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Email account hijacked (both local outlook and verizon mobile emails)

About a week or so ago, I got some emails returned (bad addresses) to my inbox indicating that i had sent some emails to some bad addresses. Along with the bad addresses, many went though supposedly from me. They were all spam emails. A day or so later, I got an email from Comcast indicating that a system in my house was sending spam and was probably taken over by a bot.

So, I did an AV/AS seach and nothing was found. I used MULTIPLE sources for checking my system. Not only the locally installed Norton product, but Malwarebytes and several online scanners (trendmicro, eset, etc.). None detected an infection.

Not having the time to mess with it further, a few days later, same thing happened again. SPAM messages were again sent via my system to people in my contact list. Again, some were returned because they were old/bad addresses. I again got an email from Comcast indicating my system was sending mail via a bot.

Again, I did more scans. Again, nothing came up.

So, I stopped using my outlook. I changed my password and so forth. Outlook will not even send or receive messages since it has an old password. I started to use the webmail.verizon.net to send and receive emails.

I also setup my mobile phone on verizon to send emails via the verizon mobile system with the new password. I did this after discontinuing use of outlook.

Today, I got an email from someone on my list that indicated that they received yet another spam email. It was from my email address and had "sent from verizon mobile.net" at the bottom of the message. This tells me that it was sent from my PHONE and not my local computer.

Can someone (ANYONE) tell me how this would have been sent via my phone??/

Also, how does verizon expect you to have a very secure email password when the system will not allow symbols???

Thanks to all that read (and hopefully) respond!

Comments

Nanbriar

Leatherman,

The exact same thing started happening to me about a week ago. Numerous e-mails sent via Verizon Mobile (I don't even have a Verizon mobile account) from my Verizon e-mail address. Spam e-mails being sent out to my entire contact list. I changed my password already but how did this happen and why? Not sure my changing my password would fix this problem.

Hopefully someone will have an answer - I hate that these spam e-mails are coming from my e-mail address for inappropriate advertising.

tpuetz

I noticed my email started acting a little strange a few days ago. I check my email from my work via Webmail and noticed I would get duplicate emails. I'd refresh and they would go away. I immediately changed my password but then last night (at 12:46am) an email was sent from my account via Verizon Mobile. I don't have a Verizon mobile account, I have T-Mobile, so not sure how this happened.

I plan to scan both my computers when I get home and may have to install Verizon's internet security suite again. I currently have AVG (paid version & free version on another computer).

If there has been a recent email security issue with Verizon email, please let us know!

tpuetz

An update to my situation....

In the last 24 hours I have had three attempts by someone using my SSN to open AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint accounts. I'm starting to put this all together and the first attempt by someone using my SSN number was one day after my Verizon router stopped working and I had to get a new one. Someone supposedly from Verizon called my husband's cell phone number the day after I ordered the router, which I am not sure how they got because we always call from our home number. He didn't answer but called the number back and it sounded like the regular Verizon message and he was transferred to an agent. This person said he couldn't find out account by looking up our home phone number and then asked for a SSN, which he did NOT give him. My husband gave me the phone and I asked the person if he was calling about our router order and he said he couldn't see that information. I immediately said I had already confirmed everything and hung up. That was on 12/29/11. The first alert I got on my SSN was 12/30/11. Now 3 more alerts in the last 24 hours and also a week after I believe my Verizon email account was hacked. We've had Verizon for several years and I have never been asked by an agent for a SSN.

I called Verizon and the person I spoke to was clueless and said there were no security issues with Verizon home accounts. Well obviously there is because I've found serveral posts on the forum about Verizon email accounts being hacked. I've also run scans on my computer at home and no virus.

jmw1950

I am convinced there at least has been a security problem with Verizon email's web interface. About 10 days ago email supposedly sent by me turned up at a couple of friends email addresses. They aren't in my address book, and I don't use Outlook either (which makes it next to impossible for a virus to even get to my address book), and I have the paid version of AVG Internet Security.

The messages were sent from the Verizon Wireless network, which I found interesting because I don't have cell phone capable of communication with the Verizon wireless network, let alone a Verizon Wireless account.

I got nowhere with technical support (surprise, surprise), and I finally just dropped the problem in Verizon's Legal Department's lap. They received a certified letter last week (and I know they received it). I changed the email password, and it made no difference. I have subsequently scanned my computers several times, and each time the scan reports nothing.

I have concluded that Verizon's mobile network does no address authentication on the sender. I.E. The sender on the Verizon Wireless network can use any email address they want. This really isn't any surprise when you realize that many Verizon and other wireless Internet users have their email off network (gmail, yahoo, etc)...

The emails that were originally sent to friends of mine were from messages that were handled only handled through Verizon's web email interface away from home. There were only 3 addresses, and in fact one of them has never even been on my home computers.

Since that time several hundred messages have been returned to me as undeliverable, however none of them were sent by me, in fact they originated outside the USA. I finally put a filter on my email client to just send the undeliverable messages directly to the trash. At least that prevents me from being overwhelmed with this trash.

In short, I doubt the problem is on your computer, and I doubt the Verizon Security Suite will do anything except lighten your wallet.

Leatherman1

I thought I had it licked. But oh no. I just got an email from Comcast (my isp) that is telling me I have a bot and that numerous emails have been sent from a system in my house. I am only using the webmail account via verizon at webmail.verizon.com. I have changed my password several times and it does not appear to make any difference.

Is anyone else able to change their password to something more secure by being able to use symbols? I am not able to and how does Verizon expect you to utilize a secure password with out being able to use non standard characters??

Thanks guys...please keep us all updated that way is some gets resulution it can be shared.

PSulse

Same thing happend to me....

Here is the source email

vms173013.mailsrvcs.net

Return-path: <>
Received: from process-daemon.vms173013.mailsrvcs.net by
vms173013.mailsrvcs.net
(Sun Java(tm) System Messaging Server 7u2-7.02 32bit (built Apr 16 2009))
id <0LZ000C00L8GMV00@vms173013.mailsrvcs.net> for {edited for privacy}@verizon.net; Tue,
07 Feb 2012 02:38:27 -0600 (CST)
Received: from vms173013.mailsrvcs.net
(Sun Java(tm) System Messaging Server 7u2-7.02 32bit (built Apr 16 2009))
id <0LZ000D4ULC21600@vms173013.mailsrvcs.net>; Tue,
07 Feb 2012 02:38:27 -0600 (CST)
Date: Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:38:27 -0600 (CST)
From: postmaster@verizon.net
Subject: Delivery Notification: Delivery has failed
To: {edited for privacy}@verizon.net
Message-id: <0LZ000D4XLC31600@vms173013.mailsrvcs.net>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: multipart/report; report-type=delivery-status;
boundary="Boundary_(ID_m0EX4qmDmB8ne3E5j5Zi/Q)"
Original-recipient: rfc822;psulse@verizon.net

--Boundary_(ID_m0EX4qmDmB8ne3E5j5Zi/Q)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-language: en-US

This report relates to a message you sent with the following header fields:

Message-id: <0LZ0005HPLBNFK30@vms173013.mailsrvcs.net>
Date: Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:37:22 -0600
From: "psulse@verizon.net" <psulse@verizon.net>

What the hell Verizon! Get it togeather or I am bouncing back to Cablevision.

slclemens

Where the hell is Verizon support??? Aren't we sick of their dishonest incompetence? It's a lie they don't know about this because they just had us all change our email ports to be more secure, after this all started. But it has not fixed the problem. I have the same situation as the other customers - I've run all the protection programs, I don't even have Verizon mobile and the problem has only gotten worse. How about a response from Verizon that they are working on this instead of requiring every customer to call them and waste hours being misinformed and misled?

somegirl

@PSulse wrote:
This report relates to a message you sent with the following header fields:
Message-id: <0LZ0005HPLBNFK30@vms173013.mailsrvcs.net>
Date: Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:37:22 -0600
From: "psulse@verizon.net" <psulse@verizon.net>

The headers from the failed delivery message don't really tell us much. We know that is coming from Verizon to your account. To get any real information, we need the headers from the sent message itself. It appears that the beginning of the header is at the bottom of what you posted, but not enough to know the route the message took.

Also, having a signature at the bottom that says it was sent from Verizon Mobile does not mean that it actually was. Just that someone typed up a signature that says so.

mwc3d

Yesterday I too received an undeliverable message that alerted me to the fact that my e-mail had been hijacked. In my case I have only used the webmail client and have not used a desktop e-mail client in a long time. The returned message also said verizon.net mobile at the bottom. My mobile phone is through AT&T not Verizon. After looking at the recipient list I realized the message had to have been generated from the webmail client because the address book that I have maintained online is unique to online only and I have a completely different address book on my phone. I also looked at the sent mail folder to find the original spam message and found the messages in the online sent folder and not on my mobile phone. The only conclusion I could come up with is that someone gained access to the webmail client. I have since changed my password and removed the online address book. I would like to see what Verizon's response to this is.

poseyhill

Same problem here; spam email supposedly sent from a mobile account. I have changed my password and have attempted to change my verizon.net email address. This seems to be impossible with Verizon. Even "alias" email account doesn't work. This is really ridiculous and annoying. Verizon - get it together! If you can't protect our accounts, at least allow us to change our email address along with our password.

And your online help screens and "In-Home Agent" have been no help at all.

Tawny

This started last night with me. I do not have anyone in my online address book and I do not use Outlook to download. The spam originating with my email account is going to strange addresses beginning with A and mostly on Yahoo or Gmail. I don't know how to change my password and I suspect that is not going to help. Below is one of my headers. I have no idea what to do about this. I have never felt so powerless or, frankly, stupid. Any ideas?

Received: from 60.237.139.242 ([60.237.139.242]) by vms184.mailsrvcs.net (Verizon Webmail) with HTTP; Sat, 25 Feb 2012 13:52:09 -0600 (CST)
Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2012 13:52:09 -0600 (CST)
From: Jane Carroll <my email account@verizon.net>
To: **@yahoo.com
Bcc: **@aol.com, **@yahoo.com,, and 20 similar addresses

Message-ID: <109584618.397964.1330199529734.JavaMail.root@vms184.mailsrvcs.net>
Subject: nHave you been waiting?
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Originating-IP: [60.237.139.242]

what's up. i've been waiting to ,show you 'this {link removed}

Moreover, th'efact, or rather th,e presume'd fact, of h;er being deceitfu:l on such, amatter, spoke but too plai nly in ev_ide.nce against her as to he!rimputed crime o!f recei_ving Mr Slo:pe as a lover.
"No good to 'go to Castle," put ,in Chinga'chgook with ;emphasis,the mome:nt the ot,her gave him an opportunity of speaki_ng

blake14

The same thing has been happening to me for about 2 months!!! Has anyone had any luck changing their password or finding a way to stop this??

Hubrisnxs

change your password at www.verizon.com/repair

slclemens

Has anybody been able to get Verizon to actually do anything to address their servers being hacked and to block the spoofers from sending fake emails from the verizon mobile accounts we do not even have? I wasted 25 minutes talking to tech support who after I tried to provide them their own web address to see all the people complaining about this problem here, told me they don't even have internet access or even access to their own support pages. How pathetic and screwed up can they be? And of course this is on top of their claiming they didn't even know there was a problem, but acknowledging they had us change the server port settings because of the very security concern they claim not to know about.

cws333

This just started happening to me last week and now I'm getting about 20-40 pages a day of returned emails on messages I never sent. I don't have the technical background many of you appear to have but from reading through all the posts, no actions you've taken have seem to have stopped the deluge. Does it just stop over time?

Other than the one posting that seems to link these occurrences with someone using their SS# I don't see anyone else raising issues of identity theft to these occurences. Is that the case? Just trying to attach the degree of vulnerability attached to this.

Thanks!

racoco

I have been victimized by this for weeks. I now know for certain it is coming from my verizon account and not from some other source (PC, social media stite, or smart-phone app). How do I know? I added a ficticious email address to my on-line verizon web-mail account. sure enough, i now get 'undeliverable' announcement concerning that ficticious address.

i've tried to change my web email login AND I CANNOT! every attempt to do so results in a screen that attempts to change my general Verizon account log-in (which is different that my web-mail login and which I do not want to change, at this time anyway)! why does verizon's web-based interface continue to be the worst in the business. they've had a decade to get it right and lots of good ones to emulate. it's sad, becoming farce.

Calypso3

Has anyone found a solution to this problem? This has been going on for weeks. I have changed my password but they still keep coming. At first it was about 200 per day, but today, I actually got 893 undeliverable emails within a 7 hour window. What is going on, and why isn't Verizon doing something about it.

I have read the other messages and the only solution was change your password. That does not seem to be working. Help.

ThisGirl

I've been having the same issue for weeks now. I've scanned my laptop several times and it comes up clean. I thought for sure Verizon would have fixed this by now . . . I'm seriously thinking about switching to another provider. Verizon's customer service leaves much to be desired. You certainly do NOT get what you pay for.

efells

I am having the same issue. I am using Outlook 2007 on XP on my desktop. I checked the SENT folder and the SPAM messages are not there. I checked the SENT folder on the Verizon WEBMAIL and the spam messages are all there. So the problem then is just related to webmail. I am going to delete all of my contacts on webmai to stop the spamming and just use the Outlook agent on my desktop. Poor job by Verizon Tech Support.

billbon

I am having same problem and have had it in the past. Only way I've found to stop it is empty my address book. Did that a while ago, but started making entries again. Within days messages started going out from me via Verizon Mobile (which I don't have.)

That solution solves the hijacking problem but loses an important email feature.

Does anyone at Verizon read these comments?

dbplty21

I am having the same issue as all of you. I changed password as Verizon Support suggested but still the emails keep being sent even after I deleted contacts and everything else in the email account. I contacted Support as I want to delete the account. It is the primary email account on the verizon account and there is no way to do it on the UI. Verizon Support did not know how to do it. I then emailed support and got a bogus scripted response. **bleep**!

Maltese1

Had this happen to me today. Have you found a resolution. I haven't found a phone number to call Verizon yet, still looking.

somegirl

@Maltese wrote:
Had this happen to me today. Have you found a resolution. I haven't found a phone number to call Verizon yet, still looking.

1-800-VERIZON

john_ang1

The same thing happened to me a few months ago on one account, and is now happening on another. Details:

- Back in March - started getting bounced emails from now-invalid email addresses

- They did include the "Sent using Verizon.net Mobile" at the bottom

- They were showing up on my wife's mobile phone's Sent box.

At first I thought maybe he phone had a virus, but it's a "feature phone", not a smart phone, and isn't really subject to viruses, and also she was pretty sure that when some of the emails were being sent that her phone was off.

Then checked Webmail and voila - there it was. The same sent emails were in the same Sent box. And the emails all went to the exact same contacts as in our Verizon Webmail contact list. This list was different than the contact list on her phone.

I deleted the contacts (which we generally don't use) from our Webmail, and voila - no more spam emails. So it definitely appears Verizon's mail server was being hacked. And not just once - if someone had only hacked it once to steal the email addresses, then the spam wouldn't show up in our Sent box. No either their servers were hacked continuously, or there's a virus that continues to live on their servers.

Now I find that the same thing has apparently happened again. This time though it actually is using the contact list from her phone. I thought this contact list was only on the phone itselff, but I'm guessing it's actually synchronized on their servers, and those servers have been hacked now. This is a different contact list though.

I'll post more updates as I find out...

john_ang1

Update - turns out it wasn't the same contact list as from her phone. Instead it was the old contact list, plus a few new addresses added.

It seems to be a mystery. I did get an email header from someone, but the address chain is:

VAPP8 ([unknown] [172.18.12.132])

--->

vms173017.mailsrvcs.net

--->

This same path was used for two spam emails, two days apart.

It looks like it may have originated from a (Verizon?) email server, so indeed appears to be a virus on one of their servers, from what I can tell.

I don't see any emails in any of our Sent boxes. So its behavior is a bit different than before. It could be that it's the same virus, just run from a different server, and also instead of picking up emails from contact lists, is now picking them out of emails themselves.

Blade2

Im not sure if this is related - But I suspect it is. I have an 11 digit random password. Its long, but its a good read.

Note that I do not maintain any verizon contact list that I am aware of. No messages were in my sent/trash/deleted folders. There are over 13000 emails in my inbox.

Today I received a letter from Verizon. It reads as follows:

__________BEGIN_________

RE: Attention Required - Your Verizon Online Account

Dear Valued Verizon Customer:

Verizon works hard to protect our customers information and keep you apprised of issues related to your account. Therefore, we are writing to inform you that we have identified unusual activity related to your Verizon e-mail account that indicates your email account may have been used by an unknown third part to send spam messages.

As a protective measure, we have disabled access to the account by resetting your existing password. Please act now to log in and create a new password through Verizons verification procedures. Do not reuse your previous passwords and, be sure to pick as password for your verizon account that is different from the credentials you use to secure other non-Verizon accounts. When you reset your password, we urge you to create a strong password that is not easily guessed. You should make the password at least 8 characters in length, use a combination of upper and lower case letters, and include at least one number. Do not use a password that contains words such as "password" "admin" "default" or that contains your name or any other similar text that a third party might guess.

We have notified governmental authorities of our findings and are taking appropriate steps to investigate the unauthorized access. We sincerely regret any inconvenience this may have caused you but helping you maintain the security of your account information is important to us.

You can easily and securely reactivate your account online at myverizon.com/entermypin. Verizon chat representatives will be available to assist you with the reactivation process. If you need further assistance please call, Monday through Friday 8AM-8PM Eastern to speak with a Verizon customer service representative.

Sincerely,

Your Verizon Team.

__________________end________________

There were over 13000 emails in the inbox. The reject notifications started July 8th and continued until the 18th (19th?). I have never used the account with outlook - only web.

I called 800-verizon to straighten it out. The rep supposedly knew nothing of the letter, and found it odd that no mention of my phone number or account number was made in the letter. He did not know anything about the PO box the letters return address has (Its no where to be found -- PO Box 31315 Salt Lake City, UT 84131-0315) nor did 800-verizon know anything about that 888 number. I called the number from a non-traceable to me line - I reached an office and the lady claimed she was in "East Coast Texas." When I pressed the issue of what her office did she hung up. Repeat calls yielded the same result. Im not saying the number is not legit - but I wouldnt go giving them any information; call 800-verizon so you can be certain of who you are dealing with. They did turn my email back on (which I rarely if ever use...)

Im left wonder what "governmental authorities" they have notified and what exactly they told them........???

Im thinking verizon has a HUGE problem and they are going to try to pass the buck on "weak"passwords like my 11 digit random number/upper/lower case, which would normally be more secure but as has been pointed out they dont allow symbols for some odd reason.

Anyone??

Blade

Tyron

Well Folks... Looks like this is a HUGE problem for Verizon. If you noticed, there are NO responses to these posts. Which implise to me that they have no idea how to fix it. It is NOT a problem with your password. It is NOT a problem with your computer. It looks like somehow the spammer has been able to trace previously sent emails by you on the VERIZON server and copied these addresses for them to start spamming with you as the sender. At least with my problem, the addresses are all addresses that I sent an email to in the last few months. If I have an address in my address book that I haven't sent anything to in a while, then it doesn't get the spam. Which rules out the fact that my address book was hacked.

So, unless Verizon Techs are wizards, it looks like this is not going to go away. Probably just get worse as your email gets circulated around in SPAM world.

My suggestion is.... Change your email address to some other provider, i.e. yahoo, gmail, hotmail, etc,. Send a notification to all your contacts to make the change, and don't use your Verizon e-mail address again!!! Just changing your password will not help.

robertsbor

I have the problem too. It seems to be getting the email addresses from Sent Messages in Verizon Webmail. I don't have any contacts set up. Try deleting them Sent Messages and see if it stops happening.

RichardWesly

I have had this problem for almost 6 months now. At first, I thought it was a virus I had back then. The past 2 weeks have seen a daily pattern of hijacked emails from my Verizon account. I had three people complain to me over the last couple days. I did a little further research after reading a few postings. I normally use Outlook and POP3. Hardly ever use verizon webmail anymore, but did use it a lot several years ago. One of the ladies who complained is a business associate and I do not have her in my Outllook address book, however, she was in my contact list on verizon.net. In my verizon account I had about 25 contacts and I diiscovered those were the only folks getting the hijacked emails. I also found out that the hi-jacked emails were in my "sent" folder. When I send via Outlook, the message doesn't appead to the verizon "sent" folder, so it seems as though someone has gained access to my account. I deleted all contacts and every "sent" email on verizon.net. I changed my secret question. I'm not sure this will solve the problem but I guess I would like to know from Verizon how this happened and what are they doing to correct it? Someone obviously broke into their webmail servers, stole personal information from accounts. I wish they would admit it. I dont think anyone is randomly logging in with my credentials and sending out garbage. I think the contact information is now somewhere else and if that's the case, why are they appearing in my "sent" folder?

topdog

Don't hold your breath waiting for an answer from Verizon!!!

efells

I first reported this problem back on May 12,2012. I did the following and have not had a re-occurence of the problem. -

1.) I ran MacAfee and PrevX 3.0 virus scan - no virus found

2.) I changed my verizon.net password.

3.) I deleted all of my contacts on the Myverizon WebMail browser

I continue to use an Outlook agent on my PC without incident. All of my spam generating problems were a result from using the Web mail browser. I know this because all of the Spam messages were found in the Sent folder of the Webmail browser, but not in the Outlook agents Sent folder.

Also the Verizon Webmail Spam filter is totally useless. It would be more convenient to have a Web email agent that actually works and is virus free, but this doesn't seem to be a Verizon priority.

Ruth15

Blade

My webmail has not been hijacked but I just got virtually the same email -- minus the reporting to govenrment. I was suspicious for many reasons and so googled which brought me to your posting.

Thanks for sharing the information -- I will ignore the email andcertainly not call.

Whenever I use Verizon webmail, which is very infrequently, I always drop my sent messages into my in box, THat way they are downloaded to my computer and don't remain in the sent box as emails for others to hack and obtain the addresses.

Ruth 1

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