Was I hacked?

[Ginger Harp Seal Pup]

Okay, so this actually happened a couple of months ago but me and a friend were talking and she said to me:

"If I ask you something, do you promise me that you will answer me truthfully?"

I told her yes, I would. I consider her a friend and wouldn't lie to her. She asked if I was the one who was going round spamming another Neopets forum. I am actually banned from there (it's a long story, not one I would like to go into). I told her that no, it wasn't me. Thing is, she realised that they were using MY email address.

So, this person, he was going round spamming with my email address on show. Of course, everyone thought it was me and so they all hate me even more than they did already. My friend and I were talking about the possibilities and trying to fit it all together. We then thought that perhaps there was something wrong with the validation system. No such luck. There was never a fault with it. Then we thought that perhaps he'd just changed the email address he signed up with to one of my email addresses. I was relieved.

Then we found out that in order to change his email address to a new one, he'd have to log onto that address to get to the activation link. So that means he must have gotten into my email account in order to get the activation link and to change it to my email address.

I'm really hoping that there's another explanation to this, but I can't think of any. I don't want this to be a hacking. It means he got my password and I use that for everything, even for my online banking and Amazon and other things that use real money.

[Ammer]

If you're that worried, change your password.

It's never good to have one password for anything, because if someone finds out, you're screwed.

[alien]

It's never good to have one password for anything, because if someone finds out, you're screwed.

.. heh... woops.. *changes al his passwords* yea.. your passwords shouldnt be all the same, but mine are because im oblivious to everything. except when i got hacked twice on different places.. then i changed them and those two are the same..
anyway, change your passwordto something with capital letters, lowercase letters and an occasional number, people have said that makes it harder to guess and hack.

[BeDeviled]

When I got cookie grabbed last week they did get into one of my hotmail accounts... actually a few of my email accounts. I did get it back before anything else changed or whatever. Contact support, they should be able to tell you if another IP addy has been logging into your account.

[DiscordantNote]

Never EVER use the same password for everything, especially if you use a online banking/PayPal/anything that deals heavily with money account. Forget losing your email, you could lose your identity.

Change your passwords and (if possible) your recovery questions too. If it's a Hotmail/Gmail type of account, don't use it for account verification unless you can't find a more secure alternative. Those are pretty easy to break in to.

[Ginger Harp Seal Pup]

Thing is, I'm a forgetful person. I've tried the multiple password option and I always end up forgetting what they are. And yes, I've even tried writing them down and I always lose the piece of paper. I guess I'm my own worst enemy. I don't think I should have created this thread really because I bring it on myself anyway. Thank you for your help though.

[Ammer]

Thing is, I'm a forgetful person. I've tried the multiple password option and I always end up forgetting what they are. And yes, I've even tried writing them down and I always lose the piece of paper. I guess I'm my own worst enemy. I don't think I should have created this thread really because I bring it on myself anyway. Thank you for your help though.

The best advice I can give you is to save your passwords on the computer. As in, just save them in a random Word document under a stupid name like "Favourite songs" so no one else knows where they are. That way, you'll be able to look back to see what password matches what account.

I did that for my University accounts.