Help Please.
Hello WA family, I was wondering if you could help me. I received these messages on each of my websites contact pages. They are from different names and addresses, but the exact same message. What on earth should I do about this? I am really nervous, having a terrible string of bad luck recently and now this. ugh.
Any advice will be appreciated.
Tracy
Recent Comments
147
As soon as that contact page goes onto our websites, we can become a target.
There are so many opportunistic idiots out there.
The good thing is that you haven't been hacked, Tracy.
Delete the email and sleep well.
Thank you for sharing, a timely reminder to be security minded, especially when it comes to passwords.
That just stinks and I wish they would just stop. I guess some good did come out of it, awareness. Thanks for taking the time to respond Alex. : )
They just want money from you. This is very nasty crime so you should report it to your local district attorney. This is not a local crime so they might not handle it, but they might be able to direct you a right place. You are not hacked, so sleep well.
Tomoko
Hi Tomoko! It is nasty. Thank you for the good advice. I will sleep well thanks to all of the support I received today. : )
Hey Tracy, I get them everyday. It’s always spam/scammers emails through my web form. It’s frustrating. I KVETCHED about it many times and it doesn’t do any good. They still slither and worm their way in. That’s the world we live in. I’d ask site support what to do, they did suggest using recaptcha, tried that, and it cause my site to crash, didn’t work, tried again with a different plug in, still no change. They come through all the time. At least it’s only a few a day now whereas before I was getting hundreds of them. Even on my cell phone I get them. I have spam filter blocker on my iPhone but they keep coming through most of it is from car warranties and social security and Medicare scammers. I just block the call. Sometimes send it to spam blocker still, they use other numbers. Frustrating, I know. Like everyone stated on here, delete, and keep deleting and don’t open any links since it would back link to your site, we don’t want that. I had a ransom threat demanding bitcoin payment if I don’t pay, they would crash my site, or I would lose everything, exact wording just like yours, it’s just spam, delete is what site support recommends. Every website owners experience this , we aren’t immune from this. Hope now you can rest easy knowing it’s nothing serious.
That is just awful Brenda! I just don't get it, ugh I am taking precautions and deleting for sure. Thank you for your support, I really appreciate it. : )
There really are some low lifes out there Tracy. Obviously this is a scam. They don't seem to realise that even if you paid the money you couldn't trust them not to sell your information anyway. I am so sorry that you had this scare on top of your other problems.
Delete and ignore this and move on with making your life a happy place.
Warm regards,
Lily
Yes there are! I am taking some precautions and moving on. Thank you for your kind words Lily. : ) Have a wonderful day!
See more comments
You need to make sure that your Wordpress site is always updated from the back end. Because that is the only way hackers can get to your site.
On the other hand, there are a lot of malware out there that can affect your computer/machine and hackers can get their hands on your login and password info etc... so try not to click on any link sent to you from any unknown email etc....
Thank you Akim, this is really good advice and I am working on updating and passwords today. So far, my Facebook and text messaging have been messed with, I'm not sure if they are related or not, but it's really annoying. I had to prove my identity and change my password for Facebook and apparently my phone is sending mass texts, I keep getting "STOP" messages and I'm not sure what to do about that. I also got a new message that says, "You did not pay us yet, and we are going to sell your data and everything for $3000. Ugh, like I don't have more important things to deal with. : /
concerning your phone and computer / machine, I will advise you to save all your data in an external har drive and then do a factory reset. this way you start fresh before you change your passwords etc..
Deal with your hosting Tech support to make sure you got all the security needed for your sites.
Do not pay any hacker a dime. They can go to hell where they belong.
One more thing. After all the above, try to use a VPN. hackers can also get to your phone or machine through your Home IP address. With VPN, You can be in the US and select an IP address in Canada or France France if you wish.
And that will send the hacker straight to hell.
Brilliant. Thank you so much, I will see how much of that I can figure out. I like that VPN idea.
I definitely will not be sending them anything. I'm with you on where they can go. : ) Thank you very much for your support.