Forum Discussion

PhilTUK's avatar
PhilTUK
Joining in
11 months ago

Password reset / hacked ntlworld email account

Trying to help out an elderly 80+ friend who is on dialysis - today someone gained access to his contacts or email account and sent out emails from myfriend@ntlworld.com to a number of contacts asking for them to buy a £200 apple gift card. The reply-to is cunningly set to myfriend@hotmail.com so they will be able to continue to chase people for money even if we secure the ntlworld account.

Trying to reset password it appears the email isn't recognised, it asks for "Please ensure you provide the email address you use to sign in to My Virgin Media." and I have tried both ntlworld and a gmail account he has.
Is there a mechanism to request a password reset other than the https://my.virginmedia.com/forgot-details/password?

My friend is currently tied to a dialysis machine and can't recall his Virgin Media password, although the web site doesn't seem to accept wither of his emails for resetting that either.

  • Graham_A's avatar
    Graham_A
    11 months ago

    PhilTUK I will escalate this to the VM Forum Team for you.  Does your friend currently have a VM broadband account to which the email address concerned is attached?

    To set expectations the VM Forum Team are likely to need to clear security with the account holder or a person holding power of attorney for them.

  • Graham_A's avatar
    Graham_A
    Very Insightful Person
    11 months ago

    PhilTUK I will escalate this to the VM Forum Team for you.  Does your friend currently have a VM broadband account to which the email address concerned is attached?

    To set expectations the VM Forum Team are likely to need to clear security with the account holder or a person holding power of attorney for them.

    • PhilTUK's avatar
      PhilTUK
      Joining in
      11 months ago

      Thanks Graham, I believe they have cable internet (Cambridge centre) but I'm 50 miles away. If we could get a password change to block the intruder as a start I'm sure my friend will be able to respond appropriately over the phone once he's off the machine and in a better place.

      • Kath_P's avatar
        Kath_P
        Forum Team
        11 months ago

        Hi PhilTUK, 

        Thanks for taking the time to contact us via the Community. It's lovely having you on board with us in the Forums. ⭐

        We're sorry to hear your friend has had this happen. As much as we would love to help, a password reset to the account is something we can only do with the account holder. If your friend can create his own Forum username, we can help to clear security and secure the account. 

        In the meantime, it's definitely worth reporting this to Action Fraud and you can also find some helpful information relating to a hacked account here. 

        Apologies that we were unable to help you on this occasion. 😔