Possible Email Worm in Outlook Express 6?

[JB]

I think I may possibly have a email worm or something on
my computer or in my email program. Whenever I open
Outlook Express I have like several email returned
messages, but yet I haven't sent any email...especially
not to any of the address that it says it couldn't deliver
them to. Can someone help me, as far as is there
something I can check or a file to download that will get
rid of this problem?

 

[Jim Byrd]

Hi JB - Well, run a good AV check of your system, of course (you're updating
and doing this regularly, of course, right?). But in this case what's more
likely happening is that someone else who has your address in his/her
address book is infected with a virus which is trying to propagate and which
randomly selects false From and To addresses. When these messages can't be
delivered, then you see the "Can't deliver" message (since your's is the
From address happened to be chosen). That clarify it little?

--
Please respond in the same thread.
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP



In

 

[T.C.]

Delete them. It's a new way of worm/virus senders to get you. Or, a
spammer has used your email address in the Sender field of the spam, and
they've used an outdated list with cancelled email addresses, ergo the
undeliverable spam is returned to you "the sender" as unable to deliver. A
spammer used my email address in the Sender field, and I started getting
about 60 returned messages a day. Even that wasn't as bad as imagining the
thousands of legitimate email addresses that had received the spam with my
email address as the sender. I had to change my email account name. It's
called email spoofing:

"E-mail spoofing is the forgery of an e-mail header so that the message
appears to have originated from someone or somewhere other than the actual
source. Distributors of spam often use spoofing in an attempt to get
recipients to open, and possibly even respond to, their solicitations."