# Need Help, PLEASE! Have I Been Hacked???? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 15, 2009, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125 "2009-09-15T01:51:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125/1 "2009-09-15T01:51:44Z")
Hey, I’m writing from my wife’s laptop, and I need some help asap. Here’s what happened: 1. I wrote an e-mail to my disabiltity attorneys and before writing it I copied and pasted their contact e-mail address. 2. I wrote the mail, signed it and then, in order for them to reference my case, I included my SSN. 3. The e-mail did NOT go to my attorneys. It went to this address: [uglydayfif@yahoo.com](mailto:uglydayfif@yahoo.com) 4. I sent this from my yahoo e-mail account, and thought of going in and changing the password, but if that person is in here, then they’ll know the new password, right? Thanks I’ll keep checking back Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125/2 "2009-09-15T03:05:55Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > 1. I sent this from my yahoo e-mail account, and thought of going in and changing the password, but if that person is in here, then they’ll know the new password, right? Go to your Yahoo account and make sure any alternative email notification accounts belong to you. Now change your password. ---
**Author:** ![BorgHunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@BorgHunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorgHunter)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125/3 "2009-09-15T03:10:00Z")
So, wait, what? I’m confused. You sent an email to your lawyers…only you didn’t, you sent it to some random email address. What application did you use to send said email? How did you later discover that this email went to a different email address? Virus scan, etc. turn out okay, I presume? ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125/4 "2009-09-15T03:35:11Z")
… this: 1. We’re on vacation and I’m on the hotel’s wifi connection, which, my wife tells me, is always a risk. I thought that maybe the place was protected, but maybe not, huh? 2. The reason I know the e-mail went to the adress I wrote is because yahoo has a funcion which lets you know where it went right after you hit SEND, but even so… 3. I KEEP all my SENT mails and can always check and that’s the address to which it went, even though it was SUPPOSED to go to [information@BinderandBinder.com](mailto:information@BinderandBinder.com). 4. Virus scan results (using AVAST): “No infected files”, but it was “unable to scan” a bunch of temporary internet files. 5. I did as you suggested, **Duckster** , thanks. Apreciate the help Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125/5 "2009-09-15T03:51:47Z")
Are you sure you copied and pasted the right email address, Quasi? Or maybe you had copied someone else’s email address prior to that, and didn’t hit the copy button correctly when you tried to get your attorney’s address. Ugly Day is the name of a song by a Christian rock group Five Iron Frenzy (or FIF), so the email address probably belongs to someone younger. Maybe go back through your address book and double check that it doesn’t belong to anybody you know? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125/6 "2009-09-15T05:06:28Z")
In order to help you we will need you to please post your SSN, driver’s license number, credit card numbers, and account passwords … Nah. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125/7 "2009-09-15T05:32:15Z")
> [@Electronic\_Chaos](#): > > Are you sure you copied and pasted the right email address, Quasi? Or maybe you had copied someone else’s email address prior to that, and didn’t hit the copy button correctly when you tried to get your attorney’s address. > > Ugly Day is the name of a song by a Christian rock group Five Iron Frenzy (or FIF), so the email address probably belongs to someone younger. Maybe go back through your address book and double check that it doesn’t belong to anybody you know? Yeah. The OP, as given, doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense to me. Something just doesn’t quite add up. You typed in your attorney’s address, but when you hit “send” on Yahoo email, it ended up at [uglydayfif@yahoo.com](mailto:uglydayfif@yahoo.com) in your Sent emails folder? That’s weird, and I don’t understand how that could be possible. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125/8 "2009-09-15T05:59:57Z")
Insurance companies hide behind christian monickers and have deals with ISPs. They know you’ve faked your injury and hired a tv lawyer! ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125/9 "2009-09-15T09:20:25Z")
Why would they have your Yahoo password? Was that in the email too? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125/10 "2009-09-15T10:57:13Z")
It sounds like you screwed up and sent personal information to the wrong place. Unless you gave out passwords they don’t have that. Encrypt personal data sent via email or don’t send it. Obviously don’t send the key by email. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125/11 "2009-09-15T13:42:19Z")
Start keeping an eye on your credit report. You can put a fraud alert on your credit by contacting Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. (Just be careful they don’t suck you into one of their $40/month schemes. Fraud alert is free.) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125/12 "2009-09-15T14:47:32Z")
> [@Alex\_Dubinsky](#): > > Insurance companies hide behind christian monickers and have deals with ISPs. They know you’ve faked your injury and hired a tv lawyer! Please don’t do this. **Quasi** has early-onset Alzheimer’s and gets confused easily. This is NOT the thread to joke around in while he’s still distressed about the events in the OP. Not junior-modding, just giving information that **Alex** maybe didn’t have before. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125/13 "2009-09-15T16:34:47Z")
It sounds like from your OP you cut and pasted your lawyer’s address and were doing it from a hotel on your computer. Is it possible that someone used the computer before you and copied that address? So if you copied your lawyer’s address and it didn’t work (you hit the wrong key, it happens to me!), when you hit “paste” it put down what had been on the clipboard from a previous user. Is this possible? ---
**Author:** ![Baracus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125/14 "2009-09-15T17:52:14Z")
While it is possible that you mis-pasted the address into the “To:” field, it is also possible that someone at the hotel was using a “man in the middle” attack. They could have intercepted certain addresses like Yahoo’s webmail and served up fake websites in order to steal info. It seems far-fetched, but it would be rather simple to rent a room, set up an access point, and snare guests looking to score some free web access. In theory, they could change the address in the “To:” field to their own throw-away address so they could scan it manually for personal information. They wouldn’t be able to cover their tracks in the “sent mail” folder though. I am not saying this is likely to have happened, but apparently it can and does. I would definitely change your password (preferably using a different connection) and keep an eye on your credit report anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125/15 "2009-09-15T17:54:58Z")
Okay, I checked with everyone here in the hotel room and besides my wife and I, none of them use the computer (even at home), and none of us know of a group called Ugly Day. Don’t know what happened, but I re-sent the mail (this time w/o the SSN, and it went where it was supposed to go. Thanks for all the help! Quasi ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125/16 "2009-09-15T19:25:49Z")
You should email that person again, apologize, and ask them to delete the email. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-please-have-i-been-hacked/510125/17 "2009-09-19T19:27:27Z")
> [@HorseloverFat](#): > > You should email that person again, apologize, and ask them to delete the email. Thank you, and sorry for the late response! I did what you said, and there has been no damage to my bank acccount or credit. My (“Brainiac”) wife tells me that if I get even _one_ thing wrong in an address, things can go whacko. Again. One more reason for being a member here. :D:D:D Heh-Heh-Heh! I said _“MEMBER”_! Heh-Heh-Heh!:D:D:D :rolleyes: Love Ya’s! Quasi