[jviren]

For several months I have received a lot of junk mail in Russian and some other languages. I managed to block some of them with a language filter (or whatever it's called in Outlook); however, I still get a lot in Russian. Several days ago, I got a rash of e-mails from e-mail addresses that were unfamiliar to me - and most were from Russia. The odd thing was that they were "from me" - someone is somehow using my e-mail address to spam people and they are bouncing back because they have my e-mail address on them. Now several friends have told me that their e-mails to me have bounced back to them. What is happening and what can I do about it? I don't respond to weird e-mails or any other "bad practices" like that.

Thanks for your help.

[smax013]

jviren said:

For several months I have received a lot of junk mail in Russian and some other languages. I managed to block some of them with a language filter (or whatever it's called in Outlook); however, I still get a lot in Russian. Several days ago, I got a rash of e-mails from e-mail addresses that were unfamiliar to me - and most were from Russia. The odd thing was that they were "from me" - someone is somehow using my e-mail address to spam people and they are bouncing back because they have my e-mail address on them. Now several friends have told me that their e-mails to me have bounced back to them. What is happening and what can I do about it? I don't respond to weird e-mails or any other "bad practices" like that.

Thanks for your help.

You potentially have two issues going on.



The first issue is that someone is "spoofing" your email address. This is common and VERY easy to do. Basically someone is "pretending to be you" but they are sending from a known spam server or the email is sent in a way that it bounces...and when it bounces, since the message is set to look like you sent it, YOU get the bounce message. In the end, there is basically NOTHING you can do about this other than be careful about handling such messages. As I said, it is very common. I get tons of bounced messages from spoofed email.



The second issue is messages that your friend say have bounced when they send to you. That is an indication that something is going on with your email account. There is not enough information to know what is causing that for sure. It could be that their messages are somehow corrupted (i.e. it is an issue on THEIR end). Or it could be your email address has been "blacklisted" and thus results in some filter of some sort "blacklisting" your email...or your ISP blocking your account. My best suggestion would be to contact your ISP on that issue and talk with them to see if they have any thoughts or might being doing something. Beyond that, we will likely need to know more information...such as:

* who is your email through? Your ISP? Or one of the various free accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, Google, etc)?

* Are you running any spam filters or anti-virus on you computer? Do you know if your email provider runs any spam filter software?

* What email providers do you friends use? Are they all the same or a bunch of different ones?

[mcbarker]

When your email has been compromised as yours has, usually the only way to stop the spam, and you friend's emails from bouncing, is to dump that email address, and create a new one. Your own ISP may be seeing your spammed email address as that of a spammer's, and is automatically blocking it.



Before creating a new email account, make sure that your system is not infected with any viruses, keyloggers, rootkits, etc., and install good real time antivirus and adware/spyware protection (NOD32 and Webroot Spy Sweeper work well for me). Also, use a good software firewall (Comodo or Zone Alarm are excellent). After ensuring that your system is secure, change all of your passwords, including your system's logon password. If you visit peer to peer, warez, or other types of iffy sites, don't use Internet Explorer, and don't allow pop-ups or scripts to run.

[smax013]

mcbarker said:

When your email has been compromised as yours has, usually the only way to stop the spam, and you friend's emails from bouncing, is to dump that email address, and create a new one. Your own ISP may be seeing your spammed email address as that of a spammer's, and is automatically blocking it.





Before creating a new email account, make sure that your system is not infected with any viruses, keyloggers, rootkits, etc., and install good real time antivirus and adware/spyware protection (NOD32 and Webroot Spy Sweeper work well for me). Also, use a good software firewall (Comodo or Zone Alarm are excellent). After ensuring that your system is secure, change all of your passwords, including your system's logon password. If you visit peer to peer, warez, or other types of iffy sites, don't use Internet Explorer, and don't allow pop-ups or scripts to run.

I am not going to disagree with anything said, per se...but I will point out that you can have the most secure computer in the world running all the best anti-malware and still have your email spoofed. All a person needs to know to spoof you email address is the email address...period. There is no "compromising" of the computer necessary. And it is NOT hard to do...no special hacking tools or elaborate hacking needed. It is a simple process that can be done with most POP/IMAP email clients...at least when talking about basic spoofing (i.e. forging the email address...forging other parts of the Internet header does require much more work). The point is that you are correct in that the only way to stop the spoofing is to get a new email address...but the moment someone who wants to spoof your email address knows that email address, you will be spoofed again no matter what measures you have taken. The only way that I know of to not get spoofed is to not have email.



Now, IF your ISP is blocking your account due to the spoofing and thus believing that you are a spammer, then your only solution might be to get a new email address. But, I would first talk with your ISP/email provider and see what they say. Until you KNOW that your account is being blocked, there is no point in dumping it as it might be something else that could have the same result with a new email address...and changing email addresses will not permantently solve the spoofing problem (it will only temporarily stop it).