SPAM from my own email address

[Pangolin]

This is the only place I can get technical help that makes any sense! I've been bombarded by SPAM for a few months now, and it was on this forum that somebody recommended 'Mailwasher' , which I now use. Looking at the list of junk mail, before deleting it, I notice that a large number are from people using my own email address. I pay a monthly fixed fee, so it isn't costing me but, if I were ever to revert to paying for each email, it would cost me a fortune! I contacted Orange, who are now my provider, and asked if I could change my email address, telling them about the problem (which, you would think, they would be keen to sort out). All they would recommend is activating a SPAM filter on my inbox, effectively doing the same as Mailwasher is already doing. Should I be worried? How can I change my email address if my provider doesn't want to know?

[Guest Ferret1959]

I'll be watching this one cos I got loads and loads using my same email address..

[wanzelbin]

Quite often the spam isn't actually coming from your email address, it's just been manufactured to look that way.

 

Best way to confirm this is to look at the message header details. What email application do you use? Outlook? Outlook Express? Thunderbird?

 

I can't speak for Thunderbird (I'm sure some others on here can), but for the other two, do the following and paste the results onto here...

 

1) Outlook. Open the spam message, click the View menu, then click "Options". You should see a paragraph of text toward the bottom of the resulting dialog box titled "Internet Headers". Drag your mouse across this text (so it is highlighted), right-click over the highlighted area and select Copy.

 

2) Outlook Express. Open the message, select File menu and then Properties. Select the second tab ("Details"). Select all the text in the box titled "Internet headers for this message", right-click and select Copy.

 

As I say, paste it on here and we can have a look. If the spam really is being generated locally, there's a chance you won't have any text in these sections. In any case, worth running an anti-spyware / malware scan of your systems.

 

D

[Andy_1984]

i get these all the time, an easy way to block them is to add a mail rule that will block any mails not from a certain address, looks like

 

send to trash if from is not andy@AN.com

send to trash if from is not david@AN.com

send to trash if from is not james@AN.com

send to trash if from is not albert@AN.com

 

the problem with that is it will block all others, im sure theres another way to block any domains with names that are not on your domain

[Pangolin]

Quite often the spam isn't actually coming from your email address, it's just been manufactured to look that way.

 

Best way to confirm this is to look at the message header details.

For Outlook Express. Open the message, select File menu and then Properties. Select the second tab ("Details"). Select all the text in the box titled "Internet headers for this message", right-click and select Copy.

 

As I say, paste it on here and we can have a look. If the spam really is being generated locally, there's a chance you won't have any text in these sections. In any case, worth running an anti-spyware / malware scan of your systems.

 

 

OK, I did as you said and this is what it looks like!

 

(content now deleted) Don't worry, I already have loads of Nigerian friends!

 

Why can't I just change my email address?

Edited April 10, 2007 by Pangolin

[Guest Ferret1959]

Quite often the spam isn't actually coming from your email address, it's just been manufactured to look that way.

 

Best way to confirm this is to look at the message header details. What email application do you use? Outlook? Outlook Express? Thunderbird?

 

(Clipped)

 

I use Thunderbird now.

This is what you wanted to see I think.

I have removed the bits of my real email address.

 

From - Tue Apr 10 10:34:43 2007

X-Account-Key: account2

X-UIDL: 1165362866.8870

X-Mozilla-Status: 0001

X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000

Return-Path: <fynmlb@*******0.freeserve.co.uk>

Received: from mwinf3422.me.freeserve.com (mwinf3422.me.freeserve.com)

by mwinb3402 (SMTP Server) with LMTP; Tue, 10 Apr 2007 04:49:11 +0200

X-Sieve: Server Sieve 2.2

Envelope-to: *********@*******0.freeserve.co.uk

Received: from me-wanadoo.net (localhost [127.0.0.1])

by mwinf3422.me.freeserve.com (SMTP Server) with ESMTP id 2E6D61C0009E

for <*********@*******0.freeserve.co.uk>; Tue, 10 Apr 2007 04:49:11 +0200 (CEST)

Received: from client-190.40.29.175.speedy.net.pe (unknown [190.40.29.175])

by mwinf3422.me.freeserve.com (SMTP Server) with SMTP id 3DCDA1C0009C

for <*********@*******0.freeserve.co.uk>; Tue, 10 Apr 2007 04:49:07 +0200 (CEST)

X-ME-UUID: 20070410024908253.3DCDA1C0009C@mwinf3422.me.freeserve.com

X-Original-To: *********@*******0.freeserve.co.uk

Delivered-To: *********@*******0.freeserve.co.uk

Received: from [190.40.29.175] (port=7392 helo=client-190.40.29.175.speedy.net.pe)

by mail-in.freeserve.com with ESMTP id 15647832653

for <*********@*******0.freeserve.co.uk>; Mon, 09 Apr 2007 21:48:53 --500 (EET)

From: "Liza" <fynmlb@*******0.freeserve.co.uk>

To: *********@*******0.freeserve.co.uk

Subject: *** SPAM *** the spring collection

Date: Mon, 09 Apr 2007 21:48:53 --500 (EET)

X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook, Build 11.0.5510

Thread-Index: 11rnhDT7460iu5w0ta1C8ILVT0ax4k==

X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3028

Message-ID: <064901c77af0$01c77af0$af1d28be@mail-in.freeserve.com>

Status:

X-me-spamlevel: med

X-me-spamrating: 99.033547

X-Antivirus: AVG for E-mail 7.5.446 [269.0.0/754]

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

 

Also done a 'Who-is' on a IP address contained in the header and here's thr result.

http://www.whois.ws/whois-ip/ip-address/190.40.29.175/

I ain't never been to Mexico????

Edited April 10, 2007 by Ferret1959

[wanzelbin]

Pangolin

 

The spam is not originating from your own account - it's coming from 43.84-234-209.customer.lyse.net, which seems to be a customer account for a scandinavian ISP. BTW, as Ferret's done, best to edit your post and remove references to your own email address (though might be worth getting rid of whole address).

 

Ferret

 

You've already spotted it - it's not coming from your own machine / account.

 

As for getting rid of it, blocking that particular address probably won't help as you can bet it's someone whose been infected with some virus / malware and they're part of a network of spam senders. Still, it's about the only thing you can do for now apart from Andy's suggestion.

 

Sorry there's no easy solution, but at least you know that you're not sending out the cr*p yourselves!

[Guest Ferret1959]

I block the username on my email via 'Mailwasher'but not the domain.

I don't mind checking through the senders on 'Mailwasher' as I can check them out before downloading them.

[ColinW]

Pangolin

Get that info with your address off here now, or you'll have more Nigerian friends than you can imagine within a week

[wanzelbin]

Pangolin

Get that info with your address off here now, or you'll have more Nigerian friends than you can imagine within a week

 

Perhaps in pangolin's absence a mod could edit / remove his post for him?