Someone else using my e mail address.

[#1]

Today I received an e mail from my own address. It was a distasteful sort of e mail, one which I would not wish anyone to see. My questions are::-

1. How can someone else use my e mail address? I thought that there could only be one owner of an address and that only the authorised IP addresses (PC, laptop, mobile device etc) using the correct passwords could connect to the Plusnet sever.

2. If this person using my address can send an e mail to me can he/she use my address to send e mails to anyone?

3. Most importantly of all, is there anyway I can stop this?

 Thanks in advance.

[#2 · Accepted solution]

It may appear to have come from your email address but that 'from' address will have been spoofed (borrowed) for spamming purposes.

You may receive a few 'failed' emails, this is known as back-scatter and doesn't usually last long.

[#3]

Thanks for the prompt reply.

Will this person be able to use my e mail address to send similar messages to anyone else or is it only restricted to me? If someone I know were to get this sort of message they would be deeply upset and I suspect it would be very difficult for me to convince them that I was not the originator.

Is it possible to stop this happening again?

[#4]

What it is is known as spoofing. What someone does is send out spam emails to a list they have bought through their server, but they set the "return" address as some poor innocent. It is a bit like someone doing a mailing list through Royal Mail and putting your home address on the envelope if it isn't delivered. I would think none of your contacts will be affected by this, unless they are on one of the lists purchased by the spammer. As yours is the return address, any emails that are bounced back or not in use will come back to you as undeliverable. It is simple enough to do in any email programme, but I thought SPF was supposed to restrict it, but not 100%. I have experienced it a few times in the past and sometimes it can be in the 100's.

Rest assured though, it won't be being sent via your email account, you will be able to see where it came from by looking at the bounced email headers.

Mark

[#5]

Thanks for that info, it has eased my mind somewhat.

I have sent messages to my nearest and dearest alerting them to this in case any of them get this sort of e mail with my address attached.

Thanks again for the response.

[#6]

I lose zero sleep over these spoofed emails these days - I get maybe a hundred or more a day to the various domains / accounts I own.

You do occasionally get a reply from someone who takes offence and doesn't realise it is a spoofed address but they are always from strangers (the spoofers won't have access to your friends / family email addresses).

[#7]

Hi picbits.

Thanks for the info and re-assurance.

I'm not too worried about people I don't know getting spam with my address, it's the people I know who I worry about. I imagine that if they don't realise what has happened they will disturbed.

Thanks again.

[#8]

@sidewinder1

The fact that this has happened suggests that your email address is in the hands of the bad guys and you are likely to be getting emails from phishing etc sites. If you put your email address in here and it comes up with a positive response then I would change your email address.  https://haveibeenpwned.com/.

[#9]

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): The fix has been changed to @Strat as per message #2.