Spam email - how is my name being used by them?

Z

Z100

Guest
Just got a few spam emails which were forwarded from my work address to my personal one. Predictably enough they were offering to sell me tablets that would do wonders for my, you know.

The emails seem to come from legitimate companies, but my name (ie initial plus surname, which is what I use for my work address) was on them all, ie

me@doreandwhittier.com
me@monogramhotels.ie
me@ssprod.com
me@ksvc.com

How is this done??
 
What do you mean how was it done? Spammers sometimes auto generate email addresses using various rules/alrorithms that happen to hit real users or else harvest the addresses from the web and other sources. This includes getting a spam email, opening it and the email containing some suitable crafted content (usually some HTML) that can confirm back to the spammer that your address is a real one so that they can continue to spam it. Arey you sure that these spam emails are from "legitimate" companies?
 
ClubMan said:
What do you mean how was it done?
Click to expand...

I mean how do spammers get to use the address of seemingly legitimate companies (eg monogramhotels.ie - their website looks genuine enough to me, but I could be entirely wrong) and attach my name to them? ie me@monogramhotels.ie.

I've a rough idea of how spammers generally target us all (as you explained), but it's the use of these companies addresses that stumps me.
 
I think your question is how is this e-mail address valid particularly as it is your name and a the postfix address is that of a valid corporation.

The real e-mail address is not being sent. It is the MAIL FROM field in the e-mail header but this doesn't have to be the real e-mail address. It is however what shows up as the sender in your mail program.

See the following from [broken link removed]

MAIL FROM initiates mail processing; it means "I have mail to deliver from so-and-so". The address given turns into the so-called "envelope From" (see Section Whatever); it need not be the same as the sender's own address! This apparent security hole is inevitable (after all, the receiving machine doesn't know anything about who has what username on the sending machine), and in certain circumstances it turns out to be a useful feature.
 
If you are really bothered, go to:
http://www.spamcop.com/

there have been prosecutions based on report returns from this site, but it's a long hard road to bother reporting every spam you receive, just turn your filter level to the highest possible but remember to check your junk mail daily as it can filter out wanted messages
 
panathon said:
If you are really bothered, go to:
http://www.spamcop.com/. there have been prosecutions based on report returns from this site, but it's a long hard road to bother reporting every spam you receive, just turn your filter level to the highest possible but remember to check your junk mail daily as it can filter out wanted messages
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Panathon, will have a look at spamcop. I've been using SpamBully for a few months now and it's been quite good at filtering out the rubbish, although as you suggest one or two genuine emails get buried in the spam folder every day. When I can be bothered I use the 'report' feature on my spam but even SpamBully's own website suggests this is pretty much a waste of time. Seems like a losing battle.
 
Bushfire said:
Just got a few spam emails which were forwarded from my work address to my personal one. Predictably enough they were offering to sell me tablets that would do wonders for my, you know.

The emails seem to come from legitimate companies, but my name (ie initial plus surname, which is what I use for my work address) was on them all, ie
Click to expand...
A russian bloke heads an international gang which spreads its emails by hijacking home computers without you realizing. Said to produce a significant portion of world's total email traffic.His name is Leo Kuvayev,
was in times on sunday. I often get emails returned to me that are supposed to be from me, but aren't and are of a dubious nature.
Anyway this bloke is wanted by the FBI but Russia wont co operate.
Kuvayev is also thought to be behind a virus that allows gangs to hijack home computers and make them send out spam.
 
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