Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Ask Slashdot: How To Track a Skype Account Hijacker?

Posted by timothy on from the hi-from-indonesia dept.

An anonymous reader writes "My Skype account was hijacked, which I discovered after Skype suspended it for suspicious activity, including a number of paid calls and an attempt to debit my card. Now that I've secured the account again, I can see the call history — there are several numbers called in Senegal, Mali, Benin and Philippines. Obviously I could call them myself and create a bit of havoc in their lives, but ideally I'd like to trace the hijacker himself — perhaps with some kind of 'social engineering' approach. Or is it just a waste of time?" How would you do this, and would you bother?

9 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. Ask Reddit... by JJJJust · · Score: 5, Funny

    Reddit seems to be fantastic at finding people on the internet given the flimsiest leads to their identity... sure they may get it wrong now and then, but hey... them's the breaks.

  2. Post numbers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    1] Post the numbers dialed to 4chan
    2] Wait for the onslaught of harassing calls
    3] ???
    4] Profit

    1. Re:Post numbers by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 5, Funny

      Actually your cat IS your personal army.

      It may seem like the cat belongs to you, but if it really was your personal army then it would actually have to obey your orders.

      In reality, you are more like a squire to your cat; you attend to the cat's personal needs when it isn't off doing heroic battle against a mouse or bug.

  3. I wouldn't start that journey from here by realitycheckplease · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is it possible that the hijacker was selling calls to other people, possibly immigrants, maybe even illegals. If so, the numbers called may have no direct connection to the hijacker, rather each olne of them may know a different someone who knows the hijacker. So you could be looking for the common factor between the people who made the calls to the numbers that you have. I'm not sure that it will be easy to find that common factor. After all, you have Jim and Bill and Fred's numbers; Sue called Jim, Anne called Bill, Jenny called Fred; Sue, Anne and Jenny all know Henry .... so if you have Jim and Bill and Fred's numbers, and don't even know whether Henry exists or not, how do you find Henry?

  4. Use better logic by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You need to use the same kind logic as when buying a used car.

    1. Do not assume you can outsmart them or that they have made glaring mistakes
    2. Realize they do this professionally, that is, spend years eating and breathing this type of activity
    3. Realize if there was some way to retaliate or gain an advantage, they wouldn't be doing this for a living.
    4. Re-evaluate your position.

    --
    while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
    1. Re:Use better logic by dkf · · Score: 5, Funny

      3. Realize if there was some way to retaliate or gain an advantage, they wouldn't be doing this for a living.

      I'm waiting for SIFPTP (Simple Internet Face-Punch Transfer Protocol) to be implemented.

      --
      "Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
  5. Call the numbers in Africa and say... by CaptainOfSpray · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I am a lawyer representing a senior banking official in Nigeria, who recently died leaving $10 million untraceable... and I am able to pay you to help me find the rightful heir..."

    --
    "Cock Up Your Beaver" does not mean what you think. This sig is intended to clog filters and annoy do-gooders
  6. Re:Their ISP won't care by Joce640k · · Score: 5, Funny

    First become fluent at harassing people in African-French and Filipino.

    --
    No sig today...
  7. Re:No point by BrokenHalo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sadly there's no point in bothering.

    In this instance, I might disagree. Given that those calls were (according to TFS) made to Senegal, Mali, Benin and Philippines, that in itself might be construed as suspicious. You could pass the information on to the FBI and tell them you are concerned your account could have been used for terrorist activity. Let them come down on the perps.