I had this happen recently, and it turned out to be scam-- they were actually trying to get my password. I had the same thing happen with Paypal (which I've used exactly once) and Facebook .... it's amazing how close they looked to the actual sites.

I change my passwords to random letter and numbers, nothing that could be figured out (even by me, unless I keep a note of it--off the computer).

Both my e-mail accounts have security questions in the case of attempted hacking, and I choose questions that no stranger would know.

It is annoying, hope it stops for you! Sometimes I miss pre-internet days and simpler (to me) times.

Thanks. I know it wasn't me because one of them was when I was on the road driving.

I think I did use the link to reset the password! Eek. But I've gotten the warning since I changed it as well. Looked for real for me. I'll go in and change it again.

Freaky.

Emphasis on what 4boys2 wrote:

"you do DO NOT use the link in the email to change your password ~ go directly to your email provider to change password."

I often get this type of real looking email, if you goggle your problem you are likely to find out that it is a phishing attempt.

If you did change PW using link, now go to provider and change again pronto

I just changed the password again. Yes, the verifications of my changing it look exactly the same. I think I'm okay. They obviously didn't get in even after I changed it the first time.

But what a pain. Where do these creeps come from? I heard a horrifying story on NPR the other day, about a loser guy (he was actually on the show speaking to his victim) who had really stalked and harassed a woman just because he didn't like her online persona, her opinions or whatever. I missed the first part, but I think she had some kind of public job, but he knew who she was. When her father died, he actually Googled him, got info. and went on Facebook or something and created an obit about him saying he loved two of his three daughters but was ashamed of the third, this idiot's target. The cruelty was breathtaking. her father had just died! She was crying when addressing him about it, and he was apologizing. I think the point was that he finally got a life, admitted he was miserable in his own life and that was the catalyst for his cruelty - no surprise - and that he was genuinely sorry for what he'd done.

Projecting one's own misery onto others. Yuck. And now with the Internet, it can be done with searing cruelty because of the anonymity factor.

Loooozahs.

I wouldn't a priori try to blame someone on GW. There are too many ways for the nefarious to hack these days.

Tibbrix, the others' advice is spot on. I often get semi-legit-looking emails purporting to be from my ISP (also email server) alerting me to what-not. Not only should you not use the link in the email EVER, but generally it's not the approach/tone a legit company would take.

Also, while GW may be the only forum you're on, surely you've used your email for online purchases, etc. It's out there.

They are so sophisticated, the sites look exactly like the original. My Dh just received one from Wells Fargo about our account. Well, we don't have a Wells Fargo account, but I am sure they have fooled a lot of people.

With my email server, I can check locations that have tried to log in or logged in. It's in settings somewhere. Haven't looked since I read it could be done.

I was at my dad's when his grandson called. Thank goodness Dad uses the speakerphone, because it was NOT his grandson. I got on the phone and played along, it was so clearly the "grandparent scam" where someone calls and says "hi, it's your grandson!" And the senior says "Dylan? Hi!" So now the caller knows there is a grandson named Dylan and starts in on some story about being somewhere and having some kind of trouble, need money, pleeease don't tell the folks at home they'd worry so, etc. Dad didn't believe me that there is such a scam so I sent him an AARP article about it.

Another scam I actually saw start to happen. The senior ahead of me at the bank was withdrawing cash, to take to the drugstore to buy a Visa card to pay a fine for not appearing for jury duty. I was throwing looks at the teller and she questioned him about it, but he was all set. She called over to the drugstore. Sure enough, the guy had come in to get the Visa card and told that cashier why. They confirmed to him that it's a scam, and he came back to the teller to thank her. Then the police sent out a notice to beware of this.

People are such scumbags. Except of course for my late Nigerian uncle whom I never met but kindly left me buckets of dough which I expect to see deposited in my bank account any day now.

It could also be something that is innocent ~such as someone having an email close to yours and continuing to try to log in not realizing they have the wrong address.

I had a similar message when using a laptop over someone's house. I hadn't logged off my home computer and logged in from another place. When logged in, your computer and the email servers are in constant communication. The email servers were getting requests for new emails from 2 locations. Thus the message.

Doubt it's innocent.

annie, my first thought, when I got the first alert, was that it was someone over in Thailand or somewhere (as has happened in the past. As Allison says, you can look up the location, but I can't find it on this new format...still looking!). Only considered GW when they continued, and I'm not blaming anyone esp. since I have no proof of anything. It was just a hunch, a thought.

bp, I can't believe you also have kindly Nigerian uncle! Only mine is a king! I too have sent him all the proper information and am "waiting". I put "waiting" in quotation marks because I admit I went shopping in advance of the actual deposit, knowing the money will be there any time now! Odd thing is, this coincides with a massive draining of my own bank account! My bank is working on where that money went. Probably just a paperwork error.

Tibb, I work for a multi-national corporation and we are trained to recognize these phishing attacks which come often to our organization. That said, they have become so sophisticated that they look like something from within our organization or other business contacts. It's an unfortunate but common thing, and I can pretty much guarantee this did not come from a GardenWeb member. Never click a link in such an email, as others have pointed out.

How creepy! I hope this newest change works for you it stops, Tibbie. In the last month, we've had some creep steal our Master Card number (not card) and try to charge something in Pennsylvania. And, I've been getting these spam emails for the past couple of months from "Survey Rewards" telling me that I've won an Amazon gift card. I don't open them and did call Amazon to report them. Yep, phishing for my credit card info. I hate how vulnerable we can be just innocently using the internet.

I did have an issue of getting locked out of my bank account and called the bank....they said someone must be trying to log in to a similar account innocently ... or not. So I changed the username of my bank account to embed numbers with text. I recall from the old days of working with the IT folks that they said embedded numbers was much harder to crack. Haven't had issues since.

Don't waste too much time on locating .If you were to get the location of the IP~scammers use proxy servers.

My point of looking in the email settings was to see if it showed anything or not. If not, then she will know that the emails are scams and that someone is not actually trying to access her email.

Whenever I get what looks like a phishing email, I don't open it and forward it to abuse@whatever it purports to come from.

This is the notification I got. It said, "Dear - my name", then had my email address as the one trying to be hacked. The link takes me to signing in to my email address.

But don't worry, I changed the password today on yahoo. Wish I could figure out how to see where these attempts are coming from, though. I used to know how!

ick Linen! Honestly, I'm surprised there isn't more of what you've experienced with your CC number, considering how easily we all give our numbers out, both at brick and mortar stores and online.

Maddening.

1. Click on account info (under your name)

2. Click Recent activity.
   - The most recent logins to your account show.

Recent activity is broken up into sections including:

1. "Devices and browsers"
2. "Third party email and calendar applications"

• These are applications that you elected to use your Yahoo account.

3. "Recent account access changes"
4. "Recent updates to your account info.

That's the thing, 4boys, the most recent logins are not showing under Recent Activity.

I'm on the phone with Yahoo now.

This will happen often with any mobile device setup to check your Yahoo mail. Same thing with Google accounts. Sometimes it has to do with your mobile checking while connected to different networks, or sometimes it checks while you are logged in with another device.

Tibbrix, one day I came home the bank, looked at my receipt, and the balance was in 6 figures! (No, it is not normally 6 figures) I took it back. My teller had been a trainee (which I knew at the time) and because we were chatting he had mis-entered my deposit. Yikes! I don't chat them up anymore until after we are finished. Would have been nice, I though...good thing I didn't go shopping.

good luck with Yahoo! Hope all is well!

Whats the point of changing your password if they weren't able to get it? Doesn't make sense -- if your password is solid, keep it.

Agree, Peter, I thought the same thing. But presumably they keep at hacking until they can break the code.

I just got off the phone with Yahoo. Those were legitimate emails warning me of hacking attempts. They helped me set up a new password through their computers, which apparently is even safer than going on your account and changing it.

Errant, I thought maybe it was the "new" iPhone I just got, except the first few warnings came in before I had that phone even set up, no SIM card or anything.

We'll see if these stupid things continue.

Thanks everyone.

Wow, BP, something we all fantasize about! Lol. Must have been fun to look at or a few minutes, anyway!

Whenever I get an email suggesting changing any passwords, I copy and paste the first sentence and then Google it. Always comes up with a source and tons of people complaining.

Didn't see this mentioned (I may've missed it) but it's I always double check the email address it's from. Here's an example - supposedly a notification of a missed message on WhatsApp, but that's not a service I subscribe to. Note that it's just some random email address. That's how I know not to click...

Well apparently this was legit.

Most virus protection software offers password manager. One password covers it all and it's very, very secure. Try using that instead of your own creations.

As Carol says, do check the email but note that it's sometimes just a word or even a single letter removed from the legitimate email address. These phishers - they're crafty.

What a pain in the neck, Tibb. We have gotten a few calls from someone who says he is with the IRS or Treasury, blah blah blah and we owe them money and will be in deep doodoo if we don't pay, blah blah blah. So must call back right away or we will go to jail. We are still free. Ha.

LOL, Cyn! That's when you tell them to hang on while you get your credit card, and then grab your police whistle and let them have it.

Oh my, Cyn. You're probably only still free because of your savviness at skirting the Feds!

Please, please, please never use any link sent in an email to input a password. It's a huge issue. Never. Once thieves get a password they will work the variations to try to get into all your stuff.

On my blog I have something like 650 attempts to log in by hackers. You'd think they have better things to do but they don't. They just steal.

To change a password always go directly into the account from you main device.

If someone is trying to hack you, the best defense is a really long password.

I often save tracking numbers from shipping purchases and use those as they are long and nonsense strings Of course, if you do that it needs to be accurately saved someplace secure. I have an old school paper password book.

I love those IRS and calls from "Apple" and "Microsoft" that tell me there's something wrong and they can fix it. I am so rude and scream so loud at them that they usually hang up. They don't call back.

That's a good idea about delivery codes. When our credit card was hacked (I got a text for an odd $2.99 and called immediately), they told me that the hackers have computer programs/systems run through possible codes and it only takes X long to hit a password if it's not complicated.

I use LastPass which generates secure passwords for you and which allows you to store the passwords and you can log in on any computer so you can always access the sites you need.

One other thing- be very careful w/ social media information and passwords. So much info can be found out about you from social media if you use it (i.e. common security questions are things like your mom's maiden name, which people can get by looking at your uncle on Facebook, or your siblings middle name which can also be found through Facebook or your pet's name, birthday, etc.) If you use birthdays, pet names, anything related as a password, this is also easy to get through Facebook.

I got another message this morning saying someone tried to get in. Aargh.

I also have one of those "old school" paper password books. I'm not on Facebook or any social media.

I hate to tell them this, but my email just is not that exciting.