I've been cloned

[pjelsworth]

Somebody has got hold of my email address and password and is using it all over the place. I can no longer access my email, my ebay account has had the password changed, somebody has spent thousands using my Paypal account. How can this happen, and I am worried how far they will take this!!!!

[peter newton]

Originally Posted by pjelsworth

Somebody has got hold of my email address and password and is using it all over the place. I can no longer access my email, my ebay account has had the password changed, somebody has spent thousands using my Paypal account. How can this happen, and I am worried how far they will take this!!!!

notify the police

are you aware if you are on wireless Internet people can sit out side your house with a laptop and get all your details this way,their is a code blocker you set up to prevent this happening.

hopfuly cz may be of help to you

regards Pete

[Topcat]

Thats terrible news

You must report ths immediately and check your credit rating. It is a real pain in the neck but you should be able to claim any loss back.

Make sure you also contact your bank or any other company that you may used on line (amazon, play etc).

Good Luck.

Peter Newton - I wasn't aware you had set up a code blocker, I have just gone wireless I best look in to this, thank you.

[civic-babe]

Originally Posted by pjelsworth

Somebody has got hold of my email address and password and is using it all over the place. I can no longer access my email, my ebay account has had the password changed, somebody has spent thousands using my Paypal account. How can this happen, and I am worried how far they will take this!!!!

That is terrible, my husband just said that you might have spyware on your PC logging keystrokes...????

Go to www.paretologic.com and run xoftspy ... hope this helps...

[peter newton]

Originally Posted by civic-babe

That is terrible, my husband just said that you might have spyware on your PC logging keystrokes...????

Go to www.paretologic.com and run xoftspy ... hope this helps...

i did see a bit of that on a program the real hustle

frightening

we are so careful shred everything with details on

[lippy]

Originally Posted by peter newton

are you aware if you are on wireless Internet people can sit out side your house with a laptop and get all your details this way,their is a code blocker you set up to prevent this happening.

When I set up my wireless network, it came with a firewall and a password - ie name your network and set a password - there is a name for this type of secure set up but I can't remember what it is. I have tried it out at home with laptops belonging to my sisters and it does work- they couldn't use my network without the password even tho their laptops found the network - if you get my drift. We have students living near us and I was certainly not going to pay for broadband for them to share my bandwidth!!

So, if you're wireless consult your docs/help line and get it set up pronto!!

[Topcat]

I have discovered that I have this cover, im with BT, they set up a password system called "wireless key"

[civic-babe]

Originally Posted by peter newton

i did see a bit of that on a program the real hustle

frightening

we are so careful shred everything with details on

Peter,

please go to that website and download the spyware, it is free of charge and run it on your PC, just to be on the safeside.

Nowadays you can't trust any webside anymore (sad isn't it..?), and without Anti Spyware and a good firewall there is no 100% garantie on anything.

Last thing you want is some sad ba*** ruining your credit rating and putting you into debt.

[czechplastik]

It's possible you have been using an open wireless network which means in theory people within range can tap in although its more likely to be from spyware. Get full bank statements and evidence of transactions and take to the Police pronto and make sure anyone you bank or trade with is notified immediately, you should be covered for any financial loss no problem. Ultimately the bank is the victim, not you and they will take the loss, unless you have been negligent which i doubt!

[pjelsworth]

Originally Posted by czechplastik

It's possible you have been using an open wireless network which means in theory people within range can tap in although its more likely to be from spyware. Get full bank statements and evidence of transactions and take to the Police pronto and make sure anyone you bank or trade with is notified immediately, you should be covered for any financial loss no problem. Ultimately the bank is the victim, not you and they will take the loss, unless you have been negligent which i doubt!

Actually I do have a secure wireless network and a firewall. It appeared to start some time during the week last week and at that time I was hard-wired to the router, so no wireless to my PC (I had it turned off).
I have been through everything I can think of and changed my email address and password.
It was PayPal who actually called and alerted me to this due to unusua activity on my account. They (and ebay, same company I know) have been very good; they froze my account, told me how to sort out the fraudulent transactions (they never evfen reached my bank account) and are now in the process getting me up and running without losing my feedback etc.
I am pretty sure it was somebody in US as 2 of the 3 transactions were in dollars.
Apparently PayPal told me this happens quite often, which is a concern.

[PhilCarrie]

Originally Posted by pjelsworth

Actually I do have a secure wireless network and a firewall. It appeared to start some time during the week last week and at that time I was hard-wired to the router, so no wireless to my PC (I had it turned off).
I have been through everything I can think of and changed my email address and password.
It was PayPal who actually called and alerted me to this due to unusua activity on my account. They (and ebay, same company I know) have been very good; they froze my account, told me how to sort out the fraudulent transactions (they never evfen reached my bank account) and are now in the process getting me up and running without losing my feedback etc.
I am pretty sure it was somebody in US as 2 of the 3 transactions were in dollars.
Apparently PayPal told me this happens quite often, which is a concern.

PJ,
Have you answered or clicked a link to paypal or ebay from your outlook express/ email client? If you have, these are almost always spoof links or log-ins that capture your password/email/username especially if you store passwords on your pc. I am always having to 'remind' the wife NOT to click these links but to log into ebay/paypal etc and check the messages from there, a bit of a hassle but it better to be safe than sorry.

Also try AVG antispyware from www.grisoft.com or adaware SE from lavasoft.com both free and very good at digging out malware/spyware/key loggers, as is AVG antivirus (also free).

one more thing, do you run a software and a hardware firewall? I run both and use SP2 firewall (although i used to use zonealarm but a freind of mine who works for cable told me SP2 was just as good) plus the firewall and NAT built into my Dlink router, then port forward all he things i need to make the internet so much fun. (www.portforward.com for settings for most routers)

sorry if i'm teaching you to suck eggs.

[pjelsworth]

Originally Posted by PhilCarrie

PJ,
Have you answered or clicked a link to paypal or ebay from your outlook express/ email client? If you have, these are almost always spoof links or log-ins that capture your password/email/username especially if you store passwords on your pc. I am always having to 'remind' the wife NOT to click these links but to log into ebay/paypal etc and check the messages from there, a bit of a hassle but it better to be safe than sorry.

Also try AVG antispyware from www.grisoft.com or adaware SE from lavasoft.com both free and very good at digging out malware/spyware/key loggers, as is AVG antivirus (also free).

one more thing, do you run a software and a hardware firewall? I run both and use SP2 firewall (although i used to use zonealarm but a freind of mine who works for cable told me SP2 was just as good) plus the firewall and NAT built into my Dlink router, then port forward all he things i need to make the internet so much fun. (www.portforward.com for settings for most routers)

sorry if i'm teaching you to suck eggs.

You are not teaching me to suck eggs at all. This is very good advice and I appreciate it.

[Hartside]

Go to www.paretologic.com and run xoftspy ... hope this helps...

I just tried the two anti spyware programs on this site and both ask for registration before they will clean the detected files. One version is $39.99 (the 1.7Mb version) and the other $29.99 (the 4Mb version) I wonder if they no longer do a free version?

I'll probably stick with AdAware

[boltonbrowny]

Originally Posted by civic-babe

That is terrible, my husband just said that you might have spyware on your PC logging keystrokes...????

Go to www.paretologic.com and run xoftspy ... hope this helps...

Ive paid for the xoftspy software and really wouldnt recommend it, most of the scans ive tried with this product found nothing on my pc.

There's a few free products available that do a good job that you can download off cnet downloads

1) Ad Aware SE Personal by Lavasoft - ad aware removal tool.

2) Spybot Search and Destroy - finds spyware and also protects you from
malicious internet sites.

3) Avast Anti Virus - Virus Protection that blocks Trojans and Worms from
attacking your pc.

Considering Avast is free I think this is the best protection on my pc, it runs constantly in the background similar to norton(dont rate this either), it updates itself on a near daily basis and has stopped at least 4 Trojan attempts.

The only thing you have to do is send avast your email who in return will send you a serial key to input.

Ive also noticed is that the program will not run with other anti virus, so you will have to choose which you prefer, but id definately put it above Norton. After installing Avast it found stuff Norton didnt.

[lippy]

BB - sorry to rain on your parade but I rate norton above the rest. I used to use adaware but didn't find it much use. Bit the bullet and got norton internet security and virus. It updates everytime norton release info, a min of twice a week, and finds all sorts of tracking cookies and stops trojans, monitors sites etc etc. I have had no problems with it at all. It may cost money but I have tried the freebies and found them wanting. Maybe it's the way i use my pcs but it works for me.

If you prefer the freebies then fine, but they are always the basic stuff in my experience and I don't think that is enough these days.

just my 2p

[Andrew Bartie]

Microsoft's Windows Defender is a pretty good free one if you are using Win XP.

Also Windows Update has a malicious program check, updated monthly.

[PhilCarrie]

Originally Posted by lippy

BB - sorry to rain on your parade but I rate norton above the rest. I used to use adaware but didn't find it much use. Bit the bullet and got norton internet security and virus. It updates everytime norton release info, a min of twice a week, and finds all sorts of tracking cookies and stops trojans, monitors sites etc etc. I have had no problems with it at all. It may cost money but I have tried the freebies and found them wanting. Maybe it's the way i use my pcs but it works for me.

If you prefer the freebies then fine, but they are always the basic stuff in my experience and I don't think that is enough these days.

just my 2p

unfortunately, norton has memory and cpu consumption issues. thefoorprint starts off small but as time progresses, it eventually uses huge amounts of resources. I have used and tested Norton antivirus, norton internet security, zone alarm internet suit and several other major band defenders of the the old virus/trojan wars.
Zone alarm is a very good program just has some interactions with certain software that I use so I had to remove it, but that being said, it is far far better than norton.
Norton I gave up with in the end.It didn't detect a virus and i had to reinstall the pc.

AVG antivirus is one the leading anti virus programs and there is a free version, which is basically the full version but after 30 days it converts to a free version. It real time scans emails, files and browsing, it updates definitions daily and scans daily too. The onl difference between the retail version and the free one is that the PROGRAM doesn't auto-update you have to do it manually. The VIRUS DEFINITIONS do upgrade automatically.
My wife has had the free version now for over a year and has not had one virus.
Combine AVG with SP2 firewall and either google popup blocker or internet explorer popup blocker(the new version), or Firefox browser with popup blocker built in and you are good to go, all totally free.

AVG are able to have a free personal edition on the back of their corporate licences which generate huge income, plus home retail for those more cynical of a free prog.

[Lozza]

Norton IMHO sucks...big time. Had it on my DELL and it was so user unfriendly, not to mention that it did not automatically update on one occasion, causing my PC to be attacked by a virus. I switched to McAfee and have no probs ever since.

Hope you get this sorted out mate, its deffo not good. Can I just ask if your PayPal and email passwords were the same? Exact same thing happened to my best mate last year and they managed to get into his ebay/paypal/email ect because all the passwords were the same....so tip for you all, different passwords for different accounts!

Good luck, fingers crossed for you sorting it out

[boltonbrowny]

Originally Posted by lippy

BB - sorry to rain on your parade but I rate norton above the rest. I used to use adaware but didn't find it much use. Bit the bullet and got norton internet security and virus. It updates everytime norton release info, a min of twice a week, and finds all sorts of tracking cookies and stops trojans, monitors sites etc etc. I have had no problems with it at all. It may cost money but I have tried the freebies and found them wanting. Maybe it's the way i use my pcs but it works for me.

If you prefer the freebies then fine, but they are always the basic stuff in my experience and I don't think that is enough these days.

just my 2p

No problem lippy Everyone has their own opinion
Avast was recommended by a friend whos main income is building pc's for a living...like i said ive paid for Xsoft, Norton and ZoneAlarm so i dont just look out for free software, im a big believer in you get what you pay for (The wife will vouch for that...she's no interest in cars, tv's and hi fi, ive not told her ive just spent £120 on an hdmi cable for the lcd she'd think i'd gone insane..lol)

When Norton was installed on my pc after 3 months it was taking nearly 10 mins to just connect me to the internet, when i uninstalled the connection was immediate.

The three downloads I mentioned ask for no money, will find trojans, worms, adware, spyware and virus's for the click of a button and im quite sure will find alot more than norton. ....bb.

[Topcat]

Originally Posted by boltonbrowny

When Norton was installed on my pc after 3 months it was taking nearly 10 mins to just connect me to the internet, when i uninstalled the connection was immediate.

I have Norton my b/f really moans about it, he says it lows down everything and stops things you want access to. The other day this forum wasnt updating properly on my pc and it turned out to be Norton had decided to start interferring with it.