Have you ever had your computer hacked? Someone, an unknown person, hacks into your computer and completely takes it over. They change all of your settings, you can't even turn your computer off (except to unplug it.) All of your configurations and settings are changed. They now have access to all of your files, your passwords, personal information... anything that you have saved on your computer is there for them to see (and use!) It started out simply enough. One of my Etsy girlfriends asked me to join her Mafia on Facebook.com. Now I am not an online game player. Years ago I used to play games at Pogo.com with my Son and Daughter-in-law, but since I opened my Etsy stores I found I didn't have time for that anymore so I let my Pogo subscription run out.
Facebook was different though. It was a social network. A perfect way to meet new friends and share my Etsy stores with, or so I thought at the time I joined it. Little did I know it would turn into one of the worst nightmares of my life. I thoroughly enjoyed playing "Mafia Wars." I built up my character over the course of a month and I put in a lot of time and effort in doing so. I was getting by on little or no sleep, wacking other Mafia families, having friends and family join my Mafia family and by the end of a month I had over 1000 people in my happy family.
Perhaps that is where I got in to trouble? I didn't know 90% of these people. I didn't really know anyone other than by their Mafia Family screen names. I joined a couple of Mafia Wars groups and before long I had more Mafia Family friends than I could shake a stick at.
My Mafia Wars character was hijacked, as well as my Facebook account. Try as I might to report this to Facebook I wasn't having any success. I was locked out of my account so I couldn't access it to tell anyone. I created a second Facebook account and reported that my friends account had been hijacked. I tried sending them emails to no avail. I finally reported it to the FBI. In the course of the hack/hijack I was hit with numerous viruses and I am sure it was "their" (whoever took over my account and character) way of ensuring I couldn't get back online for awhile. While I was knocked offline my back account was drained. This person was playing Mafia Wars (as though it was me) and paying to play! It went through my PayPal account and although I reported it to PayPal, paypal treated it as a "household" problem. Although I told them I live alone, with 3 huskies, I couldn't make them understand or listen, but perhaps they didn't want to? I was small potatoes compared to the gaming company and owner of this Mafia Wars game. I am sure PayPal made some hefty revenues off of others who played this Mafia Wars game, both on Facebook and my Space and Twitter too.
I could go on and on and on and explain my month of turmoil and personal H*LL. Once you are a victim of identity theft life doesn't feel the same. You feel victimized, violated, unsafe, terrorized. I had nightmares for almost a month. It cost me almost $500.00 in repairs to fix both of my computers, not to mention the money that was drained from my account. I haven't seen my credit cards statements yet.... yikes!
My word of warning to all of you out there who have joined one (or more) social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, My Space and others, be careful what you share. Only share within your private network of friends. Be sure you have all of the latest Windows updates and patches. Use a good Antivirus program and run regular scans. Be sure your antivirus program is updated daily. Use several good (free) malware programs, like Malwarebytes, Search and Destroy, Ad-Aware, etc. Run these regularly and search for any unsuspecting malware and spyware that has infected your computer, and DO use a good Firewall to block intruders.
I thought I was well protected. The first thing they did when they took control over my computer was disable my firewall, antivirus program and disable system restore.
If you have any questions please feel free to email me.
Ciao,
LVS
