a Jungle
Hi Flex,
It sounds like your account has been compromised. It is highly recommended to take the following measures to secure your account:
Reset Your Password
If your Yahoo! account’s password has been compromised, the fastest (and easiest) way to stop spam from being sent is to replace it with a new, strong password which will be more difficult for spammers to guess.
Reviewing Your Alternate Email Address Information
1.While changing your password will resolve most spam issues, it is important to check that your account’s alternate email address has not been modified. If it has been, the party responsible for the spamming may be able to regain access to your account.
2.To view your account’s alternate email address, go to the Account Information page – http://edit.yahoo.com/config/eval_profil… -, under “Contact Information,” select Choose how Yahoo! contacts you.
3.If you don’t recognize the email on file, go to http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?page=cont… for the steps to update/change it.
Note:Should your account continue to send spam after completing these steps, it is strongly recommend that you use a trusted anti-virus program or malware protection suite to review your system. Malware programs (key loggers, viruses, worms, etc.) are usually installed on your system without your knowledge by visiting an infected website and are intended to capture sensitive information and relay it to a third party.
4.If these steps do not resolve your issues, please go to http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?page=cont… to learn how to combat an account that continues to send spam.
Hope this information was helpful! 🙂
Sounds like Your account got compromised. First change your password. Account help.http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/acct/in… for just about anything to do with your account. Then run anti Virus and Anti Spyware. Should be fine then.
Because your computer has been hacked, changed your password now, Good Luck