Locked Email Accounts

[LinzPlinz]

Ever since going all-in w/Shaw for our email account needs in mid-April 2022 I've been locked out of both my email accounts 4-times now! Pretty much like clockwork (approx every 2-months) they go offline requiring me to call in, re-verify account details, have them unlock both email accounts, reset my passwords, re-login, blah blah blah! Nope cannot do a thing as the accounts are LOCKED requiring someone w/Shaw support to go in and unlock no other alternative... Not sure when told accounts are locked if that's factual or a guess dunno.

Thing is my wife's email account has never been effected (new in April) not once, my one account created in 2013 has never had a problem either... Until creating a new personal account for myself in Apr now both my old and new email accounts  get locked at exact same time every time. This rinse-n-repeat cycle here has gotten awfully old to say the least not to mention super frustrating.

Own many devices (computers, tables, phones) with there being NO correlation between this problem and any one particular device when it happens. Rely on programs/apps for my email needs rarely logging into webmail via a browser so not human error because of too many login attempts. When call in we're usually met with scripted responses (which is fine) but when it doesn't make sense in my case then it's unlikely to be true.

In the end there's extreme disappoint I have to now look elsewhere for my personal email account needs (don't trust for one second creating a new Shaw email address will help), and that I'll be wasting hours and hours (again) going through the process of updating my email accounts wherever applicable. A great example where technology is great, until it isn't!

[mdk]

@LinzPlinz -- my old and new email accounts  get locked at exact same time every time

That is curious. Could you have a compromised computer within your home, and could Shaw be "locking" both the accounts that are using that IP-address?

If you logon to the My Shaw Portal, and display your Internet usage, is it exceptionally high?

If you open the Windows Task Manager on each computer, and switch to the "Performance" tab, do you see an excessive amount of network usage?

[LinzPlinz]

There's been no correlation between a PC and when this happens not one. Last couple of occurrences we didn't have any of our computers on that week it was only when booted up my phone next day that I noticed both accounts were offline,.. This time was on an Android time before was an iPhone?!?!?! The only consistency in all this is that it happens around the 2-month mark (57-63 days), far from random IMO if were something on my end.

[mdk]

@LinzPlinz -- maybe, it is none of your computers, because it could be that the password(s) for your Shaw account(s) is being abused by somebody -- using your ID to authenticate to Shaw's E-mail servers, and then to send "spam" and/or "phishing" messages.  After each "unlock", are you changing your My Shaw password and your E-mail password?

[LinzPlinz]

Yes passwords on both email accounts and My Shaw have been changed multiple times now, and no none are the same.

A couple key factors here. In all four incidences it has only happened in 3rd half of the month and around the 60 day mark. I'd definitely think after four go-arounds it would of been way more random than that if my accounts were being abused no?

And there's never been any association with one particular device... Like said was using my Android this time when happened never having booted up one of my PC's during the week, and time before that it was my iPhone.

At the end of the day I swear it's a trigger on Shaw's back-end causing it, for whatever reason, I mean what else can it be when there's this level of consistency?

[LinzPlinz]

More to ponder...

Have four other non-Shaw email accounts that are/were residing along side my two Shaw email accounts using same email clients, on "all" devices. The constant here is "email client(s)" yet none of my others accounts have ever been compromised and we've had them for years.

And the one Shaw email account I've had for 10+ years with never an ounce of problems all of a sudden getting locked? Can see it happening to one account but not both. And again why not my wife's email account?

[mdk]

@LinzPlinz -- you mention 3 E-mail IDs-- one used by your spouse, and two used by you.

Are these 3 IDs "under" the same Shaw account, i.e., visible as such when you logon to the My Shaw Portal?  Expressed differently, do you & your spouse each get one invoice from Shaw every month, or just one invoice, covering the 3 IDs?

Do you routinely send many messages to many colleagues, such as a working-from-home professional with a large list of clients?

That My Shaw Portal will show you the volume of Internet traffic for each billing-period.  Excessive? Over some Shaw-imposed limit? (Some of the slower Shaw Internet packages do not have "unlimited" Internet traffic.)

Can anybody at Shaw tell you why the "locking" occurs?

[LinzPlinz]

Yes all three emails are under same Shaw account (one invoice).

None of the 3 accounts are used to send/receive emails to/from a large list of clients, or anything of that nature. Two are personal (wife's and mine) created in Apr 2022, other is my old work email account from 2013 that has seen very little use since 2018. To-date only my accounts have been effected.

Internet traffic is normal nothing excessive... it's "unlimited"

Nope nobody has any answers other than saying "likely too many login attempts". I've asked last couple of times "are you sure" and they reply back "well no" hahaha. Think were done playing this guessing game and time to move on.

[Ivana_c84]

I am having the same issue and it’s incredibly frustrating. I am certain there is absolutely nothing that I am doing to cause the issue. 

[mdk]

@Ivana_c84 -- Are your ID(s) under the same Shaw account, i.e., visible as such when you logon to the My Shaw Portal?    If so, then it is possible that some hacker has obtained the password for your account on that Portal, and is changing the password for your E-mail account(s).