email fraud issues

[Leesa]

I'm on a roll here tonight so I might as well ask all my
questions.

I know this is getting to be a big problem and I'm
wondering where I can find out more about it. Some nice
little creep out there decided they liked my email address
and is using it to send junk mail and maybe viruses. I
know that because about 2 months ago I started getting the
failed messages returned to me. Seems they haven't
figured out how to get the failed ones returned to
themselves YET. In the last couple of weeks they have
started sending ME email using my own email address. I
never open them but have forwarded them to my hosting
company and to the Att. General's office (after telling
them the problem and telling them that the messages would
be coming their way for review).

There must be some companies (or governments) that are
researching this issue. I would be more than willing to
send them these emails if it would help. This issue is
going to be worse than the viruses if these people learn
how to get these emails returned to them instead of the
legal email owner.

Thanks. Leesa

 

[Colin Nash [MVP]]

This is incredibly common. I get a bunch of these every day on some of my
email addresses.

What is actually happening is that someone has your name on their address
book, and they apparently got infected with this virus. The virus scans
their address book and sends itself to everybody. The "from" address you
see is probably not even the person whose machine is infected -- it may be
just another name from the list. Replying to these messages is pretty much
pointless, and I'm sorry to say that forwarding them to law enforcement
won't result in much.

There is no actual person sitting at a computer typing these things up.
It's the automated work of a virus (more correctly, a "worm") and you are
just victim 1 of 1000. The solution is to be very careful of who you give
your email address to. Even people you know and trust may not be competent
enough to protect their own computers from these things

 

[Ron Chamberlin]

Hi Leesa,
What is likely happening is that your email address was in the address book
of another who became infected by a virus. When that virus decides to send
out a parcel of mail, it probably used your address and others in the
infected machines address book as the 'sender'. You then started receiving
'bounce' mail stating that you had sent a virus laden mail. Unfortunately
the bounce mail probably had the virus attached.

Best practice is to have a current, up to date antivirus program, keep your
Windows Updates current, delete the spam and bounce mail without opening,
install a firewall.

Ron Chamberlin
MS-MVP

 

[Nick Burns]

If any of your friends who have your email address and has a virus, the
virus with use your email address from your friends address book and send
itself to thousands of other people and it addressed from: you.
Welcome to the web.

 

[randy]

Do what i posted in the previous mail and sooner or later the junk email
will stop. do not reply and try to remove you name from these emails. THis
just tells the other you have a active account and then you get more junk
email.

 

[randy]

AS i posted a few minutes ago , what i wrote wil cut down on the junk email
, Just do not reply to the junk and telll them you want to be removed the
their list, this only makes them send you junk email ..

 

[Leesa]

Well that's interesting. Not sure if it is a relief or
not... I can understand viruses that use the address
books to send viruses from that user to all their contacts
but I thought the ISP was set up so email from "several
other users" couldn't be sent through one email account.

If a virus can do it, I guess anyone can. That's sad.
Thanks. Leesa

 

[Leesa]

Hi, I've been thinking about this and I think you might
be wrong. I do think someone is trying to perfect this
technique.

A couple months ago I switched hosting services and set up
a catch-all account. I started getting returned emails
with every user name under the sun in front of my domain
name. These did not come from someone elses address
book. Then I started getting them sent to me from me, 6
or 7 at a time, with different subject lines. I don't
think a virus changes email addresses or subject lines
randomly do they?

Like I said, I understand where viruses go into a users
address book and sends out masses of emails but they are
normally addressed from that sender not random other email
addresses. Let me know if you find out anything else on
this subject. Thanks. Leesa

 

[Colin Nash [MVP]]

That's ANOTHER way of getting junk mail: randomly generated addresses.

In an email, the "from" line is not a reliable way of tracking who sent it.
You can pretty much put anything you want in there (which is what viruses
will do.) A lot of spammers will put your own address there, to confuse
you.

They might also send viruses that appear to be "from" you. When delivery
fails, the message gets returned to you by the server, because it THINKS you
sent it.