HBO max account hacked.
Account hacking happens (potentially) every hour, but it’s not until it happens to you that it becomes an important issue. Last week it was my Facebook account, which I rarely use, and today it was my HBO MAX account.
So I was logging into HBO MAX on my phone, which weirdly I thought I was already logged in when I noticed I couldn’t log in. I tried several passwords I had written down and nothing. It wasn’t until I was on one of my Chromebooks, that was still signed in, that I saw my email address was changed to some strange .xyz email address. And unfortunately, when that happens and you go to try and reset the account, it sends the verification to the fake email address.
I was able to get my account reset by talking to the HBO MAX chat support. They were very helpful and in 30 mins everything was reset and the fake account booted. But the point of this email is to help you in case this happens to you.
Thankfully I was able to see the fake email thanks to me still being logged in from a previous device. But the reality is that may not always be the case for people. So here is the information you need to have handy for the HBO MAX tech to help make the account restoration smooth.
- Type of card and last 4: what is the debit/credit card used to pay for the monthly subscription (ie Visa/Mastercard) and the last 4 numbers from that card?
- Original email address: what email address did you have this HBO max account tied to?
- Name: basically the name on your card.
*The information below is the info I didn’t present, but the info the rep recommends you also have handy.
- Screenshot of recent billing payment
- Type of subscription (ad free or ad). Now I must admit, this question I would scratch my head with. Given we are all paying, I would think they were all ad free. But this could be an option for select markets.
- Device that you’re using to stream HBO Max. This is another question where I would have to shrug my shoulders. Because depending on the time and place I could be streaming on my phone, iPad, or Chromebook.
Be patient with the tech rep. Remember, they are trying to make sure the person they are talking to is actually the account holder. In a world of hackers and fraudulent people, they want to get it right and are having to do so over the computer screen. This can be challenging given the fact the fraud happened over the computer. And the last thing they are wanting to do is turn over the account to the wrong person.
