Feeling Violated

[madilayn]

I just tried to log into my Neopets account - and discovered it's been frozen because they claim I've been using an "autobuyer" (whatever that is).

I also noticed that my active pet was changed.

Which leads me to conclude that somebody hacked my account there.

I feel completely violated at that.  And now paranoid about about security.  On Sunday I

Comments

[minki_moira]

Big hugs Meggy. There are some weird nutters around and they'll do whatever they want just to piss us off just because we want to have fun on the web. All they want to cause is havoc and mayhem.

I hope things were sorted out with Neopets and Yahoo.

[madilayn]

Yahoo is OK - but Neopets will probably be rather long and drawn out. I'm more upset than I thought I would be about the possibility of loosing my pets though - in many way the 4 of them have replaced having "real" pets. Let's not even go to the place where my first pet was named after the "pet name" I had for my late, much lamented pussycat.

[minki_moira]

It would be a shame if you were to loose them. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you won't.

[madilayn]

Looks like I have lost everything. I had a reply from Neopets and basically they haven't even bothered to investigate anything. Basically: your user account + transgression = must be you. Looks like I will have to start again. S is doing a search to see if my pets are in the pound.

[arlenerios]

That really sucks. You may have spyware on your computer. Hope it can get fixed.

[madilayn]

I've checked my PC - but no spyware there - there has been a history on Neopets of hackers getting into accounts. Often it's teenage users. Stupid, really, when what they're "stealing" has no $$ value in the real world.

But it has smirched my own online reputation now. Time to fire the Bird Missiles I think!

[cricketb]

I hear you on the violation bit. Hugs!

Just finished reading an article in Scientific American about identity theft; there are a few companies who now monitor a person's online presence, which is a lot more than credit bureaus do. But not a lot of useful advice to protect ourselves.

Apparently birth certificates are now searchable online. Which means Mother's Maiden Name, Birthdate, or Town of Birth aren't terribly useful backup questions. And with classmates.com, they can find your high school, and from that possibly the mascot. They keep telling us not to let our kids give online friends their names, and not to talk to people they don't already know in real life, but I think that gives a false sense of security. You almost need to create an entirely false online ID, but I don't like that idea at all!

Here's hoping you get to all your groups before this criminal does.