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So here we go I seem to be getting crap e-mails from one of and
sometimes 2 of my e-mail addresses. They are addressed to some of but
not all my contacts. I get them on my home computer, my work computer,
and my cell phone. Now the interesting part. I have no address book that
I know of on my computer as I know all my contact addresses and use my
memory rather than a contact list. I have run every scan that you can
think of both normally and in safe mode using Avast as well as
Malwarebytes.I am not sure if this is what they call spoofing or what
but needless to say it is tiresome as friends and family are getting a
tad ticked about getting them.I am very careful about where I surf and
what info is given out and it is neither of these addresses that would
be. These e-mail contain random words or sometimes a link to something
like "Hey I am buying a new home this year" as well as a link to see
some crap I am sure.

Any ideas or a direction would be unbelievably appreciated!!

This isn't a 64-bit computing question, probably.

Your regular contacts expect to be able to white-list
(accept and trust) e-mail from you - which is why a
spammer is using your addresses as sender.

Although you may not have an address book, your
e-mail messages and other documents contain addresses.
That also goes for people who are your contacts.
Addresses may also be in some caches. Also,
the e-mail server that you use could be compromised.

The spammer probably isn't using your computer or
reproducing the header lines in e-mail that can
identify for instance the program that you're using
for e-mail - unless they are.

You could change your address for sending e-mail,
and tell friends to blacklist the old one. But keep
it for anything that you need to receive at the old
address.

A few years ago, someone did research and found that
an e-mail address that contains the letters "spam",
or perhaps "nospam", would be filtered out from
spammers' target lists as, presumably, probable
deliberately tampered and unusable addresses, and
(at the time) not worth deciphering when there are
plenty more of more careless victims. So if that
simply is your actual e-mail address, then
apparently you're surprisingly safe. Spammers
also apparently don't like to attack ".mil",
and variations on it.

Virus and malware scanners aren't perfect; they can
be deceived by malware itself when it's running.
And a recent internet virus exists in Java only in
memory, apparently, and not in disk files where it
can be scanned. To avoid such threats as far as
possible, use the latest maintenance and security
releases of Java and other software products, as far
as you can.

Thanks as always for your response R.C.. Although not a whiz like some I
have always been a little paranoid about security and I am and have
always been if anything overly careful about things I do and places I go
as well as not opening anything that looks even the slightest bit
suspect. The issue probably originated from elsewhere but since my
family is not as "careful" as I and as you said trusting in my address
it probably originated or multiplied from them. I will probably do as
you say and abandon those addresses for all but received mail. That will
definitely get more scrutinized.

Thanks again
Drew.



On 5/1/2012 7:54 PM, R. C. White wrote:
> Hi, Drew.
>
> The emails "from" myself had just about stopped for several years, but
> I've received a few in the past couple months.
>
> A favorite trick of spammers a few years ago was to find an unprotected
> address book - it might have been your Mom's (or whoever). The spammer's
> program would randomly select two contacts - perhaps you and your
> cousin. Then the program would send a weird message "from" you to your
> cousin. Your cousin would complain to you about that message; you would
> claim innocence - and the conversation would escalate. If your Mom had
> two contact entries for you, then you might get one of those messages
> from yourself.
>
> Often, of course, the scheme was not so harmless. The phony message
> might be harmful and it might go to hundreds of your contacts - no, to
> your Mom's contacts, because it's her address book, not yours, that got
> raided. And the spammer might not need to find an address book at all;
> how about one of those endlessly-forwarded messages on AOL (as one
> outstanding example, but there are others). Each Fwd: probably carries
> along addresses of dozens of the sender's closest friends, plus dozens
> of the friends' friends...ad infinitum. A spammer's gold mine! :>(
>
> If you are a computer/Internet expert and have unlimited time, you
> probably can track down the spammer - eventually - and put him out of
> business, only to see him pop up with a different name and address
> tomorrow. But the only practical solution is to just Delete each such
> message and forget it. There probably is no problem on your computer -
> no virus, no malware of any kind - so there's nothing for Malware Bytes
> or SUPERAntiSpyware to find. About all you can do is explain this to
> your friends and family and plead innocence. (It has probably happened
> to some of them, too.)
>
> And please "practice safe hex"! Don't open emails (or click links) from
> someone that you don't trust TWO ways:
> 1. They won't hurt you intentionally.
> 2. They are computer-savvy enough not to harm you UNintentionally.
>
> Simple rules like this will do more to protect you than all the
> anti-malware software on the market. But also run the free Microsoft
> Security Essentials, just in case.
>
> RC
> --
> R. C. White, CPA
> San Marcos, TX
>
> Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
> Windows Live Mail 2011 (Build 15.4.3555.030 in Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1
>
>
> "Drew" wrote in message news:jnprep$8fc$...
>
> So here we go I seem to be getting crap e-mails from one of and
> sometimes 2 of my e-mail addresses. They are addressed to some of but
> not all my contacts. I get them on my home computer, my work computer,
> and my cell phone. Now the interesting part. I have no address book that
> I know of on my computer as I know all my contact addresses and use my
> memory rather than a contact list. I have run every scan that you can
> think of both normally and in safe mode using Avast as well as
> Malwarebytes.I am not sure if this is what they call spoofing or what
> but needless to say it is tiresome as friends and family are getting a
> tad ticked about getting them.I am very careful about where I surf and
> what info is given out and it is neither of these addresses that would
> be. These e-mail contain random words or sometimes a link to something
> like "Hey I am buying a new home this year" as well as a link to see
> some crap I am sure.
>
> Any ideas or a direction would be unbelievably appreciated!!

Robert. Thanks for the info and yes I incessantly update both antivirus
and antimalware as soon as possible as well as run "quick"scans every
other day and a full scan every Sunday. I am kind of a nut for security
in all regards of computer life.


On 5/2/2012 6:24 AM, Robert Carnegie wrote:
> This isn't a 64-bit computing question, probably.
>
> Your regular contacts expect to be able to white-list
> (accept and trust) e-mail from you - which is why a
> spammer is using your addresses as sender.
>
> Although you may not have an address book, your
> e-mail messages and other documents contain addresses.
> That also goes for people who are your contacts.
> Addresses may also be in some caches. Also,
> the e-mail server that you use could be compromised.
>
> The spammer probably isn't using your computer or
> reproducing the header lines in e-mail that can
> identify for instance the program that you're using
> for e-mail - unless they are.
>
> You could change your address for sending e-mail,
> and tell friends to blacklist the old one. But keep
> it for anything that you need to receive at the old
> address.
>
> A few years ago, someone did research and found that
> an e-mail address that contains the letters "spam",
> or perhaps "nospam", would be filtered out from
> spammers' target lists as, presumably, probable
> deliberately tampered and unusable addresses, and
> (at the time) not worth deciphering when there are
> plenty more of more careless victims. So if that
> simply is your actual e-mail address, then
> apparently you're surprisingly safe. Spammers
> also apparently don't like to attack ".mil",
> and variations on it.
>
> Virus and malware scanners aren't perfect; they can
> be deceived by malware itself when it's running.
> And a recent internet virus exists in Java only in
> memory, apparently, and not in disk files where it
> can be scanned. To avoid such threats as far as
> possible, use the latest maintenance and security
> releases of Java and other software products, as far
> as you can.