Email addresses added without my knowledge

[Pantherman]

I had a (genuine BT) notification that my email login had been suspended. When I eventually got into my BT account, three spurious email addresses had been added.  Given that to add an address my BT user id and password have to be input and I only ever use my own device to do so (choosing not to save the password or be kept logged in),  how can this have happened?  And has anyone else had the same occurrence?  I use POP3 on an email client so that neither my messages nor my contacts are stored on BT's servers.  

[Keith_Beddoe]

@Pantherman 

Welcome to this user forum for BT Retail phone and broadband customers.

How do you know the email from BT was genuine?

Did it have a link for you to follow to login to your BT account?

If it did, then its not from BT, and if you used the link, then your account has been compromised, and that is how the extra accounts have been created.

This scam is very common, and has been doing the rounds now, for a number of years.

[Pantherman]

Hi, Keith and thanks for your reply.

The email was from btcomms@info.bt.com. Once I'd read it, I noticed that the email clients on both my laptop and mobile had not been refreshed for about 6 hours.  The "Access my account link" in the received mail was https://www.bt.com/secure and from there I was directed to login in to my bt account where I renewed my BT and email passwords and deleted the spurious accounts.  Along the way, I received a PIN and got confirmations all along from the same btcomms... address.  Once I'd changed the bt login, I had to use the 2-stage authorisation numbers sent to my mobile the first time around.  It all looked pretty kosher, and the 3 deleted addresses are still visible within My bt/products/manage e-mail.  

It's been a few weeks since I Iast logged in to my bt account via the web and - as I said - as those addresses were there once I'd logged back in (and securely so, as far as I can tell), it's a bit of a mystery. 

I'd appreciate your feedback...

Andy

[Keith_Beddoe]

As others will confirm, its quite possible for an email to appear to come from BT, but when you hover your mouse pointer over the link, it will show a totally different non-BT address.

See what other forum members think.

[Pantherman]

Yes,  Keith.  Having worked with PCs for over 40 years and very aware of the need to keep abreast of developments, I'm well aware that emails may emanate from addresses other than they purport.  That is why I copied and pasted the address from the original bt email in my last reply.  If you've any reason to believe that either the email or link addresses might not be genuine, I'd be happy to attach copies for you to check.

Perhaps someone else might have had this same situation and got to the same dead-end...

[NeilO]

Hi, @Pantherman welcome to the community, the emails and notifications from BT do sound genuine and you did the right thing by changing your password. I'd like to get the spurious emails looked at as that is a concern, I'll send you a private message so you can get in touch with your details.

Thanks

Neil 

[Pantherman · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your attention, Neil.  Our subsequent private messages and telecons have given me a comprehensive overview of what occurred and confirmed that the actions I've taken to secure the account in future should be sufficient.  I'm really pleased that the oversight of the BT Community Forum is in such good hands.

With kind regards, Andy R

[NeilO]

@Pantherman No problem, Andy. I was glad that I could help.

Thanks

Neil