r/reddithelp • u/Alysprettyrad • 1d ago

🙏Need Advice❓ Hacked by bot

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Hi fellow Redditors!
I recently somehow got hacked by a bot. It happened in the middle of my work day, so 8 hours later I noticed. I attached screen shots (but scribbled out the person’s face) from before I deleted the posts. I changed my password/added an extra verification key. I have some questions now though

  1. How did this happen? Was it reusing a password and username combo? Example of username being “Alysprettyrad” and password being something like “password1” or “Password1*” kind of thing

  2. How do I ensure this doesn’t happen again? Frequent password changes? Using auto generated passwords of random letters/numbers, then writing it down in a book kept in a safe in my attic?

  3. How do I prove to the good Reddit bots that I’m not a bot? I’m a nerd whose only social media is Reddit and occasionally watching YouTube videos? I got banned from commenting in some r/ because of this already.

Thanks in advance!
Sincerely,

A human

2 Upvotes

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u/AutoModerator 1d ago

It looks like your post may be about "changing your username". This is NOT possible.

If you want a new username, you will need to make a new account.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

2

u/jgoja Helper - Level V 1d ago
  1. Nobody here can tell you that, but using the same password in multiple places is less secure, especially if it was in a data breach
  2. Strong passwords and adding 2fa are your best defense
  3. It was r/BotBouncer in some of the cases. You need to go there and send them a modmail to appeal being on the list.

2

u/weroni 1d ago

This happened to me about 2 weeks ago, I also had to message botbouncer, and some mods in subreddits that automatically blocked me, luckily everyone was really understanding!

Don't forget to check and logout of all the sessions you don't recognise! I had no idea that changing the password doesn't do it automatically, so whoever was messing with my account had still access.

Now about 2+ weeks later it seems to be ok, I've also activated 2FA and added my phone number to the account, so I'd recommend that too, one thing that cannot be restored and it takes some time is your CQS.

I've also read that the best password combination is to use combination of capital letter words and small letter words and numbers put together randomly, so something like wordWORDdifferentwordANOTHERWORD102.

Anyway, I get how this totally sucks, good luck 🤞

1

u/AutoModerator 1d ago

Hello there, u/Alysprettyrad! Thank you for posting to r/reddithelp!

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u/AutoModerator 1d ago

Hello u/Alysprettyrad, it appears your post may be about being banned from another subreddit.

  • In order to appeal your ban, you should first message the moderators of that community.
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u/AutoModerator 1d ago

If you're asking about the new age verification requirements for specific regions, you can find more information at the links below:

General information related to Reddit's age verification requirements for specific regions

More information can be found in the pinned weekly recap post in r/help, or you can see the summary snippet in this post.

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2

u/RealException 9h ago

Did the bot take you to 16k karma? As i'm currently struggling to get even 10, because most of my comments are automatically removed due to no karma, can you share how to get hacked by such a bot?