What is an account compromise?
Account compromise is when criminals get unauthorised access to your email, banking, or other accounts. Criminals typically use compromised accounts to steal personal information, money, and identities. Australians rely on online accounts for all sorts of services, from banking and shopping to messaging and file sharing. While online accounts can be convenient for users, they are not without risk.
How do you know if your accounts have been compromised?
Look out for these common warning signs:
- You are unable to log in to your account, even though you know your login details are correct.
- You notice changes to your account that you didn’t make, such as emails in your inbox marked as read even though you’ve never opened them or recent purchases you don’t remember making.
- You received an unexpected password reset notification or attempted logins from strange locations or at unusual times.
- Your account provider alerts you to suspicious activity.
- There have been unauthorised money transfers or purchases from your online accounts.
- You’ve been automatically logged out of your account on all devices.
- People report suspicious or unusual messages, comments, or activity from your account.
- Your account shows a last login time, location or device that looks wrong.
- Your transactions are being declined when you should have enough money in your account.