e-mail address high jacked ?

Many people complain about this problem every day at Yahoo Answers, so you are not alone.

Although there is a possibility you were 'hacked', it is far more likely that your address was compromised by one of the powerful spam bot networks. They have the ability to crack passwords, especially weak ones. They can also 'spoof' the addresses in the From: area to make it more likely that they will be opened. Spammers have programs just to 'harvest' e-mail addresses. Your account has been seriously compromised, and more of this type of letter will keep happening. It may not even be your own computer that was infected. Nonetheless, act promptly!

Carefully read the technical advice below BEFORE you set up a new safe account! Changing your password is NOT sufficient! Use a very strong password (letters, capitals, punctuation, symbols - the longer the better) Change your 'Secret' Questions and Answers too - ones that nobody could guess - Yahoo even allows you to invent your own questions.

You could use a BRAND NEW account to contact everyone with your new address, including your name and 'new address', as well as an apology to them. Urge ALL of them to use BCC: and delete all addresses when forwarding mail too!

https://edit.yahoo.com/registration?.int%E2%80%A6

Consider opening another ALTERNATE account in Yahoo mail - you will not lose anything - contacts, address list, saved mail, folders. Send an email to all your contacts with the new email address. If someone sends it to the old e-mail address, it will go to the same Inbox so you don't lose any messages. Click the link below to get an extra email address for your existing account. Use it just as you would for your primary address (which of course you can still use). You can send and receive email from either address from the same Inbox.

http://edit.yahoo..com/config/list_alias%E2%80%A6