E-mail has been hacked apparently

[Andallthingsflourish678]

I received an email in the junk box of my email account which appeared to have been sent from my e-mail address to my e-mail address which worried me rather.

I couldn’t see all of it but I could see the first line which said you’ve been hacked and a deadline by which to pay up within 48 hrs or compromising photos would be sent out. The latter made me smile as I am not in the first flush of youth and I wear thick fleece pjs to bed at this time of year so good luck with that!

Anyway, I deleted the email and changed my email account password.

Then I contacted my webmail provider who said that as far as they could see I had not been hacked.

This all happened on my desk top but my email is on my iPhone too.

Should I be worried? My dh said that just because it looks like it came from my account it doesn’t mean it did necessarily as they can photograph the address somehow? Is this right?

I wasn’t worried during the day when I was busy and thought it was probably phishing. But I am lying awake worried now as I hate the idea of a stranger going through all of my private correspondence, it’s freaking me out a bit.

Please can someone advise or help?

Nobody is going through your emails, don't worry about that. You've changed the passwords and if you delete the email now that'll be fine.

In fact, I would go through my phone laptop and change all my passwords.

It's just a scam email that gets sent out generically, it's designed to alarm people and make them think they've been hacked - you haven't. Ignore it.

Thank you so much - I fell asleep and then woke up worrying again! All of your replies are very reassuring thank you!

I can’t imagine what it must be like to be the victim of a proper hacking. It’s so disconcerting. They are probably unaware of the degree of worry they cause.

Just out of interest, how do they get it to appear as though the email has come from your own account?

Yep, had the exact same thing, changed my password and all was well, don't worry OP

That’s very kind thank you Christmasmug 💐

Fear not, just to help your understanding this is probably what happened.

When you create an email account, there is the actual email address and the Name.

email address : [email protected]
Name : John Smith

When you receive the email if you usually see the Name, not the actually email address.

If the name hasn't been populated, you usually see the email address instead, which is the basis of the "trick".

FYI, you can usually reveal the email address by rolling over the name.

So I suspect the mail you received had your email address placed as the name, so that you would think it had come from you, but probably had come from a completely different address.

If you still have the email in deleted items you can check

In short, you really don't need to worry, but there's no harm in changing your password.

Thanks very much for taking the time to explain that Dbank fascinating and I can’t tell you how much that puts my mind at rest.

It’s called “spoofing”- where they make an email look like it’s come from your account but it hasn’t. If it’s been mass sent it might be a worm. If you’ve changed your password you should be fine. In my experience gmail has the best anti-spam software. Hotmail tends to be very poor (I’ve received several spam emails from my sisters hotmail account)

I get these from time to time. Unless they actually include your password in the email (and get it correct!), there is nothing to worry about. As the previous poster says, they have simply spoofed your email address - made it look like the email came from your account when it hasn't. It isn't difficult to do if you have access to some basic tools. They don't have any incriminating or embarrassing images of you, despite what they claim.

The people who send these emails rely on there being enough porn users who will be taken in and pay up.

Thank you very much Hiddenmnetter
and prh47bridge. I very much appreciate the extra reassurance.