Question from Theresa: Rick, I have a serious problem and I desperately need your help! Someone keeps hacking into my Yahoo email account by changing my password and I don’t know how to prevent it. I contacted Yahoo support over a week ago but they haven’t responded. I’m pretty sure it’s my ex-boyfriend who’s doing it but he denies it.
Is there any way I can stop him from changing my password? I’d just abandon the account an open a new one but I use it for EVERYTHING and changing email addresses would be a major hassle! I’d GREATLY appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks!
Rick’s answer: Kim, it appears that you’re using security questions that your boyfriend knows the answer to. I recently wrote a post about this very topic and you can read it right here.
You need to choose a different pair of questions and answer them by following the guidance in the post linked to above. You should also input your mobile phone number as an additional security measure for resetting your password. And lastly, you need to create a secure password that cannot be guessed by anyone, even a former boyfriend.
Here are the steps you need to take in order to do all of the above:
1 – Sign in to your Yahoo email account.
2 – Click on your name in the top-right corner of the screen.
3 – Click Account Info from the drop-down list, then enter your current password when asked.
4 – Click Update password – reset info.
5 – Enter your mobile phone number, change your security questions and answers, then click Done.
6 – Click Change your password and choose a strong, unbreakable password as described in this post, then click Save.
Now your boyfriend should not be able to change your password and hack into your account. Please let me know how it goes!
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