Lost access to virgin.net emails

[djm969]

Like others need help ASAP. I seem to have lost Virgin.net email address which I have used for 15-20 years. 

I'm not a virgin customer but am an o2 customer. Can you please help?

[Graham_A]

@djm969 

This post will explain why this has happened. https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Email/Orphan-Email-accounts/td-p/3492073/jump-to/first-unread-m...

Unfortunately it is very unlikely that you will be able to regain access as you do not have a Virgin Media broadband account.

[djm969]

thanks Graham. Disappointed that they never gave notice. I suspect they maybe did years ago. I have a feeling that this will be a world of pain over the next  few months.

Thanks

[djm969]

It looks like it have an orphan .virgin.net account. 

A couple of questions

1) How can I confirm its orphaned and not hacked?

2) I'm an o2 customer. Can i get it back as i cant now log into my 02 account

Thanks

DJM

[coenoby]

@djm969 wrote:

A couple of questions

1) How can I confirm its orphaned and not hacked?

I see that you posted that you are no longer a VM broadband customer. The post that @Graham_A  linked to his post explains that to be able to use Virgin Media's email service a customer must have an active broadband account with Virgin Media.

Since you do not have a VM broadband account your Virgin.net email account is definitely an "orphan" account.

When VM "close" an orphan account they often seem to just remove access to its webmail account but allow the mailbox itself to remain on the server.  If you have evidence that suggests the old email account has been compromised the best thing would be to get VM to delete the email account completely

2) I'm an o2 customer. Can i get it back as i cant now log into my 02 account

Having an O2 account or a VM mobile account does not entitle you to use a Virgin Media email account. VM email accounts were only part of a VM Broadband account. I say " were" because VM stopped issuing new email accounts in May 2022.

It is just  possible that VM staff might be able to allow you temporary access to the virgin.net account but that is an extremely long shot at best and is often not technically possible. However, whatever happens you will definitely not be able to continue to use that email account going forward

One of the Forum Team (VM employees who support this forum) will contact you via this thread in the next day or so. They will be able to:

1. ensure your old email account gets completely deleted to prevent any possible hacking,
2. give you the definitive answer on whether you can regain temporary access to the account, or failing that then the steps you need to take to update your O2 account to a new email address.

I hope that's constructive advice.

Coenoby

[djm969]

Thanks coenoby. Something is going on.....

I have an old browser session on another device and i can access the mailbox 

I can see the test messages that I sent and have been able to forward out some important emails. 

DJM

[coenoby]

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@djm969 wrote:

Thanks coenoby. Something is going on....

I can see the test messages that I sent and have been able to forward out some important emails. 

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That's good news but the virgin.net account could disappear at any time.  Your account is orphaned and VM are closing such accounts down without giving any notice. Your Virgin.net account is a player in a game of Russian roulette.

That process may have been speeded up following VM's recent decision to stop issuing new email addresses to broadband customers. They clearly don't see email as being a core part of their service going forward.

As a matter of urgency you need to download or save any emails or contact details currently in that account to a safe storage. You also need to update the email address used in your O2 account to another email address.

Coenoby