Spam being sent out using my email

[Funkstar]

I'm getting a load of bounced emails in the main account i use. It looks like someone is sending out a bunch of spam with my address in it so the returns come to me.

This is extremely annoying, i've had to add dozens of them to Outlooks spam filter in the last couple of days.

I doubt there is anything i can do about it, short of changing my email address (not something i want to be doing).

Anyone had this before?

EDIT: and beofre anyone asks, no I don't have a trojan or vrus that is sending them from this machine. No others have this account set up on them either. Just changed the password on the account, just in case they are being sent through my server etc, but i doubt it. i suspect the return address is being forged by whoever is sending all this junk.

[Lee H]

Check the headers in the email message as this will show the correct place they've originated from.

It's more than likely one of your contacts has a virus/worm and this is sending them out as I've got the same coming back to my hotmail account and they all orginate from someone on a static IP on ENTA.

[Saracen]

As Lee says, someone you know with a virus using their address book is one possibility, but (in my view) it's also quite likely that it's just a spammer spoofing the source address (let alone the return address) - and you got elected.

Spoofing the source address on an SMTP server is a pretty trivial exercise. I could send you a mail that would appear to have come from Hexus, or 10 Downing Street, or the Whitehouse, and on first appearance, it'll look legit. And I can do it with a Telnet client, a bit of knowledge and about 30 seconds spare time.

Of course, if you look at the full headers, the picture changes .... but most people don't, and an awful lot wouldn't know how to read them if they did.

If it's a spammer, it'll probably pass, because they know that most people start adding such addresses (like yours) to their blacklists, so they move on fairly regularly. If it's someone with a virus, it'll likely persist until the virus is caught and sorted.

One option is to try mailing some of the people you've been getting the bounces from (preferably from a different address) and HOPE you get through to a live person, not a bounce from an mail server detecting a non-existent address. In the mail, explain that it's not coming from you and could someone please copy and send the FULL email headers so you can try to trace the source. That might allow you to identify the source IF it's coming from a virus-infected friend.

Other than that. you'll pretty much either have to ride it out, or change addresses. Bleepin' annoying, init?

[Kezzer]

As Saracen said. I've had these before, if you check the e-mail headers you'll find it never originated from your mail account.

[kidzer]

Yeah, I had that with my Hotmail account for a while, it's died down now though.

[Agent]

Im with Saracen on this, as I've had the same.
Its a new tactic that spammers seem to be using, as spam filters seem to ignore 'bounced' mail, meaning you still get to read the glorious spam in your inbox

[Funkstar]

thats what i was thinking at first, this was just a new way of getting me to open spams. But then they kept coming. Also started to see addresses that had bounced that look real.

It's just a complete pain in the behind.

[GoNz0]

i set hotmails spam filter to catch all, only people i fish out and click on safe get to the inbox !
a couple of these have got past the filter.. doh.

constant cat and mouse game...

[Magnets]

I had the same thing happen to my gmail account, i thought someone had hacked my account until i read that it happened to others too. I kept getting loads of "out of office" emails.
Even had one from Intel:

An email *apparently* sent from your email address to Intel has been identified by our automated email routing system as unsolicited commercial email. If you are attempting to contact Intel, please visit http://www.intel.com/feedback.htm for additional contact options.

It stopped after a few weeks, though.

[chicken]

Can't you block the contents of the message? Such as the phrase "Message not delivered" so at least you don't get swamped while this spammer's doing his thing?

[Funkstar]

I had the same thing happen to my gmail account, i thought someone had hacked my account until i read that it happened to others too. I kept getting loads of "out of office" emails.

Getting OOO emails too.

It's not so bad now that i know this has happened to others i guess

[Rave]

I really hate it when you get an email returned by someone's spam filter program, telling you that you've been spamming them. The last one I got I replied to explaining that the email obviously wasn't from me and so please turn off your spam program's autoreply feature before it wastes any more time and bandwidth. Got a snotty reply from the company's network admin but he did promise to do it.