UH OH
I wonder if that link she flagged on the forum was a virus. I clicked on that link too. Now I wonder if I am stuck in some exotic place, sans passport and in need of funds pleading for help from anyone who emails my account.

If you are using outlook (hotmail) and the message is in the junk folder, if you use the drop down arrow on the "Not Junk" tab, you can select, "Help! My friend's been hacked".

You state that the email is not hers, but has her name. I see "Joan" on that email, not "Joanne". It could just be a phishing scam.

the fake message has another email address than the one joanne uses both here on gw and when she emails me ...

the name they use joan XXXXX is the same name that she uses with her legitimate email.

I sent Hotmail the message my friends being hacked. I didn't know if she was but it couldn't hurt.

if it's a phishing scam ... how would that work? is it my email that was targeted? or would it have come from hers? How did they get my email and her legit name?

They hacked her account, got her contacts, as well as the emails of anyone who contacted her, meaning even if she didn't save you as a contact, they still have your email address because you emailed her. Then, using the information, they either changed her email address or exported her contacts and information to another email account.

thanks aurora ... do I need to change my passwords and contact everyone on my books to tell them that I do not need money etc? thanks.

Thank you, Aurora, great explanations. Lucky, very funny!
Silvana, no, you did not get hacked and don't have to do anything. I got hacked because I did not follow my own advice. I got an email from an unfamiliar address on a topic I did not recognize with a link that was also unfamiliar. So, there were three clues. But I clicked away. That is all it takes, one click, for a hacker to be able to clone something that resembles a person's name and address.

To get rid of a spam email, just send it to the spam folder on your email account, then empty the spam folder.
You can change your password if you want.
I put a more complete explanation on a new thread.
However, Aurora explained it better than I could!
It would be good if the Moderators would read this and remove the two posts with the bogus links on them. I will try to contact the Moderators to have those two posts by the hacker removed from the threads, however, I don't think that
was what caused the hacking of my email.
Joanne

This post was edited by fortyseven on Wed, Nov 26, 14 at 0:45

I received one of these supposedly from a person with whom I had exchanged a few emails. The message was sent under her name & all looked official, but I knew it had to be bogus because I didn't know this person well enough for her to be asking me for money to help her get out of Russia. I trashed the message. It is upsetting that these scams are circulating.

Yes scams are a pain and it is scary to be targeted, but we may as well make the best of it - ask her to pick up some new Russian / Ukranian hybrids while she's there and smuggle them back for us in her carryon!

oh lol!!! shallons that is funny .... thanks for the laugh. :)