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If someone takes over your email, they may be able to read private messages, find personal information, exploit password-reset messages for other accounts, and impersonate you to people who trust you. A compromised inbox can therefore turn one stolen login into a wider security and identity-theft problem. The exact path varies: phishing or stolen and reused credentials can lead to mailbox access, but not every takeover follows the same sequence and not every phishing message comes from a compromised account.
Why a compromised email account can put other accounts at risk
Email is often more than a place to receive messages. It can hold personal, financial, tax, government, and identity information, as well as messages that help you recover access to other accounts. If an attacker can read the inbox, they may learn details useful for impersonation or find password-reset messages and recovery links for services connected to that address. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns that hackers target email and social media accounts to steal personal information.
Access to an inbox can also give an attacker a trusted way to contact its owner’s family, friends, colleagues, or customers. A message sent from the real account may appear convincing because it comes from an address the recipients recognize. The attacker might ask for money, request login details, or send a link. The FTC identifies identity theft, malware distribution, and scams against other people among the possible harms of account compromise.
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How to tell whether someone may have hacked your email
Look for changes and activity you did not initiate. The FTC identifies these as warning signs:
- An alert says your email address, phone number, or password changed, but you did not make the change.
- You see an unfamiliar login attempt or a successful sign-in you cannot identify.
- You can no longer sign in to the account.
- A contact says you sent a message you did not write, especially one containing a suspicious link or an urgent request for help or money.
One alert or unexpected message is not, by itself, proof of a takeover. Treat it as a reason to check the account using the provider’s official recovery process, reached through its app or by navigating to its known website yourself. Do not use a recovery link in an unexpected message: it could lead to a fake sign-in page.
If someone reports an unusual message from you, ask what they received and when. That can help you understand whether the account may have been used to contact others, but do not ask them to click the link or reply to the suspicious message. Once you have access, check recent account activity to identify unfamiliar sign-ins.
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What to do if someone has taken over your email
Work through containment in order. Follow the provider’s official account-recovery instructions; the FTC’s consumer guidance directs users to provider-specific recovery steps. If you still control a signed-in device, do not assume that changing the password alone has removed every other session or restored every recovery setting.
- Start recovery through a trusted route. Open the provider’s official app or navigate to its known website and use its account-recovery flow. Avoid links in unexpected email or text messages, including messages that claim to be security alerts.
- Check the device you will use. The FTC recommends ensuring computer security software is up to date and running a scan before proceeding through recovery. Use a device you have reason to trust, and follow the security software’s instructions if it identifies a problem.
- Regain access and replace exposed passwords. Set a new, unique password for the mailbox. If you reused the old password on other accounts, change it on those accounts too, using each service’s official site or app. Password changes should not simply move the same reused credential from one service to another.
- End sessions you do not control. Use the provider’s account settings to sign out other devices or sessions, then review recent activity. The available menu names differ by provider, so follow its own security and recovery instructions.
- Check who can recover or access the mailbox. Verify that recovery email addresses and phone numbers belong to you. Review forwarding rules and connected apps as part of a practical mailbox audit: an unfamiliar rule or app may allow continued access or cause messages to be redirected. Remove access you do not recognize, using the provider’s official instructions.
- Strengthen sign-in protection. Turn on multifactor authentication (MFA) and choose the strongest option the provider supports. The options and their trade-offs are explained below; check recovery instructions before enrolling a method that depends on a device or physical key.
- Alert people who may have received a fake message. After you regain control, notify your contacts that messages sent during the compromise may not have come from you. Ask them to disregard unexpected requests for money, credentials, or links from your account.
How to choose MFA that resists phishing
MFA requires another proof of identity in addition to a password. It reduces the risk that a stolen password alone will be enough, but it does not make account takeover impossible. Attackers may target recovery flows, steal session tokens, compromise a device, exploit a SIM swap, or overwhelm someone with repeated approval prompts. Methods also differ in how well they resist phishing.
| Method | Phishing resistance | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Physical FIDO security key | CISA describes FIDO security keys as a strong phishing-resistant option. Its small-business MFA guidance calls a physical key the option offering the best protection against phishing in that guidance. | Confirm that the provider supports the key and that it works with your devices. Follow enrollment instructions and plan a backup or recovery route in case the key is lost. |
| Passkey | CISA’s December 2024 mobile communications guidance describes passkeys as an acceptable FIDO-based alternative where supported. | Check which devices and accounts can use the passkey, and understand how you would recover access if you lose a device. |
| SMS code | Weaker than phishing-resistant FIDO methods, according to CISA’s guidance. | Use it if stronger methods are unavailable, but understand that a code sent by text does not offer the same phishing resistance as a FIDO method. |
| Email code | Not established in the cited guidance as equivalent to a phishing-resistant method. If the protected account is the same inbox receiving the code, a mailbox attacker may also be able to read it. | Check the provider’s available options and avoid treating access to the same compromised mailbox as an independent recovery safeguard. |
Where available, prioritize a FIDO security key or passkey. CISA particularly highlights hardware-based FIDO keys as effective where feasible. Compatibility and recovery depend on the provider and device, so consult the provider’s instructions before choosing a method. If a phishing-resistant option is not available, turn on the strongest MFA method offered rather than leaving the account password-only.
Protect other accounts and report financial or identity harm
An inbox takeover can expose information that affects services beyond email. Consider what the attacker could have read, including financial, tax, government, or identity records, and contact any affected organization through a phone number or website you already know to be genuine. Do not rely on contact details supplied in a suspicious message.
- If you suspect identity theft: report it and follow the recovery steps at the FTC’s IdentityTheft.gov.
- If a bank transfer or other bank fraud occurred: contact your financial institution immediately through a known official channel. The IC3 also accepts reports of internet crime.
- If someone sent a phishing message: report phishing to the FTC. If you believe a message is from a real company, reach that company using contact information you already trust rather than the message’s link or phone number.
Act promptly if money moved or sensitive information was exposed. A password reset cannot reverse a completed transfer, undo identity misuse, or notify organizations that may need to secure affected accounts.
Reduce the chance of another takeover
Make the email password unique
Do not reuse the mailbox password on other sites. If a password from another service is stolen, reuse can give an attacker a way to try it against your email. The FTC recommends a strong password and suggests 12–15 characters or a passphrase. A password manager can help create and store unique passwords, but it does not stop phishing or session theft by itself.
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Use MFA, favoring phishing-resistant methods
Enable MFA for email and choose a FIDO security key or passkey when the provider supports it. If you use a physical key, check compatibility and plan for a lost key before relying on it as your only way back into the account. When stronger methods are unavailable, use the strongest supported alternative and keep the provider’s recovery details current.
Handle unexpected messages cautiously
Avoid clicking unexpected links or opening unexpected attachments. If a message says it is from a bank or another company, visit its website or call a number you already know is genuine. The FTC reports that email was the most common reported contact method for scammers in 2024, for the second consecutive year. That describes how people reported being contacted; it does not show what share of email takeovers began with email or how often a mailbox was compromised.
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The FTC reported more than $12.5 billion in consumer fraud losses in 2024 and more than 1.1 million identity-theft reports received through IdentityTheft.gov that year. These are broad U.S. figures: the fraud-loss total is not a measure of losses caused by email takeover, and the identity-theft reports are not a count of cases caused by compromised email. The cited official figures do not isolate how many identity-theft cases began with an email account takeover.
These numbers show the scale of reported fraud and identity theft, not the probability that any particular email account will be hacked. They should not be used to infer a specific causal link between an inbox compromise and a reported loss.
Keep the response focused on what was exposed
After securing the mailbox, use what you found in its messages and account activity to decide which other services need attention. Prioritize accounts whose passwords were reused, services with reset messages in the inbox, and organizations whose sensitive information may have been exposed. Keep records of suspicious alerts, unfamiliar activity, and any financial transactions; they can help when speaking with a provider, bank, or reporting service.
The key distinction is between regaining a password and restoring control. Recovery is not complete until you have checked sessions, recovery details, and mailbox access, and taken action on accounts or people affected by the intrusion.
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