Hyjacked email. Help please.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jean
  • Start date Start date
J

Jean

I recently received 3 emails falsely claiming to be from
banks or the FDIC looking for me to "verify my ID" at a
link provided in the body of the email. I didn't access
any of the links.

Now today I received an email from a friend in response
to an email that said it was from me. It said "Movies!"
in the subject and had nothing in the body. I did not
send this email and when I look in my sent folder it
isn't there. How can someone do that and what can I do to
stop them.

I've done a virus check and my computer comes up clean.

Please help me. Thank you.
 
1) Did you ever send messages to newsgroups, using your real email address
in the account settings? If so, that's one way spammers harvest addresses.
2) Do you have your browser set up to prompt you before accepting cookies?
If not, you should. Don't go blindly erasing ALL cookies on your machine,
since some are actually useful for banking, or for shopping sites that you
trust.
3) Check the properties of the emails you're receiving. Some spammers use
software which randomly creates addresses. Sometimes, in properties, you can
see not only your address, but some other addresses the spammers have
created. It'll appear as a series of names like:
(e-mail address removed)
(e-mail address removed)
(e-mail address removed)

Their software counts on the fact that even taking pot shots, SOME of the
addresses will end up being correct. It may simply have been your turn in
the barrel. Meanwhile, ignore the obvious fakes, and inspect the messages
carefully to be sure none of them seem to have actual private information
gleaned from your computer. They probably don't.

And, download SpyBot, read the instructions carefully, and run it:
http://spybot.safer-networking.de/

Here's why:
http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,978170,00.asp

The PC Magazine site will set cookies and probably ask you to register
before you can access articles. Register, and accept the cookies. The site
will NOT send you junk mail unless you subscribe to their newsletters. Some
of the newsletters are very good.

Stop back here if you have questions about whatever SpyBot finds. And, keep
children away from the machine until you sort this out.

Doug
 
Thank you for answering me.
I have never used a newsgroup and whenever I need to give
an email address for anything "unofficial" or not a
friend, I give a Yahoo address, different then the one
I'm having an issue with.
How do I set my browser to prompt me before accepting
cookies? Unfortunately I have blindly erased all cookies
on your machine in the past. I didn't realize they could
be useful to me.
I have downloaded SpyBot and ran it using the default
settings. I fixed the alerts that came up. Thank you for
that link.
 
More than likely with the many viruses going around. Someone who has your
address in there address book is infected. The virus sends emails from that
computer forged as being from you or other people on that computer. So you
are right the email probably didn't come from you. Unfortunately there
isn't much you can do until the person infected cleans there computer.
 
Good point I forgot to tell her that. If you have very few contacts, it's
easy to call them all (on a telephone, for instance) and ask the open-ended
question "I'm thinking of getting new antivirus software. Which one do YOU
use?" When someone stammers and hems & haws, you know they haven't paid for
an antivirus subscription, and you can dump huge amounts of guilt on them by
explaining that they're worse than a hooker with AIDS.
 
Jean:
Below is some text pasted from the IE 6 help system. I have no idea if it'll
remain formatted after I click "send". If not, open IE, click Help, Contents
and Index, click the Index tab, and type "cookies" in the search box. I
don't use IE much. I've got the privacy set at medium, which seems to make
IE work like Netscape, my primary browser.

The goal is to allow the sites you trust completely to set and modify
cookies when they want to. However, even trusted sites will carry ads, and
those ads will want to set cookies. So, read the alerts presented by IE. For
instance, if you read the NY Times online, it's OK to accept cookies from
the site, but watch for alerts from sources that seem connected in no way to
the NY Times. They probably aren't dangerous, but still....if they're
unnecessary, why accept them?

Spend some time in the Help system, and print the stuff that you revisit
often. There used to be a way to bookmark things in the help system, but
because it was useful, MS apparently removed it.

Me cynical? Nah.....
Doug



To change your privacy settings

1.. In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
2.. On the Privacy tab, move the slider up for a higher level of privacy
or down for a lower level of privacy.
Select this To specify this
Block all cookies a.. Cookies from all Web sites will be blocked
b.. Existing cookies on your computer cannot be read by Web sites

High a.. Cookies from all Web sites that do not have a compact policy
(a condensed computer-readable privacy statement) will be blocked
b.. Cookies from all Web sites that use your personally identifiable
information without your explicit consent will be blocked

Medium High a.. Cookies from third-party Web sites that do not have a
compact policy (a condensed computer-readable privacy statement) will be
blocked
b.. Cookies from third-party Web sites that use your personally
identifiable information without your explicit consent will be blocked
c.. Cookies from first-party Web sites that use your personally
identifiable information without your implicit consent will be blocked

Medium a.. Cookies from third-party Web sites that do not have a
compact policy (a condensed computer-readable privacy statement) will be
blocked
b.. Cookies from third-party Web sites that use your personally
identifiable information without your implicit consent will be blocked
c.. Cookies from first-party Web sites that use your personally
identifiable information without your implicit consent will be deleted from
your computer when you close Internet Explorer

Low a.. Cookies from third-party Web sites that do not have a compact
policy (a condensed computer-readable privacy statement) will be blocked
b.. Cookies from third-party Web sites that use your personally
identifiable information without your implicit consent will be deleted from
your computer when you close Internet Explorer

Accept all cookies a.. All cookies will be saved on your computer
b.. Existing cookies on your computer can be read by the Web sites
that created them
 
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