Have @ntlworld accounts been closed down?

[BallistiX09]

I got a message from my dad this morning about an issue he’s having logging into his Google account tied to his old ntlworld email address.

I’ve not had a chance to check it out for myself, but he sent a screenshot and it looks fairly legit from what I can tell.

I just wanted to check if anybody on here has any info on Virgin closing down those accounts? He’s still with Virgin and hasn’t changed address or packages etc.

Thanks!

 

[hotmud · Accepted solution]

I get emails all the time saying ntl accounts are being deactivated, they're phishing attacks. Don't click any links.

(In fact never click a link ever in any unexpected emails. Copy-paste link into a text editor and inspect the url first).

[BallistiX09]

Ahhh right fair enough, had a feeling it seemed a bit off that they’d just close down an account for no reason.

I’ll let him know, thanks!

[hotmud]

I've not had one like that, it's always spoofing a VM email. But always be cautious. Good practice to check urls in a text editor first.

[jpeg1]

---

@BallistiX09 wrote:

Ahhh right fair enough, had a feeling it seemed a bit off that they’d just close down an account for no reason.

I’ll let him know, thanks!

---

The best advice you can give him is to start a new email account with another provider, and let all his contacts know the new address. 

The Virginmedia email system is clearly broken. Whether that may be due to hacking, incompetent management or equipment failure, the result is the same. It just isn't giving a proper service particularly for the older email addresses. 

Since VM stopped issuing new email addresses and tightened up on orphaned accounts, it's pretty clear that they would prefer customers to go elsewhere for their email services . 

[BallistiX09]

Yeah I've been meaning to get him off that email address for a while now, it wouldn't shock me if Virgin end up closing the service down entirely soon enough anyway. ISP email accounts were never a great idea to begin with.

The issue is migrating everything over though, it took me days to get all of my own accounts updated when I changed email address, and that's with having everything organised in a password manager. How I'm going to get all of his scattered accounts switched, I have no idea haha. One for another day I think!

[jpeg1]

What you can do, assuming he gets access back to his account, is to put on a forwarding instruction to send all received emails to his new acount. 

That will build up a new list of contacts at his new address, and he can then send out a change of address message to the whole group.