You are a spammer, hacker or an otherwise bad person

The message "You are a spammer, hacker or an otherwise bad person" is not from Joomla itself, but from the security extension "Akeeba Admin Tools" installed on your website.

The message below appears in your screen because you logged in multiple times with an incorrect password, or because you performed other suspicious actions. The blocking is based on your IP address.

Message from Akeeba Admin Tools

You are a spammer, hacker or an otherwise bad person. If you are the administrator of this site and have blocked your own IP address on accident please visit https://www.jouwwebsite.nl/administrator/index.php?admintools_rescue=you@example.com where you@example.com is the email address of your (Super User) account. This URL will only send you an email if the IP address from which you are accessing it is being blocked by Admin Tools. If you are not blocked no email will be sent; you don't need an email with instructions to unblock your IP if your IP is not blocked.

Of course it is nice that your website is so well protected, but sometimes it can be disingenuous.

If you use the default settings, your account will first be blocked for 15 minutes, then you can log in again. (So just wait a while). But when this happens multiple times, your IP address is blocked forever.

Unblocking using the rescue URL

This will only work if you have an account with superuser privileges.

Visit: https://www.jouwwebsite.nl/administrator/index.php?admintools_rescue=you@example.com (replace "yourwebsite.com" with your domain name and replace "you@example.com" with your email address)

After entering the URL with your email address you will see the message "Check your email for Rescue URL information" and have received an email with instructions.

The email contains a new URL with a unique code. (This code is only valid temporarily). When you visit this URL you can log in again.

Go to "Components > Admin Tools" and click on the button "Unblock my IP".

Then click the "End Rescue mode" button to restore Admin Tools to normal operation.

Unblocking by renaming the plugin

For this you need access to the FTP. Go to: /plugins/system

There you will see the folder "admintools". You have to rename this folder to for example "-admintools".

Now you have access to your website again, but the security of admintools is completely disabled.

Go to "Components > Admin Tools" and click on the button "Unblock my IP".

Don't forget to go back to your FTP environment and change the folder you just renamed back to "admintools"

Unblock using a different IP address or administrator

Since your IP address is blocked and not your account, you can login with another IP address. This can be done for example by using a VPN or phone with 3G / 4G / 5G connection (as long as you are not on WiFi with the same IP address).

You can also have your IP address unblocked by another administrator who has access to the administrator area of Joomla.

Login to the administrator area and go to "Components > Admin Tools"

Go to "Web Application Firewall" and then "Auto IP Blocking Administration". Find the IP address and remove it from the list.

Or go to "Unblock an IP" and enter the address that is blocked here.