Hijacked hotmail accounts

[jimtherev]

Is this problem now becoming rife? In the past week or so I've had five or six emails - some allegedly from people I know, two not - which start:

Hey friend,
How are you doing recently? I'd like to introduce you a very good foreign trading online company and the website is [a different address each time.com] It can offer you so many kinds of [lists of stuff which the vendor thinks he may sell] Do check it out... or words to that effect.

Challenged, the 'senders' deny sending it.

I've suggested (1) reporting to Hotmail - dunno if that will help, but it's free and (2) changing their password.

Anything else they can do? And is this a known epidemic with anyone else at this time?

[Saab Dastard]

No necessarily hijacked - just remember that the "from" field in an email can be anything that the sender wants.

Compare the full header from a bogus email to one from the real account holder, then decide.

SD

[Avitor]

I don't know if it's right or wrong but, any unsolicited or not wanted emails are deleted and totally ignored by me, as if to indicate 'Nobody at home'
I don't get many.

[P.Pilcher]

Never, ever reply or click on the "unsubscribe" link to spam e-mails. Indeed even opening them can cause your e-mail reader to request further infomation from the sending site thus giving confirmation that the spammer has hit a live e-mail address. The hotmail system should however protect you against this one. If you don't recognise the title or sender of an e-mail, delete it without opening it or indicate that it is spam - what ever option your e-mail provider gives you. For me this seems to minimise the problem.

P.P.

[Sprogget]

With hotmail, change your password regularly. I was mailed by another place I use to say their server had been hacked to bits by someone in the Ukraine. Next thing you know, I start getting all kinds of 'thank you for registering' emails from various video game sites.

[jimtherev]

All of the above...

Yup, I agree with all posts. Spam gets identified & ignored. The prob, as far as I'm concerned is those mails which appear to come from friends. And, yes, SD, I know that I can trace the sender - after I've opened the mail and found another spurious one.

I just wondered if there was a magic bullet other than wot I dun - see my first post... It's just a poxing nuisance.