I had a terrible time when i realized that my Gmail Account had been hacked. I can not tell you how i was hacked but i just found my self unable to login into my Gmail account.
I had changed my Gmail password a few days before the hack, actually, it was 3 days before i was hacked. After loggin into my account, i was notified that my password had been changed 38 hours back. I could not remember changing my password during that time. I made more tries but i kept getting the same error. I was very sure that the password i was using was the right one.
How to Recover Hacked Gmail Account
The fact that my account i had been hacked hit me had since i had some good Euros in Adsense revenue associated to the account. I then composed my self to get a way out of the mess.
My next step was to click the “Cant access my account option”. I was then presented with some recovery options. To my surprise, i could not recognize the visible letters of the of the recovery email or the visible letters of the recovery phone number.
The only good news is that the recovery phone i had been using could still work. Google can let you use the old recover phone number for 30 days after the change. However, that only happens if that phone number had stayed for long in your account.
It made me happy to realize that though the hacker had blocked me out of my Gmail, i could still use my old phone number to win back my account. when i inserted it, it worked like magic and i was told to enter a new password.
How to Keep you Gmail Account Safe
Make sure you have a recovery phone number and do not change it often. If i did not have a recovery phone number, i would not be able to recover my account. You can go to Account settings, then click security and add the phone number.
You can also use the 2 step verification feature, that would mean that when ever a person tries to access your account from a computer you so not own, a verification code will be sent to your phone which that person might not be able to access.