My hotmail address has been taken over by someone in Vietnam

Question

My hotmail address has been taken over by someone in Vietnam

Stewart Hull 0

There are a number of folders which appear to be Vietnamese which have nothing to do with me.

Stewart Hull 0 Reputation points

2026-11-01T09:11:45.69+00:00

As a company you're useless. Why can't I SPEAK to someone?
Stewart Hull 0 Reputation points

2026-11-01T09:12:31.6733333+00:00

I want to SPEAK to someone! Help!!
Stefan Blom 356.9K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-11-01T10:48:10.52+00:00

@Stewart Hull

Be patient. You are not speaking to Microsoft here. Q&A is a user-to-user forum (hosted by Microsoft) and contributors are volunteers. Nobody here has access to your account info.

Checking for any suspicious activity on your account, as suggested by Vikki-T, is a logical next step. Did you try it?

1 answer

Your answer

Stewart Hull 0 Reputation points

2026-11-01T09:11:45.69+00:00

As a company you're useless. Why can't I SPEAK to someone?
Stewart Hull 0 Reputation points

2026-11-01T09:12:31.6733333+00:00

I want to SPEAK to someone! Help!!
Stefan Blom 356.9K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-11-01T10:48:10.52+00:00

@Stewart Hull

Be patient. You are not speaking to Microsoft here. Q&A is a user-to-user forum (hosted by Microsoft) and contributors are volunteers. Nobody here has access to your account info.

Checking for any suspicious activity on your account, as suggested by Vikki-T, is a logical next step. Did you try it?

Answer 1

Vikki-T 12,960 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hello Stewart Hull,

The Vietnamese folder names alone do not necessarily confirm that someone in Vietnam has taken over the account. The Outlook.com display language or regional settings may have been changed, causing default folders to appear in another language.

Before deleting any of those folders, please check Recent activity for your Microsoft account. If you see a sign-in, device, or security change that you do not recognize, select the option indicating that it was not you and follow the prompts to secure the account.

You can also open Outlook.com and go to Settings > General > Language and time to confirm that the correct language and region are selected. Then check Settings > Mail > Rules and Forwarding for anything you did not create.

Are you still able to sign in normally, and does the Recent activity page show any unfamiliar access? That information will help determine whether this is an account-security issue or only a language-setting change.

If unauthorized activity is confirmed, follow Microsoft’s official compromised account recovery guidance. Thank you so much for your understanding.

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Vikki-T 12,960 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-11-03T11:33:34.43+00:00

Hello Stewart Hull,

It has been a while and I am writing to see how things are going with this issue.

Have you had a chance to check the replies provided?

Any update would be appreciated.
Stewart Hull 0 Reputation points

2026-11-03T16:42:40.4833333+00:00

Nothing has worked. To clarify things, when I log on to Outlook.com everything is in Vietnamese, despite the fact that the language settings say I'm in English! I am at a complete loss as to how to solve this without going into my local Apple Store, which is what I'll do. They at least allow you to see a real person and will hopefully be able to sort it out, unlike Microsoft!
Stewart Hull 0 Reputation points

2026-11-03T16:43:30.6233333+00:00

Nothing has worked. To clarify things, when I log on to Outlook.com everything is in Vietnamese, despite the fact that the language settings say I'm in English! I am at a complete loss as to how to solve this without going into my local Apple Store, which is what I'll do. They at least allow you to see a real person and will hopefully be able to sort it out, unlike Microsoft!