For years I've been quite chuffed when I read on many forums, people being spammed, conned etc, as I've yet to receive any, & wondered why/how it happens.

Until now

Still haven't been spammed or conned, but on checking on Amazon last Thursday (tracking an order), found 2 e-mails from a well established company here in the UK. One I have never dealt with, so opened them.

Was absolutely gobsmacked to find that an account was opened & the 2nd e-mail was a password to access said account. It was too late in the evening to do anything about it. Telephoned the company on Friday & immediately knew something was wrong when the initial automated service requested account number & postcode (zip code). It accepted the a/c no but had difficulty with the postcode. It then transferred me to a real person. Then the "fun" started.

The Customer Service employee was very courteous & helpful, but under the "Data Protection Act" could not tell me the address & postcode of the person who initialised the a/c, so requested confirmation that NO transaction would be allowed on the account using my hotmail address - she could not guarantee this as she did not have the authority, so transferred me to Credit Control, who did.

The difference in personality & politeness was instantly apparent! After going through the details once again, she told me to do what I had to do & the impression I got was that she didn't give a damn. An international credit crunch adversely affecting everyone & here's a company not interested in preventing fraud..........Marvellous!!!

After getting off the phone, imediately posted on Windows Live Help solution center & within a short space of time, received a reply, showing concern & informed to e-mail Microsoft with the details. This was done & awaiting a reply.

Contacted the police & believe it or not, got the same attitude as the company. So to cover my butt, sent a letter confirming personal details, contents of telephone call, & copies of e-mails received to both the company & police.

Just finished getting off the phone with my solicitor regarding "that" court case, & mentioned the problem. She absolutely loved it, & e-mailed a fairly lengthy note, asking to corrallate everything & bring copies with me on my next visit. She will then keep that info on file so that should any claim for unpaid goods arrive at my home.............

Lovely, 2009, even though it is frustrating at the moment, is turning out to be a very profitable year!

Well I hope everything goes smoothly and you don't have to push further your law knowledge on this story!

Seems really strange though. I wouldn't want that happening to me for sure.

Believe it or not, I was gobsmacked once I logged in to Windows Live Help Solution Center - It's not that strange. Apparently, it's been happening on Hotmail, GMail & Yahoo Mail for the past several months. I could not believe it - There are thousands of incidents (Check it out - you don't need to register if one has a windows live ID, just create a user name - mine is pretty obvious).

What really annoys me the most is Authorities & Large Companies showing a blaise attitude to it all - to me, fraud is fraud & I also value my name!

To really make matters worse in my case, on checking my mail today, got several from the Microsoft Partner Program - The main one was on Piracy - Unbelievable!!!