Spoofing My Email Address

[G26ster]

Within days of putting my home computer email address as an account on my Android, I'm now receiving notices of undeliverable mail sent from my home email address. It's spam junk mail that's bouncing from some recipients that I certainly never sent. I know it's easy for spammers to do this, but is there any way for me to stop it?

[DocV]

You have to wait it out, unfortunately.

[The Annoyed Man]

Not a thing you can do about it.....except maybe get a new address. It will eventually die out.......and then flare up, and then die out, rinse & repeat, until whatever spammers' lists that have your address on it are eventually discarded for "fresh" lists.

The easiest fix for you is to create a new private email address, and just (a) be very careful about whom you share it with, and (b) keep the original one and just monitor it......but don't use it......until the infection burns itself out. You can set the original address to (a) filter out the bounce back messages and move them into your spam folder, and (b) automatically forward anything else to your new address so you don't lose messages.

You should know that Yahoo's security is notoriously porous and they get hacked all the time. I wouldn't use them if you paid me to. I trust gmail because Google's security is very good, and I trust iCloud. But an iCloud account won't be free unless you own an apple product that is email capable (desktop/laptop, iPhone, iPad). You get 5GB of free iCloud storage with your device. Upgrades are cheap. http://www.pcworld.com/article/237086/A ... Costs.html.

Otherwise, I'd go with Google's service, and upgrade if you need to. Either will serve you well, and the security that comes with the service is worth the relatively small cost.

I own a number of domain names, and I had this issue with my primary address, which was along the lines of "myfirstname.mylastname@mydomainname.com". The bad part is that it caused my server's IP address to be blacklisted by spam monitoring agencies. I did three things..... (1) I created a new email address "myfirstname@mydomainname.com", and (2) I switched my domain email hosting from my own server to Google's paid service, and (3) I took steps to get my server's IP address delisted because it was affecting my hosting clients' emails too. When I switched my server provider from MediaTemple to BlueHost, I also purchased the discounted services of one of their partners who both monitors spam listing services to make sure that my IP address does not get listed, and then takes care of any problems that arise. It has been well worth the modest cost. My address hasn't been spoofed since Google started hosting my domain email.

I also have a couple of private addresses from iCloud and gmail, but I don't use those except with close friends.

[G26ster]

Thanks TAM. The domain is roadrunner, and the email program is Windows mail. I can change to a new address. I'll see if the spoofing continues before I do it though.

[striker55]

I get job offers for a doctor in PA, he signed up for these emails with a similar name and left off one letter or number so I get them. Google was no help, some foreign guy with tech support says to me "what do you want me to do". I told him he was the expert what could I do, short of deleting my account and creating a new one. I hung up on him, he was no help.

[Lynyrd]

If you don't have any anitvirus on your phone, I suggest you install MalwareBytes. It's in the Google Play Store, and its free. No anti-malware can stop everything, but this one is pretty good.

[G26ster]

If you don't have any anitvirus on your phone, I suggest you install MalwareBytes. It's in the Google Play Store, and its free. No anti-malware can stop everything, but this one is pretty good.

Thanks. I have Avast Mobile Security + Lookout. Up to now (4 + years) I've had no issues. I'm not sure malware is required to spoof an email address, but I'm sure no expert.

[DocV]

If your mail server allows it, you can tag your email address to help identify the sights that are monetizing your email. For example, say you have G26stersgmail@gmail.com and you sign up for an account on somedomainthatwantsyouremail.com. You can then tag your gmail address as
G26stersgmail+somedomainthatwantsyouremail@gmail.com. Does not do much to prevent your email address from being sold, but lets you know who sold it.

[Glockster]

The harsh reality is that they use software to conduct dictionary attacks of all kinds, including email addresses. So they just tap a key and their program tries to send using a gazillion email addresses that might not even exist, but some small percentage does. If you can do so, avoid having an email address that can be directly spelled, such as your first name and such.

[ScottDLS]

I suggest HRC23@clintonemail.com

[CleverNickname]

The harsh reality is that they use software to conduct dictionary attacks of all kinds, including email addresses. So they just tap a key and their program tries to send using a gazillion email addresses that might not even exist, but some small percentage does. If you can do so, avoid having an email address that can be directly spelled, such as your first name and such.

A lot of times other people's web email will be cracked and the spammers will grab all the addresses in the address book, and then send spam as that person to those addresses. Similarly, malware will search email programs' address books to do the same thing.

There's no good way to stop people from sending email as you, just like there's no way to stop someone from mailing letters with your mailing address as the return address.