Ok, just to and my two cents worth. Last year sometime I was getting weekly scam emails of the sort described above (cant remember fully what that said, it pretty much I have your details pay me money or I will release embarrassing information about you blah blah blah. Funny thing is the content of the email was the same but the email address it came from was always different). Found out (as Houdini said) a website I had an account with got hacked (ps the website never told its customers that it had been hacked, just quietly sent email to say you should change your password regularly etc!). The email had a password which was one that I had used (hadnt used it in years) but wasnt an email password to any of my current accounts. Even though, I was rightly concerned!!
Theres a guy who has done some pretty good work - hes compiled a database of hacked accounts and lets you do a search to see if your email address or a password is in any of the leaked/hacked databases - just google have you been pwned. Sorry mods, but not sure I can put the link to the page, but its pretty easy to find. If ok, I can add it to later post. When I ran a search, I got a hit. Trawling through the list of sites hacked - and there it was, the one I had the account with. Needless to say, never been back to that site (inactivated the account, but the damage is done). This might be worth looking into.
Please note - NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER!! (have I emphasised it enuf???) use the same password for any account. These guys will hit one account, then try the same password on every account they can find. Once they are in, they will reset passwords and then it gets awful.
Also, if you are worried, reset passwords on all your accounts, and if you think your computer is infected, do the password resets on another computer (to be sure). If you think your device is infected, do a factory reset (and backup any content before you do the reset). Dont plug it in to any other device, in case the new device gets infected too.
Also - on a final note, if you have a computer that you do internet banking, or log in to accounts, i.e. sensitive stuff, dont have your kids use this computer as a play machine to browse the internet and play games. Kids dont have the same smarts that we do, and theres a good chance they may infect the PC without knowing it. Seen it before.....
Stay safe
Andrew
AK47
Theres a guy who has done some pretty good work - hes compiled a database of hacked accounts and lets you do a search to see if your email address or a password is in any of the leaked/hacked databases - just google have you been pwned. Sorry mods, but not sure I can put the link to the page, but its pretty easy to find. If ok, I can add it to later post. When I ran a search, I got a hit. Trawling through the list of sites hacked - and there it was, the one I had the account with. Needless to say, never been back to that site (inactivated the account, but the damage is done). This might be worth looking into.
Please note - NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER!! (have I emphasised it enuf???) use the same password for any account. These guys will hit one account, then try the same password on every account they can find. Once they are in, they will reset passwords and then it gets awful.
Also, if you are worried, reset passwords on all your accounts, and if you think your computer is infected, do the password resets on another computer (to be sure). If you think your device is infected, do a factory reset (and backup any content before you do the reset). Dont plug it in to any other device, in case the new device gets infected too.
Also - on a final note, if you have a computer that you do internet banking, or log in to accounts, i.e. sensitive stuff, dont have your kids use this computer as a play machine to browse the internet and play games. Kids dont have the same smarts that we do, and theres a good chance they may infect the PC without knowing it. Seen it before.....
Stay safe
Andrew
AK47
