Outlook account is hacked, how to recover it?

Question

Hi, my outlook/hotmail account is hacked. All my emails in Inbox are gone. And I tested, right now I cannot receive normal email. Instead, I keep receiving hacked emails, which asking me to pay.... Can you help me to stop this and recover my account? Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi Winnie,

Good day! Thanks for your email and valuable help.

1, Your email with all details steps and hyperlink are very useful.

2, I followed the steps for "Secure your Microsoft account (if you still have access)" and "Stop the blackmail/phishing emails safely".

Specially after signing out for 24 hours, my outlook account stops receiving black mails. New arriving emails are keeping normal

3, However, all rewritten emails are only part of them recovered. Still big half remains rewritten. I will give it another day to see whether all of them get restored.

4, My emails under inbox still missing- I cannot find them.

Kind regards

Monica

Answer 2

Hi Monica Xu

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A Forum. I’m really sorry this happened, losing access to your inbox and seeing scam or extortion emails instead is understandably alarming.

Please try the following steps:

1. Secure your Microsoft account (if you still have access)

• Go to: https://account.microsoft.com/security > Manage how I sign in
• Remove any unfamiliar sign‑in methods you don’t recognize 
• Check the list of devices associated with your account
• If you notice anything unusual, change to a strong password and Sign out everywhere to kick out any existing sessions (may take up to 24 hours).
• Turn on Two-step verification: How to use two-step verification with your Microsoft account - Microsoft Support
• Review your Recent activity: https://account.microsoft.com/activity and select This wasn’t me/ Secure your account for anything you don’t recognize.

2. Check if your mail is being moved/deleted

In Outlook on the web, confirm your messages weren’t moved into Junk, Other, or Deleted Items folder, and use the built-in recovery option if needed. If you can't find items in Deleted Items folder, please double-check Recover items deleted from this folder at the top. You can see Email is missing from your Outlook.com inbox - Microsoft Support

3. Stop the blackmail/phishing emails safely

• Do not reply, click links, or pay. These are common phishing/extortion scams.
• In Outlook on the web, right-click to report the messages as phishing and block the sender. You can also refer to: Protect yourself from phishing - Microsoft Support

For more details, you can see How to recover a hacked or compromised Microsoft account - Microsoft Support

Please feel free to let me know how it goes. I truly appreciate your time and understanding.

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