Someone in the world is sending out spam emails with my address as the sender - I'm getting delivery failure notices bouncing back to me daily. I'm using AVG & Kerio, always updated, & it continues when my pc is switched off for a couple of weeks, so it's not coming from me.
They're only using the suffix of my address, with gibberish as the prefix - eg, "[email protected]", so I have set up the filters at orange/wanadoo whatever they are now to automatically junk them.
On Orange's help pages, they say to immediately forward one of these emails "complete with headers" to them as someone could have hacked my account. But, they don't say how - ie, no address to send it to. When I phoned up, the spotty oik on the end of the phone didn't know anything about this, despite consulting colleagues, and their sole advice was to change my email account.
Should I do as they say? Or simply ignore it all? Any advice?

How much of a hassle is it for you to change your email address - telling all your contacts, modifying details on websites (like PPRuNe, bank, ebay, PayPal...etc.), and changing business cards / stationery?

Balance that against how much hassle it is for you to deal with the nuisance.

Bear in mind that if you are changing email address, you might just as well change ISP - Freeserve seem to have been less than useless in looking at your problem.

SD

This problem can occur when someone with your email address in their contacts list gets a PC virus. The virus sends out hundreds of emails using addresses in the list as the "from" address. It can go on for a long time until the PC's owner realises it has been compromised.

You need to install a spam trap and set up filters that will trap the problem emails, eg from [email protected]

Download Spybot S&D and/or Adaware

I've posted this before, butSEARCH doesn't show it anymore - maybe I posted it somewhere else........

Imagine this:
You need to write a long letter, and you're a little bored and feel like some background music while you type.
You put your favourite Status Quo (just an example - I'm not aware of the Quo being involved in anything dodgy) CD in the drive, and your media player kicks, while you're writing.

Ever noticed, when you click on File, that at the bottom it shows the last 4 (default, but can be set as high as 9) files worked on, or on XP, click start, then Recent Docs. These are "Usage Logs"
If you get any spyware on your system (from a website, email, or bundled in downloaded software such as BitComet P2P (their website claims that CometCursor, detected by Spybot, is safe - IT IS NOT!!!!!!), the spyware hunts your system for usage logs, and cookies (not a lot you can do about cookies, as most sites need you to accept them nowadays or they won't work, but you can delete them once you leave the site).
The spyware collects all this seemingly trivial data and sends it to the originator.
The originator pigeon-holes you depending on what it receives (Status Quo = Rock Music)
Then they sell the data on (for a fraction of a penny/cent - your data is bundled with other unlucky suckers)
The new "originator" then filters & re-pigeon-holes you depending on the data received (Rock/heavy metal = leather & tattoos)
Your soul gets sold again (Status Quo = Leather = Whips & Chains)
Your are now owned by a porn site, who have all your cookie data (username @website.com)
They can then use username to log into another site with a keygenerator to find a password (these are very simple - I have a 10line (<1kb) script for unlocking protected Excel sheets by generating a 12-digit MS backdoor password)
Once in, they can check your account details and reveal you email address.

So as you can see - by playing a CD, it only takes 3 steps to start receiving porno-spam, and a 5th step to start spamming the world using your cloned email address.


Like I said, download Spybot/Adaware and run frequent updates & checks. This will also delete cookies.
In all applications (but mostly MS Office & Media Player) select Show Recent files to 0.
Select IE History to 0 days
Change your email passwords frequently (Company Emails often specify at least 3 of the following, UPPER, lower, numbers (1,2,3) & Specials (£^#{]) and a minimum length)

Spyware is the equivalent of someone sifting your bins for receipts with credit card details on - only difference, no marigolds required!