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You receive spam messages with -your email- in the "from" address, or a large number of "deliverable notices" for messages you did not send.
What is spoofing?
What you're seeing is called "spoofing" or more correctly "from spoofing" - sending email that appears as if it from someone that its not.
Almost all spam uses some method to hide the true sender. Spammers to not want to be found. The "from" address on a spam message means absolutely nothing, so it is not a cause for alarm if your address as the recipient is also in the from address.
You may also see a large number of "bounces" in your inbox for undelivered messages. Bounced messages are the digital equivalent of "return to sender, address unknown", and on their own are usually not a cause for alarm since your address was just used for replies and your email account hasn't actually been breached. Bounced messages could also be a sign of a more serious problem though if your account has actually been hijacked (see: What to Do if Your Email Account Gets Compromised). If you are unsure, please forward a few of the bounced messages to us as attachments.
Why do they do this?
They have to put something in the from address, so it's just as easy to put same address they are sending to rather than generating another address. Also, you are unlikely to block (blacklist) your own address.
I want to prevent this, what can I do?
Unfortunately with current email systems there is nothing to prevent "from spoofing". You should follow general guidelines for preventing spam.
What to Do if Your Email Account Gets Compromised
Additional spam related articles:
Spam Filter Scoring Methodology
How to set up a rule in Outlook to take advantage of spam filtering
How does SAGE Prevent Incoming SPAM on SAGE Email Accounts
Best Practices for Preventing SPAM
| Type: | Info | Publish Date: | 5/6/2009 1:33:56 PM |
| Applies To: | Other | Last Updated: | 11/9/2012 9:50:23 AM |
| Platform: | All | Expiration Date: |