What To Do About E-mails Sent In My Name? (email, Microsoft, server)

[Visvaldis]

I have a hotmail account.
For several weeks I've received unusual messages in my inbox about failed attempts to send e-mails to people I did not send the e-mails. I am listed as the sender. Some have gone through and the recipients questioned my intentions. Most of the e-mails offer cialis. One e-mail was sent to the HR manager at my job.
Most of these e-mails are from a Canadian pharmacy. I don't care how they do their business, but using me as the sender is unethical. I should demand 25% of their profits.
What can I do to counter this problem and prevent such things in the future?

[Bo]

It's usually a spam tactic that spammers use to get around spam filtering. There's nothing you can do to stop it if it's not originating on your computer or account.

However, since a message went to someone you know, it might be a sign that your computer or your Hotmail account have been compromised. You should run a virus scan and a malware scan on your computer ASAP to make sure that someone isn't using your computer to do this! If your computer is accessible to others from the Internet, consider shutting off this access or changing the remote access password to something more secure. You should also change your email account password ASAP to something longer and more secure, to make sure your information and your account weren't accessed on the email server!

Here's a link to a tool you can use to test the strength of your new passwords: https://www.microsoft.com/security/p...d-checker.aspx

[bs13690]

There is not too much you can do about it other than not keeping contacts in your Hotmail. I have been having the same issue so I deleted out all my contacts and just keep them in another program.

[plwhit]

It's sad that so many people's Hotmail accounts have been hacked/spoofed....

I'm almost to the point of setting up a rule to delete any email that come in from Hotmail...

IMO it should be renamed to Spoofmail.

[Hedgehog_Mom]

It happened to me before with yahoo mail, so it's not just a hotmail problem.

When it was happening with the yahoo account, the emails were showing up in my sent items. I changed my password and the problem stopped. I now make a habit of checking my sent items every so often.

[Visvaldis]

Originally Posted by Bo

It's usually a spam tactic that spammers use to get around spam filtering. There's nothing you can do to stop it if it's not originating on your computer or account.

However, since a message went to someone you know, it might be a sign that your computer or your Hotmail account have been compromised. You should run a virus scan and a malware scan on your computer ASAP to make sure that someone isn't using your computer to do this! If your computer is accessible to others from the Internet, consider shutting off this access or changing the remote access password to something more secure. You should also change your email account password ASAP to something longer and more secure, to make sure your information and your account weren't accessed on the email server!

Here's a link to a tool you can use to test the strength of your new passwords: https://www.microsoft.com/security/p...d-checker.aspx

Thanks for the info.
I forgot to mention in the OP that I have a Mac, if that makes any difference. I have decided to delete all the names in my contact list, put all the useful ones on a document to copy and paste when sending.

[kazyn]

Could be compromised still, change the PW. Also read this:

http://ask-leo.com/how_do_spammers_s...s_from_me.html

[thecoalman]

The important question is are these people you know?

If it's just random people they were sent to most likely the spammer is using your email address in the from field which can easily be spoofed, there is nothing you can do about it and you have nothing to worry about. It's pretty common.

If you want to take it further you have to check the headers to determine what server it originated from.

Reading Email Headers

Received: Headers The Received: headers of any email message will tell you where the message originated and what route it took to get to you. That's what you need to know to complain about spam.
You read Received: headers in reverse order. The sequence from the last Received: header in the message's headers -- that is, the one furthest down in the headers, which is in fact the first Received: header that was added to the message -- to the top Received: header should take you from the email server where the message originated, to a local incoming email server, and finally, to your inbox.