Had my email hacked in a Starbucks in Seattle, now I'm paranoid about public wifi

I was killing time before a flight at that Starbucks near Pike Place, connected to their free wifi to check my bank app. Next morning I got a password reset alert for my email, then invoices for $340 in crypto I never bought. The barista told me they had people sitting in the corner running fake hotspots that look identical. I called my bank and they froze everything, but it took 4 days to untangle my accounts. Now I only use my phone's hotspot for anything with a login, even at home. The worst part is my email had a super strong password, but I never had 2FA on because I thought it was annoying. Has anyone else gotten burned by a spoofed network at a chain coffee shop? How do you spot the fakes before you connect?

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ben_lopez255d ago

Turn that 2FA on right now. It's a pain for like a week until it becomes muscle memory, but it wouldve stopped them cold even if they got your password. Also check your email settings for forwarding rules, scammers love to set those up so they can see your password resets without you noticing. For spotting fakes, look at the wifi list and if there's two "Starbucks Guest" options that are identical, ask an employee which one is real or just use your hotspot. Honestly after getting burned once you never trust free wifi again, and thats probably a good thing.