posted on July 9, 2003 04:30:30 AM
My parents share my AOL account with me. About a year ago, I stopped using AOL and went to cable internet. My parents wanted to keep the AOL because it's easier for them to use and they wanted to keep their screen names so my father and I changed the billing to his information.
Last night, I get an email from a friend who forgot I no longer used AOL (duh, the @aol.com is not in my current email). He saw that I was online with my AOL account and IM'd me. Was he surprised when he was told I was out of the country. Fortunately, he emailed me to tell me this. I immediately went on to aol.com and tried to get mail. The password would not take. My account had somehow been hacked in to. I called AOL and had a block put on that screen name.
Now, it seems there are a lot of people out there trying to get a free ride. They are the scum at the bottom on the kitchen sink drain pipe (they don't even deserve the scum on the TOP of the pond). Watch, watch, watch. You have no way of knowing that someone has hacked into your account unless a miracle like this one happens. Regularly change your password. If one day you cannot get it, call AOL immediately. Their security stinks. This is the second time this has happened to me even when changing my password regularly. The first time resulted in a bill on my phone bill for over $100!
I am glad to be rid of AOL. The hacker will be in for a big surprise when they try to sign-on today.
posted on July 9, 2003 05:32:06 AM
are you sure this is your account,just because he has your screen name??
and how does he manage to change your password,he has to know your old password first??
My parents never just leave it on although my father spends hours on it. Since it is dial-up it interfers with their phone service. No clue as to how anyone got my password not once, but twice. I never give it to anyone. Not even my parents have my password. I don't know how I survived 4 years of AOL. I developed quite a vocabulary while using it, though.
Stopwhining
It was my account and how they got my password I'll never know. When I spoke to AOL they said my password had been changed. It certainly wasn't me or my parents who don't know it and would not have a clue as to how to change a password. They're lucky then can even get on it. LOL! My friend was shocked to hear through the IM that I had left the country. Wonder where I went? Has anybody seen me? I hope it's someplace warm and dry!!
posted on July 9, 2003 08:59:42 AM
I had AOL for years and got cable three years ago and decided to keep the AOL as a backup and for the email name. They have a $4.95 per month plan for 3 hours and unlimited use of email and other stuff through the AOL.com website. Everything went fine for years and AOL software or a dialup modem was not even on either of my computers. Then one day I saw a $86 charge from AOL on my bank statement instead of the monthly $4.95 . When I called AOL they said I had accesed my account well beyond the 3 hours allowed and I said I didn't even have the AOL software installed and the account must have been hacked. After 15 minutes on hold they hung up on me. I called back and explained the situation again to another rep. This time I was routed to a service rep in India with a heavy Dunga Din accent. After 20 minutes of going around and around with him he changed my password ( I couldn't do that without AOL software ) and said they were posting a $20 credit to my bill and the other $61 was mine to eat and they that were sorry. I next called my bank and explained what happened and they said they would contest the charge and to sign the form they would send in the mail and send it back. I next called AOL to cancel my account and a lady refused to do so unless I looked up my free gifts online ( needs AOL software again ) I then called AOL again and got a lady to finally cancel my account. The bank got AOL to refund the full amount paid because I used their ATM / MasterCard to pay AOL each month.
Get you money back from the bank if you paid via a credit card. There must be a lot of people that simply eat those fees when their accounts are hacked and they don't have to. AOL is a very bad company in the event of a hacking.
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"See you in Church --- if you sit by a window !"
posted on July 9, 2003 09:36:43 AM
At least 35 million users. Just don't get your account hacked and expect AOL to not charge you the amount the hacker's ran up. If you have cable or DSL access then there is no reason to still have AOL. My cable has gone done a total of two hours in the past three years so the backup reason is almost nil. I used the AOL email in my auction but easily changed to a free hotmail email account.
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I do whatever my Rice Krispies tell me to ......
