Have been hacked - lost access to accounts etc

[HungryHippos]

You can't add MFA to an account that you don't control. As they have control, they've presumably added their own MFA to it now.

You should have had MFA added to this account beforehand (same for anything of importance, such as banks/paypal etc). Email is arguably more important than most things due to how many things it gives access to.

Losing access to your email also means they can attempt to do a password reset for anything else using that same email/username.

 

[Efour]

IIRC if you've paid for anything by card etc that can help when trying to regain control of the likes of a game account, or used to back in the Ultima Online days as suitably senior CS used to be able to see at least some of the card information which can help with account recovery.

You played UO?
Server?
Did you have £300 phone bills too? Lol

 

[Werewolf]

You played UO?
Server?
Did you have £300 phone bills too? Lol

Europa Posse!
Many a dirt nap due to server lag
I kind of miss the days, and some of the players.

Fortunately not, I went from an AOL 0800 trial* (yuck, but it was £18 a month unlimited time on an 0800 number and 120ms wasn't terrible for UO), to NTL's free dialup if you had one of their lines, to 512k cable modem! (lots of accusations of speed hacking as my ping was 13ms).


*Somehow I got on some sort of Time Warner "special" list when I was about 18, I got a complimentary Forbes subscription and various other offers/freebies (I suspect someone looked at magazine subs and realised "Mr Wolf has been a sub to 4 serious computer mags for years" and thought I was rather older/higher placed than I was).

 

[Efour]

Yes I remember getting 512k ADSL and on that day I must have killed 50 people.

It was like easy mode

 

[philstanbridge]

It’s actually worse than I thought. It turns out my Steam account is also linked. So if I request a password change the scammer will get that too. I really don’t know how to proceed. It’s super stressful.

Edit: I was fortunate to have already enabled steam guard with this one linked to my phone, so I’ve changed my email and should be ok

 

[jpaul]

you've probably read them all the poorly organised usoft help pages

Redirecting

You will have to provide enough information to prove account ownership. see tip to help complete recovery;https://support.microsoft.com/account-billing/b19c02d1-a782-dee6-93c3-dc8113b20c42With the current account password, we have the option to update the security info (phone/email) to another with the remove info steps in the link, however the new info will be updated in 30days;https://support.microsoft.com/account-billing/bf2505ca-cae5-c5b4-77d1-69d3343a5452

or

Report Account Compromise: You can notify Microsoft directly if you think your account has been compromised by going to the Microsoft Account Security and Privacy page (account.microsoft.com/security). You can then choose how to report account compromise and add pertinent information about the incident.If none of the online assistance alternatives are successful, you can still try contacting Microsoft assistance by phone at their listed number. On the Microsoft Support website (support.microsoft.com/contactus), you may locate the phone number to call for your area.


no one seems to elaborate on proofs you can provide like IP address linked with geographical location where you could prove your residency,

 

[potatolord]

Well, reading this thread has convinced me to take my security more seriously. My main email is linked to nearly all my other access.

I'll be doing some MFA setup/ password changes tonight.

Thanks, Phil. Cold comfort, I guess, but you've helped me.

 

[Freakbro]

I got a suspicious login attempt email from X(twitter) yesterday.

The good thing about that was I set up a Twitter account many years ago, never used it and completely forgot all username/login details, so at least I now know my @ name again

 

[philstanbridge]

Would META reach out to me via messenger or is that the scammer trying to be clever?

 

[Steeps]

I wouldn't trust any link I couldn't hover over first to see what the destination is. Our corporate FB accounts are constantly getting messages from "Meta" or "Facebook admin" claiming if we don't click a link our account will be deleted.

 

[dlockers]

Would META reach out to me via messenger or is that the scammer trying to be clever?

Dude....

 

[darael]

Would META reach out to me via messenger or is that the scammer trying to be clever?

I'd phone Microsoft if possible and speak to them directly. Until you regain access to your Microsoft account, disregard all other attempts that might seem to be Microsoft contacting you, unless you're 110% sure it is them.

 

[dlockers]

My son

I am raising doubts about this statement

 

[BananaDunka]

I am raising doubts about this statement

He's his son's dad!

 

[philstanbridge]

just for context my son changed the MS password after receiving an email. He is 13 and was trying to be helpful.

 

[philstanbridge]

Im trying to call MS but they say everything is now done online? How am I supposed to contact them if I can’t login

 

[jeffspuds]

i got well screwed at xmas time then must have hacked and downloaded or something all my active logins in chrome i managed after many hours to rescue the important accounts, thing is though even with 2fa and even authenticator app they still managed to get into my amazon too and paypal and bettings sites what a right stress.

they must have had my whole chrome active ?

 

[philstanbridge]

I noticed these guys were using a chrome browser, based in vietnam

 

[jeffspuds]

I noticed these guys were using a chrome browser, based in vietnam

same as me

 

[philstanbridge]

So to update, I’ve managed to protect Steam and I spoke with EA and they were great! So that’s sorted. But MS. What a nightmare. How can you speak to someone? I can’t fill out an account recovery form for 24 hours, but even after doing so it says they haven’t enough info to help.