Uncommanded E mails being sent

[merch]

Hello All,

Over the past few days I have been receiving Mail Delivery failed notifications regarding emails I haven't sent, I assume that my computer has been "invaded" and is sending out emails to random addresses, The emails all try to get the recipient to go to a particular web site.

I have done full scans with AVG and Ad-aware but it hasn't made any difference.

I'm running XP and Outlook.

Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks
Merch

[Spurlash2]

Hi Merch,

From your description these sound like spam emails. Just delete.

From the web:
E-mail users are receiving an increasing number of bounceback spam, known as backscatter. The bounceback e-mail messages come in at a trickle, maybe one or two every hour. The subject lines are usually, but not always: 'Cyalis, Vyagra nad Levytar,' 'UNSOLICITED BULK EMAIL', apparently from you. Bounceback messages come from legitimate e-mail servers that have been fooled by the spammers.

You can also ensure Outlook only sends when you tell it to, and not on connect or when pressing Send in your actual email.

If you are getting lots and lots of these, you may need to reset your password, as it could indicate a compromised account. If you are worried, contact your ISP.

PS. Do you have any other email accounts?; Hotmail. Gmail? are these OK?

[merch]

Thanks Spurlash2

So my computer is not sending out emails just receiving them is that correct? They have my email address on them as the sender.

I only have a company email account as well which is not effected.

I'll adjust the send/receive on Outlook.

Merch

[Avtrician]

These sort of emails use harvested addresses, they could have come from a website you visited/ registered at. or from a friends address book. The originator of the spam email uses harvested addresses to spoof the senders address.

Its the same as you sending an email from home, but changing the sender address to your work email address, except the spammer has a bot that randomly changes the sender address.

Your account most likely hasn't been hacked/compromised.

[Cunliffe]

I too am receiving similar messages, some days between 50 and 100. Most, but not all, have attachments (which I have never opened). They only arrive on my orange (freeserve) account.
With a freeserve email address you can put any word in front of the @ and it will still get through. The bounced mails have all sorts of words at the beginning, often a variation on my actual name.
Orange technical support were not very helpful, the advisor in some far flung location did not seem to understand the problem. However a local "expert" has told me they are phishing mails and should just be deleted.
I know a couple of local businesses whose computers have been hacked and their address books used to send spam to their customers. This is my worst nightmare.

[BOAC]

Cunliffe - one of the penalties of having a great email system is that is extremely easy to 'hack'. NB It does NOT depend on your address book being hacked, but that of anyone who has your email address in theirs too.

[Keef]

This is a "big fleas have little fleas" scenario.

Years ago, a spammer took to using my domain name with ever more fanciful names at it. I would get "undeliverable" messages to things like fe60b4ec.70081@...

Because that domain is set to "catch-all" mail, I got them.

Eventually, he stopped. But meanwhile, junkmailers started sending Viagra etc ads to those same random addresses.

In the end, I had to set up "forwarders" for those addresses, to send the messages into oblivion rather than to me.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Bog standard joe job (qv). Should stop within a couple of days.

[merch]

Thanks for all the advise and information, I'll just continue to delete and wait for it to stop.

Merch