Steps to recover your hacked account
Account hacking
These days, hacking has been a common problem for a large number of internet users from various part of the world. Generally, the crime of hacking one's email account is performed by an expert email spammer in order to distribute spam e-mail. So, as the spam will probably be linked back to the user, the spammer can certainly get away without having been caught in case of prosecution. Besides this, a person who's willing to go through your private emails may also try and get into your account. Irrespective of the identity and intent of the hacker, any incidence of email hacking may violate your privacy by sharing your email correspondence with the outer world.
Like the other popular email vendors around the world, AOL has been haunted by this particular daunting challenge of email hacking. It's true that in the event of losing access to one's account, anyone can seek lawful help of the police. Nevertheless, before going that far, it is always a good idea to try if the account could be restored somehow if your AOL account has been hacked.
Summary of few things that may be helpful in speedy recuperation of hacked e-mail accounts
The first of all that needs to be done is to alter the password of the account. Changing password could be especially helpful if the hacking is discovered early.
Add a default mail address- aaaa@aaaa.com to your contacts. Being on the top of the list, whenever a hacker will attempt to send a spam mail, your pre-set phony AOL email help will be the first recipient of the spam mail. You will receive an instant mail failure notice which would help you discover that your email account has been hacked and take the required steps to restore full control of the account.
Scan your system with an antivirus program just to be certain that your machine isn't infected.
Send bulk emails to everyone in your contact list to notify them that your AOL mail account may be hacked and warn them to not click any previous email sent out of the account.
Avoid sending a lot more than 8-10 emails at any given time to ensure that you're sent mails don't get piled up in the recipient's spam folder.
If you make use of a wireless internet link, make sure you don't ever log into your email accounts over the UDP (unprotected) Wi-Fi networks.
If you ever click on the spam link by error, just take a screenshot of the website which you have been re-directed. Change your password without delay and run a system anti-virus scan. Clear your cache as well as cookies. Next, send a reply mail to the sender along with a copy of the screenshot to let him/her realize that his/her AOL account may be hacked.
To determine, in case your AOL account has been hacked, simply don't panic. Attempt to follow the steps mentioned previously and normally this will be enough to safeguard you. Furthermore, to offer optimum comfort and security for their subscribers, AOL email panel is focusing on strengthening their links to combat hackers effectively in the near future.