posted on January 9, 2005 08:24:14 AM new
to block my e-mail address from others putting it in their address book, etc.? It seems that my e-mail address is being linked to a worm, and although I don't have it, it looks like I am spreading viruses and worms. I know that it's not coming from me because I run so many virus scans, have mcaffee virus scan (through AOL and on my own) and have a firewall. But, not everyone runs virus scans, and as a result, if I'm in their address book, I keep getting back e-mails stating that my e-mail couldn't be delivered because of a virus or attachment in it and I've never even sent it. Any help would be appreciated.
posted on January 9, 2005 08:36:14 AM new
What has happened is a spammer stole your e-mail address. Now they are sending crap to everyone on their list. There really isn't much that you can do other than dumping your e-mail address for another one.
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Alive in 2005
posted on January 9, 2005 09:08:12 AM new
Hi Diane
I too would be very concerned and frustrated. Just a suggestion: if your email address is associated with your paid internet service provider contact them asap. Inform them what is happening, they will not take this lightly and will help. They do have ways of getting to the bottom of your situation and hopefully can track were these emails are being sent from etc. Before dumping your email addy, I would contact them first and see what they can do/suggest. Also, don't hesitate to esclate it to a supervisor if you are not satisfied with the front line response.
posted on January 9, 2005 09:17:25 AM new
I know when I was on roadrunner any email I received the address went into my outlook express ddress book. Maybe that is happening with you when you send an email to your winning bidders it goes into their address book. I don't know of anyway to stop that. Maybe call your ISP tech support and talk with them. I now have gone back to my dial up and I don't know if I will use outlook express anymore and just keep my ISP's mail box. It's a little harder to axcess but it gets rid of a lot of spam before it hits my mail box.
posted on January 9, 2005 09:32:11 AM new
Diane - AOL shut my whole family's account down..it seems someone stole my daughter's id and sent gazillions of emails from penis enlargement, to refinancing and drugs ... if your id had been stolen by spammers, I would think AOL would shut you down too.
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"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "...holy sh@#...what a ride!"
posted on January 9, 2005 10:16:41 AM new
Neglus -- I don't think my ID is stolen. I think that someone whose address book I am in, was hit with a virus or worm. As a result, e-mails are being sent out from that person's address book to make it look like we are the ones sending it. I remember a while back this happened and I contacted McAffee about it. They explained that some viruses or worms will "spoof" itself to make it look like it came from us, when in fact it didn't. That's why I was wondering if there is any way I can block others from putting my e-mail address in their address books.
posted on January 9, 2005 12:14:30 PM new
Diane...Your last post hit the nail on the head. That is exactly what is happening. Your customers have a copy of your email address on their computer from when you contacted them. When a worm enters their computer, it will search the entire hard drive(not just the address book) for email addresses and send itself to all those addresses. You won't see it in your inbox, because AOL deletes it on their servers before it gets to you. It also uses these addresses to spoof your account id when it forwards spam. Unfortunately, there is no way for you to keep your email addresses of your customer's computers. It shows up on their hard drive as soon as Ebay sends them the EOA at auction end, so even if you used a throwaway account from Hotmail, they would still have your primary address in their inbox. The only thing you can do is what I did, and learn to live with it until all ISP's start killing infected emails at their servers instead of passing them on. Go to keyword "Virus" on AOL and somewhere in there will be an announcement concerning this problem.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
