Date: 28-03-24  Time: 19:44 pm

Author Topic: Email spam problem  (Read 4444 times)

ghostbiker

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Email spam problem
« on: 12 January 2012, 04:36:02 am »
I was gunna post it in the tec section..... but we dont have one anymore :P
So a new focer font of knowlage challange!

For about 2 months now My main email account has been sending out spam emails without me sending them.
(mail.com is the email company i have had that email addy since the mid 90's and brought it back then)
First thing i did was change password, this didnt stop it.
So i then ran a virus check useing Avast on both my home PC and my laptop, both came back clean
changed password again and spam was still being sent.
Since then i have tried AVG, AVAST and norton and i have tried half a dozen malwear type progs to and everything comes back clean.
i have even installed AVG on the android phone to be sure, everything is saying its clean.


I contacted mail.com and affter a few automated replys i got a email saying that i should change password affter checking for virus...... grrr
that seems to be the only reply i can get from them so far affter half a dozen or so emails, all basicly saying its my security letting them in not thiers.


So what more can i do? i have tried to stop them sending out the spam but they just keep getting in and spaming my email list.
its starting to piss friends off to the point many have just spam filtered me and i have to contact them with a diff email.
this isnt a long term fix as i want MY life time email addy back and free from spammers
they main way i tell they have sent mail from my email account is friends telling me or returned mails from no longer active accounts. offten the sent mails dont show up in my sent mails folder, though sometimes they do. odd

Im at my wits end trying to solve it, as you can see with me posting this at 4:30 am and still not slept lol.

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Re: Email spam problem
« Reply #1 on: 12 January 2012, 07:49:42 am »
I'm not suggesting that I know the answer, but a few questions might help other, more tech savvy foccers to help.
 
How do you send your e-mail? Is it via something like Outlook Express or Windows Live Mail, or do you use something like webmail, i.e. are your main in-box and out-box resident on your PC or on your e-mail company's server? When you say that occasionally sent messages are showing up in your sent mails folder, where is this folder - on your PC or on the e-mail company's server? Where does your address book "live" - on your PC, on the e-mail company's server, or both?
 
If your address book lives in more than one place I'd suggest setting up some new "fake" addresses, a different one in each of the separate address books (PC, laptop, phone, e-mail company's server, etc). Then, if one of these new addresses gets spammed you should get a returned mail saying address not found. Then, from which address it is, you'll know which address book the spammers used. This won't completely solve the problem, but will let you know where the problem lies - one of your devices or the e-mail company's server. If, after some time, none of these addresses gets used, you'll know that your whole address list was "stolen" at some point in the past ... though I'm not sure what you can do then.

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Re: Email spam problem
« Reply #2 on: 12 January 2012, 09:44:54 am »
Does sound like a virus, I usually use malwarebytes.org free version seems pretty good at getting rid of most or superantispyware.co.uk seems good as well failing that easiest way may be to do a fresh operating software reinstall.

Robbie8666

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Re: Email spam problem
« Reply #3 on: 12 January 2012, 11:24:14 am »
i have various email addresses for various reasons and I noticed that 1 of my hotmail accounts was hacked and sending out spam. I deleted the entire address book, I left it 2 weeks then re-entered addresses and it stopped. luckily that account only had about 2 dozen accounts so wasn't a PITA but wouldn't like to do it with my main account as I have hundreds of contacts in there!!
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ghostbiker

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Re: Email spam problem
« Reply #4 on: 12 January 2012, 01:52:05 pm »
I must admit i am tempted to just delete the adress book so they cant send any out but that dosent realy solve the problem of them being able to.

The emails i send and recive are done through the mail.com website. so no external softwear is used like outlook.
The adress book is on thier servers the same as all the folders, nothing is actualy kept on my pc as such.

most emails i pick up via my mobile (i have all 3 main email accounts i use set up to go in to the phone, androids preinstalled mail system)
and when i use the pc/laptop i also have those 3 email accounts picked up via the mail.com site
so far only the mail .com account has problems. i did have problems with an AOL account a year or two back but a simple password change solved the issue.

I changed my password again thismorning and wont log in or change my password on the pc for a day or two. if they get in again i know then its either my mobile phone they hacked or the mail .com server.

then if i change password again but only use pc to log in and they still have accses then it must be thier server by default?
logic though dosent seem to come in to this.

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Re: Email spam problem
« Reply #5 on: 12 January 2012, 05:07:30 pm »
This is what I would do ... If I was running XP and IE8 (which I am  :) ).
 
 
Make sure your copy of XP is fully patched - sign up for Automatic Updates and let it complete the patch.
As said . run a full Malwarebytes scan - it catches most things.
Then uninstall AVG and all other virus checkers and sign up for Microsoft Security Essentials instead, its free. Run a full scan with that too.
 
If you're using IE8 then do Tools, Manage Add-ons and in Toolbars and Extensions disable everything that isn't by Microsoft, Adobe or Sun.
(you can re-enable them later if something "goes missing").
 
Sounds to me like your browser has been hijacked  :( .

ghostbiker

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Re: Email spam problem
« Reply #6 on: 12 January 2012, 06:51:00 pm »
I use firefox btw

nitemare

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Re: Email spam problem
« Reply #7 on: 12 January 2012, 07:10:14 pm »
The emails may not actually be coming from your mail host. The problem is it is very very easy to 'spoof' a senders address even if they are in another country.
What you need to do is look at the 'full' header. In there will be every point that the email has passed through. Which means you can back track it to the original senders host. You cannot normally see this by forwarding or replaying but there should be an option to view full header.
The most likely thing is someone has picked up your address from somewhere and is 'spoofing' your email address. And no, there is not alot you can do though if you can track it back to the orginal host you might be able to inform them and they 'may' look into it.
Yes to double check run Mailwarebyte (free version) http://www.malwarebytes.org/
It you can cut&paste the full header into a message to me I can check it for you.  :)
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Re: Email spam problem
« Reply #8 on: 12 January 2012, 07:16:49 pm »
Oops formating went a bit weird.
P.s. If you are worried that someone is using your account then try putting in an address book entry to another email address. Also see if there are any logs to when someone last logged in.
Personally I feel someone has got you address from a website and is pretending to be you.
Let me know if you need anymore help.
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Major Rant

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Re: Email spam problem
« Reply #9 on: 12 January 2012, 09:03:28 pm »
Quote
'spoofing' your email address.

They seem to know the contents of his address book - cos his friends are complaining about the spam.
 
Simply spoofing an email address wouldn't allow that, would it? Unless they've intercepted a mail from him with a cc list and are using that, maybe.
 
My money is on a hacked browser and a stored email password.

Chillum

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Re: Email spam problem
« Reply #10 on: 12 January 2012, 09:32:19 pm »
Lots of top ideas to tracking where the problem is already posted.

However, if it turns out to be a hacked account then change your contacts' email addresses to include an invalid character at the end, such as an ! or something.

If you get error messages then you know you have a hacked account (I'll go with Major Rants money as to why)

ghostbiker

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Re: Email spam problem
« Reply #11 on: 12 January 2012, 09:43:27 pm »
Doh thats an awsome idea chillum. that way i dont have to delete any and although it will take a while to edit them it will solve the problem of friends getting them.


I just PM'd nightmare with the headers (didnt want them on open forum just incase theres something there important as i have no idea what im looking at lol )


Robbie8666

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Re: Email spam problem
« Reply #12 on: 13 January 2012, 08:09:57 am »
i deleted my AVG last night it freed up 20GHz of space on my hard drive!!
 
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Robbie8666

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Re: Email spam problem
« Reply #13 on: 13 January 2012, 08:10:34 am »
meant 20Gb not Ghz... old habits lol
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nitemare

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Re: Email spam problem
« Reply #14 on: 13 January 2012, 10:12:21 am »
Thanks for the header. If this is the full header (which it looks like) then:


Basically the email was send from a Russian probably a Internet cafe at 19:48:41 CET (Central Europian Time) on Sunday 8th.


It was then passed Germany at 19:48:45 +0100


Before arriving.


I belive that is correct. How they got hold of your fiends details I don't now.

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ghostbiker

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Re: Email spam problem
« Reply #15 on: 13 January 2012, 11:06:58 am »
So it looks like they have cloned my account rather than hacked it?
I wont even try to understand the details lol, but that dose explain why everything is saying my computer is clear and why password changes have no effect.
btw i dont store passwords in the browser (i used to but stoped a while ago for most sites, my email being one of them. dont know if that lessens they chance of them hacking the browser or not though)

So far so good, havent had a set of mails sent out today. but it dosent allwasy get sent every day so time will tell if the adding a char to the end of the email addy will at least stop them being sent to freinds and contacts.

though if i do get a sudden influx of returned mail then they do have some kind of accses to my address book.
its all very confuseing and i just wish my email account ppl would take it further than automated friggin replys to check for a virus and change passwords.

nitemare

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Re: Email spam problem
« Reply #16 on: 13 January 2012, 11:21:12 am »
The other possibility is that one of your mates has need hacked/infected and your details where taken from them.
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Re: Email spam problem
« Reply #17 on: 15 January 2012, 12:11:00 pm »
It is so easy to fake the "from" address. Spammers do it as their won email (if such a thing exists) is blocked. I used to have a nice little program I wrote that allowed me to send email from anyone. Great fun sending friends emails from george.bush@whitehouse.gov.us or tony.blair@downingstreet.gov.uk etc