Friday, July 8, 2005Winking 10, Israeli ID Thieves 8
A long time ago there was this program called ICQ. It was the first messaging program (well, the first that was widely accepted.) that allowed you to send files and do all the things AOL Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger now let you do.
I was happy. I was one of the first 300,000 people on the planet to get this new fangled device. My ID number on there was 265891. I think they began the numbers at 100000 - leaving the lower numbers for beta testers and administrators.
Anyway I used ICQ for years, but then I kind of got out of chatting so my account sat for a while.
Recently I decided that I would see if I could get back in touch with some of the people I used to know on ICQ so I tried to log in. I found out that my ICQ account had been hacked and some dude from Israel took it over.
First, I wondered what the point was. ICQ accounts are now, and always had been free. That's like knocking out the lady at the grocery store and stealing the samples. I guess he was a computer geek like myself and was more interested in the low number than anything else. (FYI I did sign up for a new account and the number was 283 000 000 or something like that...)
So I contacted ICQ and told them of my situation. They stated that since the account is so old, they can't access the password themselves and I'd have to use the password retrieval system. Problem is that the email address I used when I started the account was to my Minnesota ISP and the email no longer existed.
Then I had a brainstorm... I wrote my old ISP and asked if they could set up an email account for me that could forward to my Yahoo email. They could and they did and today I have successfully reclaimed my low, original ICQ number.
Only one person on my list still seems to use ICQ, but that's moot!
Now I am getting message after message in Hebrew to this person who ganked my account. I am telling them pretty much that the thief is no more and I have regained control!
They send a message back, but since I can't read Hebrew, I have no idea what they are calling me.
Alas the moral of this story is good always triumphs over evil, even when it does come down to moronic low numbered chat program id's.
I was happy. I was one of the first 300,000 people on the planet to get this new fangled device. My ID number on there was 265891. I think they began the numbers at 100000 - leaving the lower numbers for beta testers and administrators.Anyway I used ICQ for years, but then I kind of got out of chatting so my account sat for a while.
Recently I decided that I would see if I could get back in touch with some of the people I used to know on ICQ so I tried to log in. I found out that my ICQ account had been hacked and some dude from Israel took it over.
First, I wondered what the point was. ICQ accounts are now, and always had been free. That's like knocking out the lady at the grocery store and stealing the samples. I guess he was a computer geek like myself and was more interested in the low number than anything else. (FYI I did sign up for a new account and the number was 283 000 000 or something like that...)
So I contacted ICQ and told them of my situation. They stated that since the account is so old, they can't access the password themselves and I'd have to use the password retrieval system. Problem is that the email address I used when I started the account was to my Minnesota ISP and the email no longer existed.
Then I had a brainstorm... I wrote my old ISP and asked if they could set up an email account for me that could forward to my Yahoo email. They could and they did and today I have successfully reclaimed my low, original ICQ number.
Only one person on my list still seems to use ICQ, but that's moot!
Now I am getting message after message in Hebrew to this person who ganked my account. I am telling them pretty much that the thief is no more and I have regained control! They send a message back, but since I can't read Hebrew, I have no idea what they are calling me.
Alas the moral of this story is good always triumphs over evil, even when it does come down to moronic low numbered chat program id's.
posted by ewink at 4:10 PM
ewink's FUNKDAFIED Ranma 1/2 Site
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