Think email account has been hacked

[Unlikelyamazonian]

Hi, first time I have posted here.

I have a yahoo email account. When I opened it I transferred lots of saved emails into it. They were definitely there and readable as I sometimes looked back at them.

However yesterday, I opened some of the saved emails and the body of text in all of them has disappeared.

Some have only this kind of thing: (I have copied and pasted some of it) where the original text was.

xí?ÙrG²?ïõ%NÌØ?�ÀE"-Ó\I6EÒ$¼ÞLº@?½À½?ßíÄy¤ó çû³»)??cÆ?a8,ÝÕU¹üùgeVïÍë,=Ø??[WÕ«4ì6ñÑͬ,?nTWîu?ç+ý¸Èÿ?OªÅ×E!ú´(?ùÃ�«ç?Gª&?;ïªd6¯Ý´(]U?Á?U¨?Á$ø:?6©-à3)?4 ± lܬYUîîÏ|ö+J?UëJ̦j| ?cOT#?k?;?à?zp1�w7¨á ¯�Á?5�ÂZ~bFd& gÄ�û|ôL|ÒUëöy?=

I am mightily pissed off that these saved emails seem to have been obliterated.

Why might it happen??

My main concern is that my ExH has somehow accessed the account and just opened each one and deleted everything.

If this is the case, my second question is, given that he knew the email address, how easy is it then to hack someone's account password? Are there agencies who do this? It is not a password he could ever have guessed.

I dont know anything at all about hacking, but if your exh had accessed the account, surely he would just have deleted it all, not replaced it with gobbledegook?

sorry I meant to say - does yahoo have a helpline or an email or a forum to ask about this? - it might not just be your account thats got this problem.

Very few are gobbledygook. But I agree. Seems weird. I mean there are over 100 emails - many of them to do with him disappearing two years ago. I am just freaked out and upset the text has all gone.

Very few are gobbledygook. But I agree. Seems weird. I mean there are over 100 emails - many of them to do with him disappearing two years ago. I am just freaked out and upset the text has all gone.

just looked, you have to fill out a form and can't talk or ring directly as far as i can see

It's unlikely that he has done that. If he hacked it he would have been able to delete emails, but I don't think Yahoo will edit saved emails.

I don't use Yahoo, so I could be wrong, but to me it sounds more like Yahoo suffering from data corruption.

Ok. I am going to havce to try and contact them somehow. I want compensation for mental damage!!!

To answer your second question - if someone knows you very well it can be very easy to hack your account. However, unless he's a very talented hacker he would leave evidence.

The way to do it (assuming you haven't used an obvious password that he's just guessed) is via the password reset. Most of them use a question and answer to permit a password change. Someone who knows you well would be able to guess the answer and change your password. They could then access your e-mails, although your password would then have been changed and you'd know about it. To avoid this happening use a password with a random mix of letters, numbers and special characters and pick a really obscure question or use a wrong answer.

thanks so much for replies.

I have checked those things. No messes on password - unless that is,he goes in during his time zone, deletes, then changes password back to the one I use.

I think maybe it is data corruption as I really think he is too busy shagging and enjoying his responsibility-free life to do such things. If it is, corruption, then that's just terrible. Supposing they had been really necessary emails to do with work or a court case or criminal investigation blah blah???

I have sent an email to the account, from the email address I use for it, addressed to him under 'subject' sand aying 'Dear Arsewipe please get out of my account you useless piece of buggering nonsense' or words to that effect, then opened it and saved it in saved emails.

Will watch and see if it goes the way of my other saved emails.