Hotmail account blocked

paulinemoan

On Friday I received approx 80 mails saying deamon delivery failed I deleted them and my PC was fine. Saturday my PC worked fine and then on Sunday when I logged on it came up hotmail account blocked. There was a link to enter to reset your password, but they had my username wrong so I could not go into it. After trying to find another way to contact hotmail, via e-mail, my only option was to phone. I googled the number for tech support at hotmail and got a 0905 number. After speaking to a tech support guy for 19 minutes (at the cost of £1.53 connection charge plus £1.53 per minute) I was sent an account recovery mail to another e-mail account I have. The tech had my username wrong so I had to phone back! I got a different tech support guy who was very helpful and quick and he sent me an e-mail to enable me to change my password and all was well (apart from the fact I had spent £48.96 on the phonecalls. I got a call from the team leader today on my mobile so I explained I was unhappy about the first phonecall as the person I spoke too did not deal with my problem properly and she explained she was phoning to tell me my PC had been hacked, that all of my details were in danger, e.g bank accounts etc, and that I should immediately purchase a security programme from msn for £199 that would stop this happening again.She also said that Macafee, Norton and any other software protection did not prevent your PC from being hacked. I asked for an address or e-mail address so I could make a complaint and discuss this further and she told me there was no address for msn hotmail or e-mail address and the only thing to do was phone the 0905 number and ask for her and she would phone me back on my mobile. . I phoned trading standards and am in the process of trying to reclaim some of the money back for the phone calls. I called an independant computer tech and he said the number I phoned ( which hotmail customer service give you) was a number subcontracted by msn hotmail and was not actually msn hotmail themselves. He also said there was no threat to my PC and the person I spoke to was just trying to scare me into buying the product. He felt this was a scam. I have tried to find an address for hotmail and there is not one to be found and also there is no way I can find a way to contact them by e-mail, only by customer support who give you the 0905 number to call!. Has anyone else encountered these problems and does anyone have an address or e-mail address for msn hotmail. Thank you

pogofish

Why not take this as a good opportunity to ditch Hotmail move to a decent email provider instead?

Lifeforms

pogofish wrote: »

Why not take this as a good opportunity to ditch Hotmail move to a decent email provider instead?

Has to be echoed here. btw. if you go to hotmail.com whilst not being logged in, it will take you to the log in screen. There you can take the option underneath the log in boxes to click on "Can't access your account?" which will give you several options to recover your account.

The first sign was the mailer demon messages. At that point, surely alarm bells are ringing, so if in doubt, change your email password.

Why would you phone a premium line for support? If you were aware of the cost, surely that's your own fault for ringing it, whether this number is the only one available. You knew the cost of it. At the very least of going through security checks and holding it's going to be bare minimum 5-10 mins on that line, and with a PPM of that amount, they're in no real rush to help.

I Suggest you scan your computer using the stickies that are on this forum to make absolutely sure it is "fine".

I also suggest you ditch Hotmail, and go use gmail. They're a lot better security wise. Hotmail sucks for email, and is constantly being hacked.

debitcardmayhem

Sadly I have to agree with the above, no consolation for you of course, but you said "On Friday", alarms should have gone off in your head then, then look for answers or help. Unfortunately all you will get now is Why call them? and was your password difficult to guess? it is worth running malwarebytes quick scan to see if your PC is compromised http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free and download the free version , and post the logs on here

agrinnall

Given that Hotmail is owned by Microsoft you should be contacting them to complain. This page gives some options:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support#tab0

hpuse

Hello,
There is no phone support for Hotmail !!!!
http://windowslivehelp.com/thread.aspx?threadid=33661bd6-764a-416c-8332-631c069a045e

mr_fishbulb

paulinemoan wrote: »

I should immediately purchase a security programme from msn for £199 that would stop this happening again.She also said that Macafee, Norton and any other software protection did not prevent your PC from being hacked.

Hmmmmmmm that doesn't sound right.

Where did you find this number for Microsoft? Sounds like they are trying to scam you, and you're paying for the phone call for them to do it!

ChiefGrasscutter

Lifeforms wrote: »

I also suggest you ditch Hotmail, and go use gmail. They're a lot better security wise. Hotmail sucks for email, and is constantly being hacked.

Maybe Google new privacy rules - or rather the lack of them will be causing people to close their gmail accounts and move to hotmail rather than the other way round.

ashleypride

hpuse wrote: »

Hello,
There is no phone support for Hotmail !!!!
http://windowslivehelp.com/thread.aspx?threadid=33661bd6-764a-416c-8332-631c069a045e

That's correct, the OP almost certainly called "The Tech Line". http://thetechline.co.uk/

Lifeforms

ChiefGrasscutter wrote: »

Maybe Google new privacy rules - or rather the lack of them will be causing people to close their gmail accounts and move to hotmail rather than the other way round.

I very much doubt it. Most people will not even bother with those. They'll accept it, and assume it wont affect them in any way. They'll continue to use it with their android smart phone and carry on in life happy to know that granny mac in Australia is able to email and chat through it. That it manages their diaries, and contacts, and gives them searches they want (not what joe next door wants)
And just FYI: Before we get apple users saying it doesn't happen with Apple; It does, often.

Extreme privacy online is a misnomer. Whether you're on here posting about your liife/debts/experiences, or simply buying online there is information out there about you, that you probably aren't even aware of.

The google privacy didn't especially change massively, they just grouped it all and announced it. People then worried because they'd not even considered it before, or even read the individual privacy terms before.

paulinemoan

Thanks to all who replied, yes I understand you wondering why I phoned a premium number, but it was the only one I could find and as I am awaiting news from a very ill friend from abroad, panicked and just wanted to get into my mails. I also just blanked the daemom mails from my head as I have other things on my mind, yes, I know sounds like excuses, but i am not usually so dense, probably more annoyed with myself than anything else. Thank you for all the advice and will certainly be taking it on board. I think the point I was trying to get accross (in my ver long winded and moaning way) is that there is no contact infor for hotmail, even after speaking to trading standards and even CISAS would not deal with it as hotmail are not an organisation they deal with.