The perpetrator is probably trying to hide their real goal, so here’s what to do.
What Is Email Bombing?
An email bombing is an attack on your inbox that involves sending massive amounts of messages to your address.
Each will send you a confirmation email asking to confirm your address.
This process repeats across as many unprotected sites as the script can find.
Why Is This Happening to You?
If you own a domain, the attacker may be attempting to transfer it away.
An email bombing may also be used to gain control of your email address.
Log into any shopping accounts, like Amazon, and check for recent orders.
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You may want to take this a step further.
When they went to cancel the order, they couldn’t find it.
The attacker hadarchived the Amazon order, hoping that’d help it go undetected.
While you’re checking your shopping accounts, it would be wise to remove your payment options entirely.
You should also contact your financial institutions and make them aware of the situation.
They may be able to lock down your account and help you find any unusual activity.
see to it you usestrong, unique passwordsfor all your important online accounts.A password managerwill help.
If you might manage it, you should set uptwo-factor authenticationfor every site that offers it.
Now that you’ve secured your various accounts, it’s time to deal with your email.
For most email providers, the first step is to contact your email provider.
Unfortunately, contacting Google is incredibly tricky.
Google’scontact pagedoesn’t seem to offer a contact method for most Google users.
It’s doubtful anyone from this support team can help with your problem.
If you’re on Gmail without a subscription, you’re going to have to ride out the bombing.
You cancreate filters to clean out your inbox.
Just to be careful not to filter out emails you do want to see in the process.
If you’re using an Outlook.com email, help is built into the website.
Log into your email, then go for the Question mark in the upper right-hand corner.
pop in something like “I’m getting email bombed” and click “Get help.”
You’ll be given an “email us” option, then follow with that.
You won’t get immediate relief, but support will hopefully contact you to help.
In the meantime, you’ll want tocreate rulesto filter out the junk you’re receiving.
If you’re using a different email provider, attempt to contact them directly and set up filters.
In any case, don’t delete your account or your email address.
Gaining control of your email address might actually be what the attacker truly wants.
Giving up your email address gives them an avenue to achieving that goal.
Just be aware you may be in for a long haul.
