On july 27,I turned on my computer, Skype couldn't log in , It said my password was changed ''WHICH I KNEW I DID NOT DO , so I tried loging in with my old password , IT DID NOT WORK .
SO i went to SKYPE to reset my password .and when i send email to reset it , its sends email to me to do this , i put in the new passwork 'IT TELL ME IT HAS BEEN CHANGED , AND TO LOG IN WITH MY NEW PASSWORD ''
WELL GUESS WHAT ! ''it don't work ''it tells me my password is incorrect .
SO is my account HACKED ? BLOCKED ?> OR WHAT THE HELL IS THE PROBLEM ?
i am paid up for a year TO A SERVICE I CAN NOT USE ! i had to start up a new account just to post here ''JUST AMAGINE A PHONE SERVICE WITH NO PHONE SERVICE !SKYPE PLEASE FIX MY ACCOUNT OR REFUND 6 MONTHS OF MY PAYMENT ,
MY ACCOUNT IS zr11991 FIX IT PLEASE ''GIVE ME SOME CUSTOMER SERVICE
OH YES I HAVE EMAILED ''EVERYDAY FOR LAST 12 DAYS STILL NO HELP ! DOES ANYONE WORK THERE?

peggysuellc

My Skype account has been similarly compromised, with email/password changed, skype credits consumed, more skype charges run up through Paypal.

Paypal refuses to refund the charges made to my account.

I am actually more concerned that a fraudulent person now has control of my skype identity with my skype contacts. I have asked Skype to delete my old account or return it to my email address so I can reset my password, but they have done nothing about it.

This has occurred over a same time period as yourself, and Skype is also ignoring my emails for support.

I can only summise that either:
1. Skype is not overly concerned about supporting paying customers; or
2. Skype is overwhelmed by some vulnerability that is affecting, you, me and many others.

Like others, I have been careful about protecting my skype password, and am suspicious that the security breach has been on Skype's servers (rather than my double firewall protected desktop PC)

Good luck

AB41

Hi
Thanks for your reply, Just think about it a ''PHONE SERVICE WITH NO PHONE SERVICE'? Seems like they got your money and they just don't care . its been 13 days now and i still can't use my skype A PHONE SERVICE WHICH I HAVE PAID FOR .
SO IF ANYONE IS ''LISTENING '' PLEASE RESET MY ACCOUNT AND EMAIL ME MY PASSWORD , MY ACCOUNT ID zr11991

18 days still no help zr11991

I had to open a new account to be able to post here.
I also had my account stolen today, could not log on as the password had been changed by somebody. they also took 3x28€ from my paypal account and I already had about 25€ in my skype out account. My stolen username is Armitage1k
I talk with my brother in germany almost every day, he told me today over normal landline phonecall that he saw me online with a changed profile.
Anyways, I send 3 e-mails to customer support in Skype, told PayPal about the hacked account and filed 3 instances of fraudulent activities for the last 3 unsolicited Skype payments. After the weekend I will also contact my Credit card company to stop the payments.
What I would really like is to get my account back, as I've been using it for many years.

20 days later there still asleep problem not fixed

10 days for me with a similar problem. Skype has yet to respond. Very bad and I paid for 1 year of service. Im not happy at all.

24 days still same problem account still blocked zr11991

Just wondering if ringing 5live,Victoria Derbyshire,would help.Highlight and maybe shame the B******S.Sorry,I forgot.They have no shame.

well nothing else works

I will be contacting the national radio station in the uk tomorrow.I suggest you do the same where ever you are and tell others.This money grabbing monster must be stopped.

yes i 'll do that . i will also tell all my customers , and i'm a member of a lot of different clubs i'll post there too. not like this place that deletes your post cause they can't handle the thruth

The Register is reporting on this problem. the article

Something tells me that, because of the fleury of activity on this topic all over the web, there is really a problem with a security breach. Skype tried to blame it on my computer, but now I am suspecting it is from their side. This company is just plain stinking. While I finally have access to my account, I am still limited and blocked from using Skypeout. Like everyone else, numerous emails to support and nothing. Here is the string of emails between me and Skype:

The Story:

Add me to the list. Someone hijacked my Skype account 2 weeks ago and I was locked out. Then, I got a response right away from Skype, and they told me to change my password. So I did. Then I wrote them and told them that the $35 skypeout credit charged to my credit card by the Hijacker was not my responsibility, that I did not authorize the charge. This is their response:
___________________________________________________________
Once you have changed your password and managed to access your
account again, please contact us at csl2@skype.net and we will
unblock your account (be sure to include your Skype username)

Based on the information you provided, we have initiated an
investigation on the matter.

Skype can not refund the money you might have lost due to this
incident. Every user has to take care of his/her security systems on
private computers.
__________________________________________________________

Commentary:

Wait, Skype, a merchant, cannot refund my money? Even though I did not authorize the charge? Even though someone broke into my account and rang up this charge? This is illegal for a company to do this. If the charge was not authorized, they shall refund the money. It is an easy thing really, and it takes care of the cusotmers. Instead, they would rather ME do all the work and initiate a chargeback with my credit card company. Skype = Greedy, incompetent, expletives.

Then, a few days after this email, I told them that I demand my money back, here is the response:

_______________________________________
Hello,

Thank you for contacting Skype Support.

________________________________________

Nothing else! They DON'T CARE. They are greedy, they just want your money. I am seriously questioning this company now. To top it off, I am blocked out of my skypeout now. They told me that once I changed my password again, it would be unblocked. So I did that and sent them an email alerting them to the fact that I complied. 10 days later and 10 emails to them later, still blocked out. This is totally unacceptable. I have 4 Skype numbers and an Unlimited World subscription. I am now looking for other VOIP options, because Skype has really gone downhill in that there is little-to-no customer service.

freudling,
Skype's systems are fully encrypted.
The codes are unbreakable.
The only way that a hacker could access your account is by knowing or guessing(unlikely but not impossible) your password.
Either way it is not Skype's fault nor responsibility.
For this reason any money stolen from your account by the hijacker cannot be refunded by Skype.
With regards to your blocked account please let me have your username and the date you filed your first ticket to Customer Support.
p.s. Please don't double post - Forum/PM.
Thank you.

I've had my account returned to me over 1 week ago, but it is still blocked.
I now have almost 100€ in skype-out credits, but can't use them. I lost almost 80€ through Skype's incompetance when it comes to security, but is is easier to blame it on your customers, isnt it?
I decided that from today I will send 1-3 emails every day to the so-called Skype support to get my account unlocked. Also thinking of some legal way to have Skype give me back the money that was stolen.

Actually Norman, because Skype stores financial data, whether it is your credit card or a link to a user's PayPal account, they are responsible for any unauthorized charges on the account. So is PayPal. So is the Credit Card company. The fact that they don't like issuing refunds and make the user feel like it is their fault is poor customer service.

It's one thing to be able to hijack someone's account and use their Skype ID for making/receiving calls, it is another thing to be able to use Skype as a port to make fraudulent charges. Without the financial link, these fraudulent charges would, for the most part, not happen.

Additionally, I run a Mac behind a firewall, and since there are virtually zero viruses on the Mac, saying that it is my fault that someone breached my security is unwarranted. It is possible that it happened on my computer, but not likely. Since I have to open a port to allow Skype to work, where Skype is the only application I allow an open port to, obviously I suspect it is a problem with Skype, and not my computer. Moreover, the fact that many users have been reporting this on numerous platforms as of recent raises my suspicion even more.

I do thank you for your willingness to help, after repeated emails to Skype yesterday, I finally got my account unblocked. But the 10 day lag time is unacceptable for paying customers. Skype is in dire need of a proper customer service center, especially for business customers.

This is how I understand companies work. This is how my company would work.

I am now also a member of this "club," a victim in the last two weeks of a Skype account hijacking. 100 Euros was stolen from my PayPal account.

And yes, it seems in the end Skype blames me for letting someone buy their products with my money without my permission.

I received a note 10 days later from Skype support (Patrick P.) saying:
"...it appears that someone has succeeded in fraudulently obtaining your PayPal account and purchasing (Skype)credit...you are not liable for this transaction in any way."

This was wonderful news. When I asked for a refund I then got this:

"Skype can not refund the money you might have lost due to this incident. Every user has to take care of his/her security systems on private computers."

Lovely. Which is it?

As of today I'm still out 100 Euros and still out of my Skype account (the password won't reset using the parameters Patrick provided. Ugh.) Thus I can't tell yet if any of the 100 Euros of services remain on my account. The whole thing is very, very frustrating.

I suspect the breach may be due to something on Skype's side as well, because my charges were for Euros I live in the States and charged previous transactions in USD. That may not have anything to do with it, however.

Skype's customer service 'policy' of ignoring, then blaming it's customers for compromised account issues, is simply the worst I've ever experienced. Absolute ZERO accountability. My Skype number was stolen over 6 months ago. They got my money and sadly that's all that mattered.

By whom? , how?
Please advise.

Hi,

I'm in the same boat as everyone else. I haven't used skype in over a year and suddenly got an email from Paypal saying 100 EUR had been charged to my Skype account. Paypal have told me that they don't think this is fraud and there's nothing they can do. Emails sent to skype customer services/support have been ignored. I'm not so fussed about my skype account, but would definitely want my money back.

Logging into skype (on the website), they say my account is blocked, thereby almost accepting that some sort of fraud has taken place. My recent calls list shows a large number of calls to Lichtenstein (spelling?). Any help will be appreciated.

I'd be surprised if so many problems were a result of "user error".

Hello,
1. Not necessarily.
2. Your account may have been hacked.
Please see my PM.

p.s. Understand your concern but please don't double post.
Thanks.

SKYPE sucks. My account has also been hickjacked. My account's e-mail address changed and I didn't receive any e-mail confirming this change.
Later I was charged €28,75 for calls I've never made. Paypal refused to give me back my money.

Miracle ! After having been in the same situation, with all my credit + 50€ disappearing from my credit card, my account can now be accessed again. It took me about 3 weeks to get back to almost normal.

But:

- my contacts have disappeared and were replaced by a sequence of Zinbabwe mobile telephone numbers
- I have been debited 50€ used by the people who have hijacked my account: I would appreciate a refund by Skype, as this credit has been used in Skype calls. I do not consider I have made any mistake in the handling of my account. The security of Skype has been breached and I would find it just fair this amount to be recredited to me.
- impossible to access my SkypeIn number again

Of course there won't be any automatic debit any longer through PayPal or a credit card. This is by far too dangerous given the low level of security and the lack of help from the customer support..

I am extremely unhappy and concerned with the customer support way of treating the long time Skype clients which can be assimilated to pure contempt. And believe me, I can live without Skype.

Too bad for what I considered so far a great company and a great service.

Kind regards,

Copy: Norman Musgrave - Skype Forum Moderator. (the only person who was helpful and reactive)

Dear friends,
I had the exact same situation. I lost control of my account for just over 2 weeks. No response from Skype customer support - even when I PM'ed a moderator and had him intervene on my behalf twice. I even lodged a complain with the Better Business Bureau of San Jose against eBay - they are the parent company now of both Skype and PayPal. I suggest others do the same, especially since there is no way to contact Skype Communications and their offices are outside the USA.
Once I received control of my skype account again, all my contacts were gone, my credit card info was (thankfully) gone, my call history showed almost 500 calls to Zimbabwean mobile phones in just over 4 minutes, and someone else's paypal account was used for a recharge. Fortunately I only had $2.34 in my account when the hack started and all recharges to my credit card were rejected. I only lost that amount.
However, this was not my negligence. I never gave out my Skype password. I have a double firewalled system with Norton Internet Security. The first response I received from skype told me that "it is the customer's responsibility to maintain security on their private computers and Skype is not responsible for any losses."
I also have lost confidence in this company and will continue my complaint against its parent company as well as informing members of the press, etc. of their negligence. If anyone has interest in a class action suit, I believe it would go forward in this age of identity theft.

I have just discovered that my account was hacked. I had £15 of Skype credit and my Paypal account (debit card) was debited by £69. I e-mailed Skype and was told to take better care of my account and basically tough. I call my bank to stop the transactions but that can't be done yet and it may have to to through dispute.

I'd just like to welcome myself to this exclusive club. My Skype account appears to have been compromised over the weekend. However, I can't request a password reset token because apparently my e-mail address can't be found. Support to date has been up to the standard previous posters in this thread have talked about - crap!

The only hope I have at the minute is that I have a transaction "flagged pending verification". I'd like this to mean that I will avoid being out anything over the head of this. And regardless of how many times I tell support that I haven't initiated this transaction, they're still looking for verification details.

So, when you choose the language you want support in when you first submit a ticket, does that mean you get someone who speaks that language natively? It sure doesn't seem like it...

I had the same problem happen last week. My account was compromised due to no fault of my own. The small balance in my account was depleted and my account was locked. Norman was nice enough to get the ball rolling on a support ticket but since then Skype support has been non-existent. Obviously, Skype is not ready for big time. Vonage here I come. Skype just lost a customer. Way to go.

Hi David,

The disturbing regularity of exactly the same problem would suggest some very fundamental flaws in Skype's system. I suspect that the number of people losing their accounts with Skype and who are otherwise extremely careful with their account information is not a coincidence. Skype clearly have security issues, and the "It's not our fault!" approach just ain't going to wash, I feel. I contacted Norman, too, and am progressing my call.

The support mechanisms and support quality for a company that captures such detailed sensitive data (personal and payment info) is, in my view, nothing short of criminal. But hey, it's only once you need it that you realise it's not there.

Skype has become the "de facto" communication standard in our business, but this is extremely off-putting.

Samk,

I have to agree that there is a trend here that indicates a flaw in either the protection of Skype's internal data or a with the software itself. The lack of support from Skype leaves one with the impression that they really don't care, are way understaffed and underfunded, or just have a general contempt for their customers. All of which will lead the demise of any company. I had hope for them but this is an amateur attempt so far.

I was a victim of this same fraud last night, about twelve hours ago. I use skype only on my home Mac and live alone and there's simply no way anyone could have access to my Skype password.

Since Skype no longer recognizes my email address that was on file, I'm guessing that the person who highjacked my account went in and changed it to keep me from regaining access.

I had about $8 left in my SkypeOut, but it was set to auto-renew. So far, no new charges appear on the card and, since this is a debit card and not a credit card, I can't just stop charges from Skype, I have to cancel the card!

Question: when you've given Skype your credit/debit card info, does all the detail of the cc show up in the profile? Meaning, if someone did gain access to my account, could they note all my cc info and then use it online for something more than buying more skype out credits?

BTW, I had to create a new skype account to be able to post here. I wish I could gain access to my old account since so many people and business contacts have me in their address book as I had them in mine.

I've submitted a support request with Skype, but based on what I've been reading here and elsewhere, there's seems little chance that they will respond.

I hope they do and impress me. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Hi joe - first of all, my sympathies. This is as frustrating as hell...

You'll probably get a reply, but whether you get any action is another thing. I'm still waiting...

The forgotten password mechanism seems to rely on the e-mail address you registered with (or at least the text on the page seems to imply that). Theoretically, that would mean that it wouldn't matter whether the person who hijacks your account changes your e-mail, you should still be able to re-request another token and take control back again. It doesn't seem to work like that, though.

It could be that the text on the forgotten password page is simply misleading and it actually relies on your current e-mail address.

Just another part of the overall mess, really...

I did get a reply from Norman, the Moderator, to my PM in seven minutes! So, he's awesome. I am following his instructions and he says I can expect to hear back in 7-10 days.

Yes, I'm confused about which email address they are asking for when you try to get a new password sent to you. I entered the most recent on record as well as the other three main passwords that I've used over the years, but none were found in skype's database. I've had a skype account for so long, that there is a small chance that I used a different email address when registering a long time ago, but their system must account for the fact that, over time, people change/deactivate old email addresses, or change ISP's, such that the original email address on file is lost for life.

Unfortunately, to be safe I've had to cancel my debit card. Since I live overseas this is a significant inconvenience as it is not easy to have a new card sent to me.

I think the risk of errant charges on my card is now zero, but I can't use skype for business and have to start a new account, build up my address book again, and find some way to notify others of the change of my skype name (though I'm hoping to get my old account reactivated and I'm going to wait a week to see if things work out).

I also had my account hacked a while back and they withdrew 100 Euros from my Paypal account. I was fortunate to get a refund of that fraudulent charge because I guess Paypal figured out that I've never paid anything in Euros as I'm in US.
But for precaution, I closed my Paypal relationship with Skype and from now on, I'll be using a virtual credit card number with a specific limit. If your bank doesn't offer that, look at prepaid credit cards.

It should be noted that Ebay/Paypal/Skype already have a technology solution to the problem of user authentication. It is a security keyring shaped dongle which gives a new 6 digit random number every 30 seconds or so. Each dongle is unique and can be linked with your account. When you login (to paypal) the system asks for your login Id and password as normal. It then asks for your 6 digit random number from your dongle. Only the physical holder of the dongle can log into the paypal account.

Skype could with a bit of work provide one of these dongles to every paying customer.

Do they cost a lot? Mine was $3 from paypal.

please welcome me to your club. my account was stolen and i watched it ... live.
first skype logged off and i couldn't sign in and then I received an email from paypal about a charge of 25 euros +tax.
Of course my e-mail was changed so I cannot rese my password
I cannot access my account so I created a new one. I PMed a moderator here.
So far I must say :
a) I love the fact that I received 0 (ZERO) emails from skype regarding any change in my account details
b) I'm happy it was just that amount
c) Thanks GLADIATOR for sending my problem to fraud department.
d) I sent a support ticket. Again, no email from them to say that they received my ticket.
e) The Welcome email for the new user came after more than 1 hour.
f) I work in a domain where security is king. My skype account is the last problem if my system would be compromised. My system was not compromised even tho after I read a lot of stories here and all over the internet I can surely say they will blame me.

Hope Ill regain my account soon ...

My issue has been resolved, though how someone got into my account remains a mystery.

I heard back from the fraud dept after 12 days. They reset my email address to be the most recent one that I already had on record with them, and cleared the account password, such that I then went through the "restore lost password" process.

No calls were made from my account. I still had the same amount of prepaid Skype Out credits remaining in the account, too.

From the many similar accounts I've read, the only difference I can see between my case and all the others who lost money was that they were all using PayPal in some way. I was not. Mine was a debit card and was set to auto-refill, which is why I canceled the card right away.

I would suggest that, until the cause of this is known, that people avoid using PayPal in any way with their Skype account.

Obviously, Skype blamed it all on me, but that's expected from any corporation when it comes to matters concerning liability and exposure to class action lawsuits.

best of luck.

I was notified of a charge on my paypal account. How this occurs is there is a Cyber terrorist or group of them going around and sending a hack tool in the form of a JPG or similar file to Skype customers. Once they access one account they can send this chain hack tool to everyone on the contact list by using the identity of the persons account that they just literally stole. The process goes on and on . They can access literally thousands (or Millions)of accounts this way. Especially if they don't try to immediately do anything on the accounts that they have access to. They can keep them in reserve until they need them. This group is centered in the middle east and is likely using Skype accounts to make untraceable communications. Unfortunately for us and for Skype, Skype does not have appropriate security measures in place to deal with the scale of this attack. Your only recourse is to close out any and all payment information you may have on Skype and notify all of your contacts on Skype as to the vulnerability of Skype. The JPG version of the hack tool opens and says I love you. The file can even be accompanied by some text that looks like it is from your Skype contact. This is easy for them to do because they have had the privilege of reading all of the conversations that are on your account. Whether it be personal or not. I do not know of a virus program that can deal with this yet. The first time it happened AVG found it and quarantined it. The second time it happened, (I was expecting a file from the very person that they impersonated) The anti virus missed it completely.
On another occasion I had a five minute chat with a person that I thought was someone I knew. We have had extensive business dealings and many conversations on Skype chat.the terrorist was trying to get me to exchange some files. I didn't do it at that time, but they got me anyway the next morning. What you have to understand here is that they are very sophisticated and very persistent as well as patient. After all, they have the entire Skype client list to harvest from at their convenience. And with nobody to stop them or even slow them down, what could be easier.
Here are some important measures to take if you have ever gotten any file through Skype.
1. Remove any credit information from Skype and notify your card provider to notify you prior to accepting any on line charges to your account.
2. Remove all conversations from Skype, whether or not it has personal information.
3. Close your account and start a free account if you must use Skype, with little to no information about you at all.

Skype has proved to be ineffective caretakers of personal information. We must vote with our dollars.

My account was hacked and all my credit was used. They even tried to purchase more credit with my credit card... good thing that my cc has expired. I managed to get my account back only to have it hacked AGAIN a few days later. The password I used the second time was random characters and numbers. I am on a Mac. So, that suggests that it's the actual Skype system that has serious security holes.

My guess is that the overpriced mobile phone operators have hired hackers to try and knock out their very real and deadly competition!

I have read this thread from the start and i can see that both sides are in the right - what the moderator says is not at all wrong - if I gave you a password in order to access my computer and give me money, and you used that password on a computer which was wide open and visible to hackers, and they stole that password and then your money, I don't see how you could blame me. A court would certainly blame you.

There are millions of happy skype customers who don't get hacked. I think the first step anyone who has been hacked should take is to examine their own computer usage habits and figure out why they are so vulnerable to attack. Secondly I think that skype cannot possibly be unmoved by these incidents and would be much happier if they didn't happen, but as anyone with any hacking knowledge is aware, you cannot make any communication system truly hackproof. Hotmail, gmail and other mainstream email systems are breached every second of the day.

I would be very sorry if skype did not continue to soar, as they are doing, commercially. For me it is a question of me and all my friends saving 10s of 1000s of pounds in coming years. Mobile charges are ridiculous, and nobody has landlines anymore.

I love that gibberish story about terrorists! Yeah, terrorists made my electricity bill higher than it really was, terrorists are the reason it rained yesterday, terrorists broke my nail, terrorists are to blame for everything - without them the world usually operates 100% perfectly with nothing ever going wrong... give me a break


[[afterthought... perhaps skype's unofficial policy is to discourage people prone to hacker attacks from using skype, and from the posts in this thread it seems that such a policy is very successful! I particularly am intrigued by the chap who got hacked again as soon as he got his account back! How much more evidence do you need that your own computer is completely bugged with trojans?]]

Since you are referring to me, I will respond... I am using a Mac so most of the phishing and keylogging techniques won't apply to me. Although I am using a Mac, I am using an antivirus (ClamX) in order to ensure that I won't spread any viruses through forwarded email messages etc although my mac won't be directly affected. I, also, use certain software that blocks any app or service that tries to make an outward connection without my consent.

Nevertheless, as soon as I recovered my account, I had to reset the password. I used a 12-digit random password, containing letters, digits and symbols... Would you do it any better?

And if you are still not convinced and want to continue to play the devil's advocate answer to that:

Why hasn't Skype support respond to my messages regarding the usage of SkypeOut credit by the hacker? Why haven't they responded to my repeatitive messages regarding the second hacking of my account? I have sent them all the proof they need in order to re-assign the hacked account to my original email... I got no response at all... Not even an automated reply! Go figure! Would you like to comment on that?

I'm sorry to play the devil's advocate. When one's hands are idle it tends to be the default! I certainly think the lack of response is a very low-quality aspect of their business!

There's definitely no excuse for that. But like I said, maybe it's an unofficial way of ignoring you because pragmatically (whether or not you're an outlier who was breached without being stupid) maybe they're better off just doing so. This is just my guess - we're all in the dark, eh? And my account is new, so my conceited words may be something I look back with remorse on when some Latvian sells GBP 200 of calls from my account to a collective of farmers in Djibouti, via an Iranian yacht.

My comment... on the lack of response: how can they tell your request is genuine? Surely a criminal could approach them the same way... it may be worth putting something in writing to them - that way you would have legal grounds to treat their lack of reply as a breach of contract, so they definitely would not ignore you. Just a guess, again, but it seems logical.

I'm not denying this is a problem, btw - I'm just hoping that it does not get in the way of skype's main purpose - which is to help eradicate the unscrupulous call charges which a lot of people in Europe (not the USA, where local calls are all free, of course, from any landline) suffer without any possible alternative.

Other than putting the query in writing the only thing I can think of is - going to skype's forum (as you've done) or indeed seeing if you can get a telephone support line for skype - which seems unlikely, and even if you did it would probably a painfully incompetent call-center worker who handled you and wasted your time.

Put it in writing (and use recorded-delivery snailmail) - it's the best way. I think that if one is wealthy enough to have lawyers on hand, or just lucky enough to know some good lawyers well, it would help to also get them to be involved in communicating with skype, in order to make it clear which side of the law you are on.

I do hope that skype solves the problem, and I am sure they will (for every technology there is a hack, for every hack there is a protection, for every protection there is a new hack, for every new hack, there is a new protection...)



Sounds like you have taken lots of mainstream precautions but have you definitely excluded the possibility of keyloggers?

On the other hand I know that corporations continue to ban skype from their machines in order to protect against these sorts of security leaks.

It's a toughie, but in the end those of us (including you) who want the internet to continue to advance even in the face of such a pointless and large amount of antisocial crackers (after all hackers are nice people and are not the same as crackers) must accept that we cannot blame the victims of the crimes - and the victim here is skype as much as you guys. Skype had no intention to give you anything but the best service and their failure to respond is down to the very real danger that your emails are fraudulent (you think they don't get lots and lots of that kind of thing?).

Pursue it in writing, and be really pleasant. That will work, I am sure!

(I use a mac too, and I am very lucky because its OS is so unstable that I can't even install the bulk of friendly applications, let alone unfriendly ones! I think mac keylogging apps aren't so hard to write and that the market for them has grown - maybe us mac users can tend towards being too complacent about what really applies to us in terms of threats... the best way I have found in the past of protecting against any kind of intruder is to constantly back up my data outside my computer's drive and internal landscape so that I can, at will, entirely wipe the disk and reinstall the OS from scratch - say once a month - and that way nothing at all can possibly survive that shouldn't be there - why not give that a go?)

Like I said earlier, I had my account restored earlier. What the Skype ppl required in order to do so, was proof of purchase of SkypeOut credit, which I provided via email. After that they reassigned the original email to my hacked account so I could reset the password.

Nevertheless, what worked the first time around doesn't seem to have any effect this time.

Formatting and reinstalling OS once a month sounds like an overkill... I can think of better things to do with my spare time... Jesus, I am only 48 yrs old!

sounds like your email is where the cracker is looking - thus when your account was restored to it, after you'd reset the password, they probably sneaked in, reset it again and deleted all the evidence so you wouldn't see the mails. skype could of course check that for you! but bureaucracy is probably more of a threat to our freedom than terrorism!

next time, if there is a next time, i reckon you could try, once you've got the email changed back to your original one, and reset the password, then change your email address on your skype account without any delay - that way i believe you may stop further attacks

email breaches are the primary way a cracker moves around - look at some hacker forums, it's very very enlightening (of course what you mostly get there are crackers not hackers)

it's not a hotmail/gmail/yahoo email is it? if so then i'd bet a lot of money that this is definitely where you were breached. it's very hard NOT to hack someone's email if they're on that - i had to seriously hold back from hacking my ex's email when i, after a basic test, discovered that the secret question was merely her brother's birthday - not very hard for me to find out. these days you just have to facebook the person for that sort of info, or myspace, or 100 other places.

if it's a proper email, going through your own domain etc, then i suppose i'm probably wrong, since it's much harder to hack that kind of email

myself, i was thinking about testing out some email hacking on the addresses used by spammers on many of the input forms on my websites! however, there isn't enough time in the day for all that is there? except, apparently, for these goons who think that freedom of information means they're free to take anyone's information.

just more guesswork, you understand.

I suspect my Skype passw. was stolen as well as I keep getting messages from arount the world pushing me to buy something via internet

My account was also hacked, but unlike many of you, I have not even used this service in over 4 years, and I do not have any of the software on any of my computers. I forgot I even had an account. I found out when charges showed up on my bank statement, so not only do I have these mysterious international charges on my credit card, I had to cancel the card and be issued a new one. I am hoping the bank will be able to cancel the charges, and I'm hoping Skype will cancel the account that I have no use for.

On June 27, I received a message from Skype that my password had been changed. I had not changed my password. Furthermore, Skype no longer recognized my e-mail address that was used to register the account. After notifying Skype that my account had been stolen, they asked for more details on June 28, and allowed me to reaccess to my account on July 3rd. Whoever stole my account used my credit for the following calls;
6/27/09 5:52 +6285328093838, Indonesia - Mobile
6/27/09 5:51 +966557539626, Saudi Arabia - Mobile
6/27/09 5:47 +6281546231396, Indonesia - Mobile
6/27/09 5:46 +6285643291985, Indonesia - Mobile
6/27/09 5:38 +966505678232, Saudi Arabia - Mobile
6/27/09 5:34 +6281328800123, Indonesia - Mobile
6/27/09 5:33 +6281325731227, Indonesia - Mobile
6/27/09 5:33 +20113166321, Egypt - Mobile
6/27/09 5:31 +20102678971, Egypt - Mobile
6/27/09 5:30 +628159023751, Indonesia - Mobile

6/27/09 5:29 +62816738595, Indonesia - Mobile
6/27/09 5:26 +20161921704, Egypt
6/27/09 5:23 +6281325731227, Indonesia - Mobile
6/27/09 5:14 +622545750182, Indonesia
6/27/09 5:12 +6281385564695, Indonesia - Mobile
6/27/09 5:11 +6281325731227, Indonesia - Mobile
6/27/09 5:10 +6285691255897, Indonesia - Mobile
6/27/09 5:07 +6281325731227, Indonesia - Mobile
6/27/09 5:02 +628983964853, Indonesia - Mobile
6/27/09 4:37 +628170437371, Indonesia - Mobile
6/27/09 4:32 +628161436422, Indonesia - Mobile
6/27/09 4:20 +628161436422, Indonesia - Mobile

Skype have said they will not refund the stolen credit, and have blamed me for bad security. My Skype account is my only online account that has ever been breached. I'm surprised that they allow hackers to change a registration e-mail adress without notifying that address of the change. I'm disappointed by Skype's response to this incident, both from the security and customer relations angles

Hello friends

I'm Alvin Han from China
my skype ID and linked e-mail lost the day before yesterday
just as what you went through
i do not mind if skype can not pay me back those credit which hacker been used during there few days since this user name is very important for my work and i had canceled one of my credit account
my lost ID alvin.han
password was 123456321
linked e-mail wengang81@yahoo.com

can you please advise how to get contact with skype people?
since i have already send e-mail to billing@skype.net and support@skype.net they had replied an no sense e-mail below and i did leave two messages as what they asked for
but still no news so far

please help...

Thank you
Alvin Han

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Hello all

I have a similar problem. Yesturday when i checked my email account i had two emails from skype; the first said there had been a problem with my card payment, the second said that the payment had been successful and 10 euros had been added to my account. This was all news to me as i hadn't added anything. When i tried to log into my skype account the password had been changed. I tried to get a new password from skype but they no longer recocnised my email address so i guess whoever has my account has changed that now as well.

I am very concerned about this and not realy sure what to do. I've had to set up another account to post here.

I would be very greatful if someone could step in here, give me some guidance and help me get my account back.

Many thanks
Neil

Hi,

Has just happened to me too .... saw some unexpected messages from Skype whilst i was on vacation and ignored them as probably being phishing emails. However checked my account anyway when i got back to find that i was down 85 Euro's.

i have no reason to believe my PC has been compromised by any virus or trojan ... so i can only assume that it was a brute force password attack on my account. Having worked in IT for over 25 years i DO understand computers and i do understand security ...

Q: Why does SKYPE not prevent logging on after getting the password wrong a few times (like all decent corporate systems do) ?

Q: Why does SKYPE rely on a simple password and not a combination of password + secondary verification (ie 3 chars from a additional password/pin)

Q: Why does SKYPE not provide customer support ? (Actually it used to when i first used it before it was bought by eBay).

Q: Why when I reported the problem (Sat) could i get through to a human being via a online chat session ? But now i can't even find a link to the chat system ?

Not much chance of a response on here but at least i've managed to have a quick vent ;-)

Andy