I have had several friends who were hacked either through email or facebook. The hackers said my friends had taken trips to Europe, overseas, etc said they were robbed and needed help. And then once you engaged with them they then asked for money. They once even said the life of my friend was in danger.
One friend after dealing w/the authorities gave some tips:
1) DO NOT have the same password for your Facebook and web-based mail accounts (this includes gmail, yahoo, aol, sbcglobal, etc.) - she had been using a few variations of what essentially was the same password because it was easier for her to remember. It's easier that way - but not a good plan.
2) DO NOT think that your passwords are secure no matter how clever you think you've been. Chances are that the spammers ran a program which identified actual words until they hit upon a combo that worked....example: my original password for both accounts was a real word that had meaning to me and two digits that did as well. CREATE NEW PASSWORDS - don't use any real words that mean anything to you or are in any way connected to you - no pet names, no hometown names, no street names, etc. It's a pain, but seems to be the best way to circumvent the hacking programs. The IT guy at my office today suggested this: come up with a phrase that means something to you and then use the letters from each word to form your password (i.e. phrase - "my dog's name is ace"....password would be: "mdnia"....and then add numbers or punctuation marks).
Few tips from Hotmail on creating a strong password:
A strong password is one that's difficult for others to determine by guessing or by using automated programs. A strong password is an important first step in protecting your personal information. A strong password:
Contains seven to sixteen characters.
Uses three of the following four types of characters:
Uppercase letters (A, B, C).
Lowercase letters (a, b, c).
Numerals (1, 2, 3).
Special characters (` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ + - = { } [ ] \ : " ; ' < > ? , . /) .
Isn't a common word or name, or a close variation on a common word or name.
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Please be cautious! I received an email from what was supposed to be a friend of mine, saying she was in London - had been robbed, etc and was really scared. I figured out right away something was up because the email said "I came down here to London, United Kingdom." My friend would never speak that way. She's way too intelligent. The hackers will give you little clues that will help you know it's a scam. Another friend's mom's facebook was hacked into and he called her "Jenni" which is something her mom would never do. If you engage with them they could get your information - so don't. Make your passwords difficult to figure out and be cautious!
