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#96924 02/25/03 04:49 PM
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Off-topic post here: My email seems to have been corrupted in some way or another, and I don't know what to do. I've been getting dozens of "returned" emails that are spam mailings sent with my return address, albeit with somebody else's name attributed to it. (e.g. From: "Arthur Weiss" <bwillia0@yahoo.com>).

Do I have any recourse here or should I just close the account and start a new one somewhere? And if so, can anybody recommend a good email host?

Thanks in advance,

A very irritated Alex Williams


#96925 02/25/03 04:55 PM
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Oh man, that's horrible! I have a couple of Yahoo! accounts, and so far so good... I wonder if it'd be possible to contact the powers-that-be there?


#96926 02/25/03 04:57 PM
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I think this is a spammer technique. Probably Rubrick, Max or musick would be able to say more.


#96927 02/25/03 05:07 PM
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In reply to:

I think this is a spammer technique. Probably Rubrick, Max or musick would be able to say more.


The thing is, I am getting "returns" from dozens of different domains:

postmaster@ resenterprises.com
MAILER-DAEMON@ mx.gwi.net
MAILER-DAEMON@ geocities.com
postmaster@npi.net
MAILER-DAEMON@ eve.nldesign.com
MAILER-DAEMON@ mail.mc.net
MAILER-DAEMON@ mail.bpsinet.com
etc


I think I am just going to bag it and start a new account somewhere.


#96928 02/25/03 08:16 PM
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how long has this been going on? sometimes it's best to sit on it a bit and see if it will go away.
as far as an email accounts go, I'm a strong believer in your local ISP(Internet Service Provider). how are you getting on-line? is there an email component to that service?



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#96929 02/25/03 09:10 PM
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Alex - If you start a new account and it continues... your machine is the culprit.

If not, you may be being spoofed by a server with the Klez virus(just a guess).


#96930 02/25/03 09:26 PM
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I am pretty sure that my personal email address has been spoofed by spammers and inserted as the reply-to address on their mass mailings. Here's a link to an interesting article from soomeone who had the exact same experience as I am having now:

http://www.techdirt.com/fotr/20030211/0230225_F.shtml My Short Life As An Unintentional Spammer by Mike Masnick


#96931 02/26/03 12:53 AM
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Oh my gosh, Alex--I just read the article. That is terrible! How do these people get our addresses? Buy them from some place we've legitimately contacted for whatever reason (contest entry, etc.)? Pluck it out of thin air? Scary!
Ignorant as I was (and still am) about the internet, I did have the strong feeling that it wouldn't be a good idea to use my name as part of my e-mail address, when I first got my computer. It came with so many minutes free if you signed up on AOL , and that's one of the things that made me not sign up with them (whew)--my first submission was already taken, and they gave me a "suggestion" consisting of parts of my actual name. I exited. I imagine it would be fairly easy to find an active account by guesswork, using a huge place like yahoo, say, and trying common names/nicknames.


#96932 02/26/03 04:12 AM
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I had this for a couple of days at the beginning of the year on my hotmail account. I was inundated with undeliverable messages and one message from somebody complaining about what "I" had sent. I apologised, explained that it wasn't me, and advised them that responding to spam wasn't a good idea.

I also complained to hotmail because I was worried this meant that someone had access to my account -- which has some very personal stuff on it. This is what I got back:

Hello bingley,

Thank you for writing to MSN Hotmail.
I'm Davie and I am responding to your complaint that your account is being used
for spam.
I apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced. I can understand your
concern on having your address associated with unsolicited emails.
I have researched your account and it appears you are the only person logging
into it. For security, we would suggest changing your password and Secret
Question/Answer at this time. A good rule of thumb is to change your passwords
regularly.
Someone has forged, your e-mail address as the 'reply-to' or "from" field on a
piece of unsolicited e-mail. This does not require the person to log into the
account. Most likely, it was either a typographical error on the sender's part."
Should you have other concerns please feel free to contact MSN Hotmail Customer
Support again.


Sincerely,

Davie
MSN Hotmail Customer Support




Bingley


Bingley
#96933 02/26/03 10:00 AM
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I have also received e-mails like those you describe. After opening one or two I discovered that it was a more elaborate form of spamming and now I just delete. There have been fewer and fewer in my inbox as time goes by. Unless you are very unhappy with your e-mail box for additional reasons, just ride it out.


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