CONCERN: Help…Is someone taking over my blog?

  • journeyintosoul · Member ·

    I just received an email with this written:

    New user registration on your blog Words To Be Shared:

    Username: MisterX40094

    E-mail: (Redacted)

    What is happening here? Is someone taking over my blog?
    Thank you, Susan

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • timethief · Member ·

    Are you referring to a free blog being free hosted by wordpress.com blog?
    Are you the only official user (Administrator) of the blog?

  • journeyintosoul · Member ·

    Yes.. And I am the only official user / Admin of this blog.

  • timethief · Member ·

    No one can take over your blog unless you give out your login information. In order to change the password a confirmation email is sent that tells you if you have not initiated a change in password not to click the link provided in the email from wordpress.com. IMO what you have is an email phishing spam.

  • journeyintosoul · Member ·

    Whew! Thank you so much. :)

  • timethief · Member ·

    Please read this entry from the support documentation so your are clear about the process. > http://en.support.wordpress.com/passwords/

  • kissling · Member ·

    Same thing happened on one of my sites today. I got an email that said I had a new user,
    Username: MisterX43234

    E-mail: (Redacted)

    I thought I had turned off the “Anyone can register” settings, but it was on, so I unchecked it immediately.

    Dashboard > General > Membership

  • designsimply · Member ·

    Sounds to me like it’s spam. Check your users page to make sure it’s good. If it is, you can probably mark that email as spam.

  • t3ck · Member ·

    @journeyintosoul @kissling Please reframe from posting email addresses in the public forum because spam bots will harvest the emails for their dirty work.
    So I went ahead and removed the email for you.

  • okiajoe · Member ·

    I received a similar message from someone
    Username: MisterX59024

    JohnDillinger1903(at)gmx.com

    It is must be a spammer for sure. Someone needs to warn people.

  • timethief · Member ·

    I receive these frequently and mark them as spam.

  • raincoaster · Member ·

    @journeyintosoul

    (I don’t know about the others, as they have disregarded the instruction to give us the URL to which they are referring)

    You do not have a blog hosted on WordPress.COM. Therefore, you are in the wrong forum. We will not be able to provide useful answers for us, as our software is not the same. Random people cannot add themselves as users to our blogs here. You need to be at WordPress.ORG instead for support.

    This is extremely common with WordPress.ORG blogs, particularly those running older software. There used to be some sort of exploit or something they could do, but if you are running an up-to-date version of the software this should not be a problem for you. If you’;re not, update. And you can just shut off the ability for people to add themselves as users.

    For specifics and all other support, please go to WordPress.ORG

  • okiajoe · Member ·

    Oh another thing, I went to users and deleted the new user, probably good idea

  • raincoaster · Member ·

    You do not have a blog hosted on WordPress.COM. Therefore, you are in the wrong forum. We will not be able to provide useful answers for us, as our software is not the same. Random people cannot add themselves as users to our blogs here. You need to be at WordPress.ORG instead for support.

    For specifics and all other support, please go to WordPress.ORG

  • designsimply · Member ·

    @raincoaster Good point! I didn’t notice that at first. The same advice applies so far, but you’re right, issues with WordPress.org blogs should be posted on http://wordpress.org/support/

  • sabinefubo · Member ·

    I just received the following too:

    New user registration on your blog Magic Sound Steps:

    Username: MisterX55761

    E-mail: (email visible only to moderators and staff)

    HElppppppppp

  • timethief · Member ·

    You don’t need help and the person doing this doesn’t need to feel he has power over us, right?

    Simply mark it as spam and then permanently delete it.

  • sararosso · Member ·

    @sabine – you can delete that but if you want to be extra sure, check your Users page after to see if there’s anything new.

  • raincoaster · Member ·

    What is the return address on the email you get? Can you confirm it came from WordPress.com? It could well be a total fake, coming from another email address. As far as I know, there’s no way for a stranger to add themselves as a user on a WP.com blog. But if they know your email, they can easily send you a fake email saying they added themselves or whatever.

  • hanni · Member ·

    @sabinemukaze Sounds like spam indeed, please don’t worry – your blog is fine. Just to check though, do you have any other blogs apart from your WordPress.Com blog?

    @raincoaster is right, the email headers would be of great use – can you send the full email into support?

    Contact

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