Spammer Uses MY Email Address

[yakers]

Some spamming @sshole is using my email address as a return address on their spam. I know because every day I get many messages that 'my message' did not get through to some address.
I assume they do this to get by some spam filters since my return address is valid.
Is there anything I can do about this other than getting a new email address? Will real ISPs start blocking my regular email because of the bozo or can the filters tell that it is not my address the message came from?

 

[kumquat]

Is there anything I can do about this other than getting a new email address? Will real ISPs start blocking my regular email because of the bozo or can the filters tell that it is not my address the message came from?

No and usually (if they bother).

 

[W2R]

I would check the security on your computer. Make sure you have a firewall in place, and scan with updated software like Norton or McAfee to make sure the spammer is not spamming through your computer via Trojan horse, worm, or whatever.

 

[slouch]

yakers -it's more likely that you're receiving spam backscatter. See this link for the details and how to deal with it. Spam Links - backscatter.

Worst case, your computer(s) are part of one or more botnets and your own machine is sending out spam nonstop. The World's Biggest Botnets - Security/Management - DarkReading.

If you're running windows, you can grab a free malware removal tool @ http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx.

 

[JanF]

I have two aol email accounts, and both of them sent spam to me from me for about a month and then it just stopped. Nothing else happened and all seems to be well. Spam filters caught it all. Good luck, Jan

 

[Bimmerbill]

DW and I have been getting hit by something similar for a couple of months. They don't actually use your email address, just display it. If you look at the email header, its usually some strange email address, but with your email address set as the display name.

I just started, yesterday, to get tons of spam from "Dr. soandso." Maybe they think I'll read it if it comes from someone as important as a Dr!

 

[mickeyd]

Some spamming @sshole is using my email address as a return address on their spam. I know because every day I get many messages that 'my message' did not get through to some address.
I assume they do this to get by some spam filters since my return address is valid.
Is there anything I can do about this other than getting a new email address? Will real ISPs start blocking my regular email because of the bozo or can the filters tell that it is not my address the message came from?

I had that problem with my Hotmail account and finally got around to changing my password (which was very simple and easy to figure out) to a more complex one. Must have worked, as I have had no problems since.

 

[Moemg]

I had my Aol account used to send out thousands of porn messages . I changed my password and it all went away . The funny thing is one of the addresses it sent the porno to was an ex boyfriend .

 

[TromboneAl]

This happened to me years ago. I was worried about being blocked, but there were never any problems. It stopped after a brief time, and has never recurred.