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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
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
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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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?
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I think this is a spammer technique. Probably Rubrick, Max or musick would be able to say more.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
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.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
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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?
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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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).
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
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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
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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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.
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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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
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Joined: Jun 2001
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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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