sam_rivera•3mo agoProlific Poster

Appreciation post: The week my business email got hijacked and I learned the hard way

Three months ago, someone got into my company email and sent fake invoices to six of my regular clients. They almost got a $2,500 payment from one before she called me to check. The whole mess started because I was using the same password for my email and a forum that got hacked. It took me four solid days to get control back, convince my clients it was a scam, and set up two-factor authentication on everything. Now I use a password manager and a separate email just for signing up to stuff online. Has anyone else had to rebuild client trust after something like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

oliver5233mo ago

Brutal lesson, but a necessary one honestly. That password reuse trap gets so many people. Glad you got it sorted and upgraded your security setup.

robin8361mo ago

wait did your friend use the same password for everything too? i knew a guy who did that for his business email and his personal netflix account, of all things. someone cracked his email through a data breach from some random shopping site, then used that to reset passwords on his client portal and even his domain registrar. took him like three days to untangle everything and call all his clients to explain what happened. he switched to a password manager after that and set up 2fa on every single account he could find.

reese_bell3mo ago

Been there, it's a terrible feeling. After a similar hack, I called each client from a known number to explain. I also sent a formal letter on company paper by old-school mail to confirm the new security steps. The personal touch really helped. I offered a small discount on their next project as a goodwill gesture, which most refused but appreciated. Rebuilding trust just takes clear, direct communication.