Well, someone high-jacked one of my AOL email addresses and sent out lots of spam email. I became aware of situation this afternoon as I tried to log on and was told that my account was blocked. After waiting about 15 minutes to talk to an AOL customer service rep, I finally go the situation resolved. But I was pretty peeved. I felt totally violated. I thought about bolting from AOL but feeling I need to be a little loyal since I've have my AOL account for quite some time. I originally signed up for AOL back when they were charging by the minute and I’ve never really had a problem until now. Plus I own the darn stock. So for now, I'm staying where I'm at and hoping that there won't be a repeat performance.
But I’m so sick of the daily spam I have to deal with. Luckily, the email address high-jacked was not my main account but an address I use primarily for chatting. What’s really scary though, is that emails started going out last Monday and I have no idea how my id/password got compromised. I did do a full scan check on my harddrive, and thankfully found no virus. So I'm baffled. I really wish AOL would get their act together. This is just so unacceptable.
I'd be angry, too. Maybe someone with expertise can suggest how your info might have been hijacked. One solution that comes to mind is installing a personal firewall on your computer. Once you do, you'll be amazed at -- and possibly frightened by -- the number of people who are trying to get into your system.
Installing a personal firewall is a good idea. I never really considered it before as my connection to the internet is via dial-up, but I guess I was wrong.