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e-mail address hijacked
Over the past few weeks I have received lots of "Undeliverable message" notifications. They are almost all from foreign addresses that I have not contacted. They are all connected to the typical phishing or sales messages that we probably all get from time to time. The [collapse]original messages come up in my "Sent message" file as if originating from me. They do not go to my own contact list, so apparently that has not been accessed, but rather to many other recipients, mostly in batches to foreign addresses. And the messages are sent at times when my computer is not even on. Has someone just appropriated my e-mail address and sent these messages from a different computer?
I run Norton virus scans and MalwareBytes regularly and nothing suspicious is found. And I don't go to questionable sites, at least knowingly.
Anything short of changing my e-mail address that will eliminate this?
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ky331
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15.2K Posts
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April 9th, 2010 10:00
Unfortunately, hackers can FORGE the sender's e-mail address. So if a hacker sends out an e-mail, forging your address as the alleged sender... and if that e-mail can't be delivered to its intended recipient ("undeliverable"), a notice is sent back to the presumed sender... you... rather than to the real sender (the hacker). If that's what's happening, then there's nothing you can do about it, except ignore the "undeliverable message" notice.
How did the hacker get your e-mail address in the first place? Most likely by "invading" the computer of someone you know... a personal friend, a relative, a work colleague... anyone who has your e-mail address in their address book, and the hacker learned/stole your e-address from them.
Note: the dell forums were "closed" for about a week, which is why it took so long to reply to your question.
mikesamuels
7 Posts
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April 9th, 2010 10:00
I use yahoo for email and this happened to me last year.. If you have a net based email service change your user password to something stronger. (Symbols, upper and lower case plus numbers)