Which of you has a “deleted” email address? An address that you deregistered years ago and can no longer log in to?

Then be careful: The Austrian Federal Criminal Police Office warns against unauthorized access to personal user accounts on the Internet. Social media and gaming accounts are particularly affected at the moment. Your own, no longer used email address is the key.

The perpetrators take advantage of the fact that personal email addresses can be made freely available again by some providers if they are not used for a longer period of time. Free webmail providers in particular sometimes give out such “orphaned” email addresses to any new customer after just six months.

[mk_ad]

The “orphaned” and thus freed email addresses are reactivated with a new password. The perpetrators then check whether the former victim email address is still stored in various user accounts on the Internet (especially social media and gaming accounts).

If this is true, the perpetrators gain full access to the respective account in this way and can misuse it for fraud or blackmail purposes.

[mk_ad]

Email address: How can I protect myself?

  • Check whether old, unused email addresses are stored in your social networks or other accounts and, if necessary, change them to a current email address.
  • If you want to continue using old email addresses, it is sufficient to log in from time to time and write emails so that they are not “recycled” or deleted by the provider.

This might also be of interest:

Step by step: Two factor authentication on Facebook. With this method, fraudsters need more than just the password, which can be obtained via the “used” email address.

Two-step authentication (also called two-step verification or two-factor authentication) is an additional security measure used to protect a user account. This means that in addition to the classic password, in this case the so-called “knowledge”, you must have another login component. Only those who have both components, i.e. the knowledge and possession, can log into the account in question.

Facebook also offers two-step sign-in. We show you how to set this up, but also explain where there is a problem!

More about this HERE!

Article image: Shutterstock / PORTRAIT IMAGES ASIA BY NONWARIT


If you enjoyed this post and value the importance of well-founded information, become part of the exclusive Mimikama Club! Support our work and help us promote awareness and combat misinformation. As a club member you receive:

📬 Special Weekly Newsletter: Get exclusive content straight to your inbox.
🎥 Exclusive video* “Fact Checker Basic Course”: Learn from Andre Wolf how to recognize and combat misinformation.
📅 Early access to in-depth articles and fact checks: always be one step ahead.
📄 Bonus articles, just for you: Discover content you won't find anywhere else.
📝 Participation in webinars and workshops : Join us live or watch the recordings.
✔️ Quality exchange: Discuss safely in our comment function without trolls and bots.

Join us and become part of a community that stands for truth and clarity. Together we can make the world a little better!

* In this special course, Andre Wolf will teach you how to recognize and effectively combat misinformation. After completing the video, you have the opportunity to join our research team and actively participate in the education - an opportunity that is exclusively reserved for our club members!


Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )