How to Recover from In-laws Wiping Out Parts of My E-mail Account

Updated on April 02, 2010
L.E. asks from Buena Park, CA
5 answers

Hi, All,

Yesterday, my mother-in-law suggested that I use her husband's laptop to check e-mail. I checked my e-mail for a minute and then thought I logged out. Apparently, I did not log out. After I left my in-laws' house, my father-in-law sat down to his computer. He noticed that e-mail was open and saw my name in a few places. He thought that he was receiving SPAM! As a result, he got mad and yelled about getting junk. His wife, in trying to placate him, deleted all my e-mail and then sent the deleted e-mail to Yahoo's trash can! She knows how many e-mails she deleted (38, she claims) but doesn't know who sent them! While talking to me on the phone, when I mentioned the 40 e-mails I had been told had been wiped out, my mother-in-law twice "corrected" me, saying that only 38 had been deleted. (She may have been trying to console me, thinking that losing 38 was better than losing 40, but in her usual rough, bull-in-a-china-shop way, she just infuriated me.) Fortunately, I check my e-mail virtually every day and either delete messages I'm done or file them to one of approx. eight electronic files. Unfortunately, the e-mails that were deleted (at least the e-mails I know of being deleted) were important e-mails related to school, personal financial planning, etc. that I had been working on. Because I had not yet responded to the e-mails, I cannot recover the e-mail through the Sent folder. I have no idea who has sent me e-mail the couple of days preceding the accident. I noticed that my account had been 'reconfigured'--some file folders were renamed "Unnamed." My mother-in-law swears up and down and probably on the Bible that neither she nor her husband had anything to do with that. I have yet to meet any "cyberfairies" that screw up people's e-mail accounts while we're away from our computers! A couple of my in-laws have suggested that I send an e-mail to everyone I know asking him or her to resend anything that he or she has sent in the last month. How could I tactfully word that letter to hundreds of people?

Fortunately, before my in-laws managed to wipe out thousands of messages, my sister-in-law realized when she tried to log onto her e-mail account that my in-laws had been fooling around with my account. She informed my in-laws of what they had done and aptly renamed the unnamed folder "Mistake," and then logged me out. Any suggestions on how to recover any of the information? Any suggestions on how to protect myself from this type of little disaster?

I'm so upset about this incident that I need to meditate now to calm down.

Have a good day!

L.

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So What Happened?

Although my in-laws told me that strange things have been happening to their computer lately (so that it looks as though you logged out although you haven't), I agree with the last poster that I was responsible for unintentionally leaving my e-mail account open. I'm going to let bygones be bygones. I can't possibly contact all the people on the planet that may have sent me mail in the last month or so. Ideally, nothing bad will come of the loss of the messages in my inbox ( no deadlines to pay bills or submit schoolwork will be missed).

Thank you, all, for writing. Have a good weekend.

L.

More Answers

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.C.

answers from Orlando on

You don't need to change your password like the poster below (who obviously didn't read your whole message) suggested because you said you just forgot to log out -- it's not like they hacked your account!! I would contact yahoo and see if they can recover anything. They probably can't but it's worth asking. Then, do as suggested and email everyone you know and let them know due to a BUG (yes, your in-laws bug you!!!!) you lost everything that was sent on such-n-such a date so please resend anything. If people can't remember what/if they sent anything to you then at least they will know you lost a lot and will not wonder why you never responded to something specific. I don't know of any way to protect yourself in the future, other than printing things you want to keep and get to later.

4 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

D.F.

answers from Boston on

change your password and use your own computer if you can.

Oh I am sorry LETS above .....no need to be a crank!

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.S.

answers from Kansas City on

I guess, in the future be sure to completely log off, to avoid this from happening again. You can blame them, but actually you were the one who left your account open. Sometimes the best ways we learn are from costly mistakes! :-(

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

C.G.

answers from Davenport on

Very frustrating, but you do need to calm down. They obviously did not do it on purpose. If the emails are that important, then I agree with the in-laws and send a mass email out to everyone stating that you lost emails and if they sent any important messages and have not heard a response from you to resend the email. You don't have to go into details how you lost the emails. If the emails are from businesses (banks, credit cards, etc). You will not get a response. If you receive any billing statements online, just keep an eye out for any missing statements and contact them yourself. A hard way to learn a lesson: always logout.:)

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.N.

answers from New York on

was it yahho/hotmal/gmail? if yes, those are gone. yes, i second about changing passworth otherwise they will still be able to log in, as it stays open unless THEY LOG OUT.
such a bummer, but what can you do.

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