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jktigger63's profile

Contributor

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3 Messages

Monday, October 14th, 2013 4:17 PM

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Locked out of email / Account compromised?

I have been using the same Yahoo email address for many years, probably at least 15 years. Last night before I went to bed I was shocked when I tried to login and the account said that I was entering the wrong password. All of my devices (2 phones, 5 computers) etc. were locked out. Because I used to get my internet through ATT, somehow this yahoo account got linked to my ATT account (I still have the same ATT account because I have several cell phones in the family linked to it).

 

When I try to see why I cannot login, it keeps sending me to the ATT site where I get lost in loops of "help" that provide no solutions. I know the correct password. It is programmed into several devices. Who do I talk to so that I can fix this? I receive MANY emails daily that I need to deal with, not to mention 15 years of data that I have stored there in old emails. I keep trying to go throught the internet problem trees on ATT.com, but they keep taking me to solutions that are not correct, and I never get to send an email to the help desk.

 

Thanks for any help you can provide

 

[Subject edited to reflect combined topics]

Voyager

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3 Messages

10 years ago

Hello-I am so relieved to see that I am not the only one with this issue. I was locked out of my sbcglobal account at around 330am on 10-15, and I am still unable to log back in. I have tried a private message to AT&T yesterday, but as yet have not heard back. I have had the account for over 10 years, have never had a problem-have not changed the password or account settings at all-and it is our primary email-so of course every vendor, financial relationship, etc has this email. We are pretty desperate to get it resolved-has AT&T been slowly helping the rest of you? Thank you! Karen

Contributor

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1 Message

10 years ago

I tried to log in this morning to my att.net domain email account, and recieved this message:

 

 

AT&T Yahoo! services suspended

You no longer have access to your AT&T Yahoo! account [me]@att.net because your AT&T Yahoo! Internet services have been suspended.

 

Please help!

Tutor

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5 Messages

10 years ago

This is what I got from AT&T today, making it sound like we're all out of luck...I really hope this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. That would be pretty bad if AT&T just randomly deactivates email accounts.

 

Chris, 

I do apologize but were not able to reactivate any free email accounts. We don't have access to do so, if your unable to access the account, another one would have to be created. 

Thank You
JohnG
Available 1-10pm CST M-F
AT&T Social Media Manager

Tutor

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5 Messages

10 years ago

Just got off the phone with an AT&T representative that did assist in resetting my password. I now have access to my e-mail again and am changing a few choice bits of info on it.

 

Here's the lowdown for my particular situation:

My e-mail had stopped working. Not unusual for the external mail client, but extremely unusual that webmail and yahoo! group access were also barred. Any attempts to log in told me that my ID and/or password were incorrect/not found. Yahoo's website told me that it couldn't assist in password reset/etc since it was an account with AT&T. AT&T's website told me it was inactive, discovered only upon trying to forget the password in hopes that'd fix it. I check this account every day, so it certainly wasn't due to inactivity.

 

I've had this yahoo/sbcglobal account for ages. I merged it with AT&T DSL years ago in order to retain external e-mail client access to it. Recently we switched from AT&T DSL to AT&T U-Verse; it turns out that this problem is unrelated to that, since the account information did transition over on their end. This means I am an active subscriber rather than a free account holder. If your account is only in free status at this point, this information may not be of any help to you.

 

Apparently there was a wave of e-mail hacking, the result being that mid-October a ton of e-mail accounts were detected as compromised and automatically disabled; when I spoke with an AT&T rep they confirmed this is what happened to my account. I can't speak to why my account was hit this time and not in years past since I have not done anything differently with it, but it is what it is. Since my old account pointed to an equally old different contact e-mail that was closed years ago, I did not receive the automated message that this had happened. And since my old account was set up prior to all these novel security question safeguards, there was no way for me to simply prove to the AT&T website that I am the actual account holder and reset my password that way.

 

My merged account is registered as a sub-account; the main account was not compromised, thus I could look in at it through that and see that it was currently disabled. I switched it to enabled, but still could not actually access it because it wanted my password (which was reset upon detection of the initial compromise). All attempts to reset/forget the password directed me to a support article indicating the online path I should take had I any updated security information in place (I did not and thus couldn't) and a generic (and lengthy) list of phone numbers AT&T has posted on their website.

 

I considered, but did not attempt the option of unlinking AT&T from the yahoo account during this fiasco. Since you need to be able to actually log in to your yahoo account on yahoo's end in order to complete an unlinking process started with AT&T - which would mean you need a current password and an active account - that'd probably sink your account for good. If you still want to persue that path, read this (and make sure you read all the way to the end before deciding).

 

So how did this mess get fixed? I PMed one of the Community SupportATTCustomerCare representatives you see posting on this thread, had some enlightening back and forth discussion via messages over several days, and it was finally determined that this could be resolved by calling them directly at a specific number they provided. Since I am seen as a current subscriber and not a free account holder, they had the option available on their end to reset my password and give me the new temporary one.

 

What's the moral of my story?

Even if you've never had issues with being locked out of your merged yahoo/AT&T e-mail account before, make certain you update your profile to add in security Q&A and a current (and different from the given account) e-mail address for contact in case something happens to it. And if you're already stuck, PM one of the ATTCustomerCare reps via the link they offer.

 

Hope this helps someone.

Voyager

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3 Messages

10 years ago

Hello, Anna-this is very helpful. I am still waiting on Nicole, an AT&T manager to PM me back-I hope they see our sbc account as not merely a free email, as I am a retired AT&T employee of almost 30 years, and we still have our DSL, landline and cell accounts through AT&T. Would have U-verse too, if they offered it here. I am happy to see there was actually an event that triggered all of the email accounts being disabled...as for the life of me, I have not been able to understand what we could have possibly done the evening of the 14th. If I don't hear from Nicole in the next day or so, I will try PM ing one of the managers on this forum...I so need the account to be up and running, as it will take literally days and days to track all of the folks who have the sbc address over so many years. I worry already that I may be receiving notifications regarding health benefit enrollment, etc-will be tring to contact a lot of folks individually while I wait. Thank you again for the info-Karen

Voyager

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3 Messages

10 years ago

Hello, I wanted to thank Nicole and Roy of ATT for sticking with me and resolving my email issues yesterday--I know this has been a real pain for all, and I so appreciate you all hanging in until we could finally solve the issue. Karen

Contributor

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1 Message

10 years ago

I have the same problem and have sent in a message.  It seems strange that it all happened the same day to our old DSL accounts.  I'm hoping you can resolve my issue and reset my password as I can supply my billing address for my old DSL account email.

Contributor

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2 Messages

10 years ago

I just got locked out of my sbcglobal.net account.  Did you have any luck getting your back?

 

Thanks, Ed

Contributor

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2 Messages

10 years ago

Yours sounds like the same problem I'm having.  I was locked out of my sbcglobal.net account on 1-9-14 late in the day.  I am in a constant loop trying to get logged in.  Did you have any luck getting your problem worked out or getting your email account back?  I would really like to know if you did and how you did it.

 

Thank you,

 

Edward

Contributor

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1 Message

10 years ago

I am trying to help my MIL who is in her 80's and is not computer savvy - she got locked out of her account today for no reason we could figure out. Just boom, stopped working. I was on hold for over an hour but am home sick and was getting a headache from the horrid music.  She's been having so many problems with her email it is ridiculous - and unfortunately, she incorrectly set up her backup ways to get temporary password and didnt ever give security questions.  So now we are stuck, she can't get to her email, I can't get anyone to answer the phone.  Help?  

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