What do you do when your e-mail account gets hacked?

[KJIM]

Some Moroccan scumbag hacked my Hotmail account.

As far as I can tell, my contacts were erased and replaced with five addresses unknown to me.

Beyond changing my password, what else should I do? Are the people who were in my address book susceptible to any viruses or anything?

My other two e-mail accounts seem to be OK.

 

[Dirk Legume]

Do not keep the same email account. Delete it and start over. Since they already got your contacts, there's no reason to try and salvage it. Also, if you aren't already, run a virus scan and then something for spyware and adware. More than likely they were just trying to use your email, but it's possible they got into your system somehow too. I would hate to think there is some sort of keylogger or something on there.

 

[forever_town]

Yeah, delete the e-mail account and start over.

And, never ever ever store your password. Set up your e-mail so that you have to log in every time. Also, make absolutely sure you LOG OUT of your e-mail when you're done with it.

 

[TrooperBari]

Might not be a bad idea to check your sent messages and see if you have any other damage to undo.

I had this happen to me a few years back and had to assure several people I wasn't the one sending them profane, sexually explicit e-mails from my account.