Could this be scam related?

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Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 2:41 pm

Sorry if I'd post this in the wrong forum. If this is the case, please let me know. Anyway, some advice from you savvy people would be appreciated.
Since this morning, my mailbox gets flooded (already 200+ now) with "delivery failure notifications", for mails I never sent. I use Mailwasher Pro, and ALL these notifications are marked as "known spam" or "origin blacklisted"
What could be the origin of all this? The subject lines of the mails I socalled sent are all different, so I guess it's not that someone uses my identity to send bulk mail.
I realize this could hardly be spam related, but on the other hand these lads find something new every day.
Some hint will be really appreciated.

Elite Baiter Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Posts: 1043

Basically, someone is spoofing your email address. That means that your address is coming up as the sender. Any delivery failures are also sent back to you.

Now, there is nothing you can do to stop it, but you can set up a filter to move them all to the spam folder. That should clear up your inbox.

Also, you may want to send an email to abuse/customer service saying that this is happening. I think they will sometimes shut your box down if someone complains about you. If you email them, they can check it out and not ban you.

If it is a regular email address (hotmail, gmail etc) then they are probably doing it because you have annoyed them. If it is a company one, then they might be sending scams out in your companies name. Maybe get a warning on your site if this is so.

Good luck

Edit: i missed an i in doing.

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:11 pm

Some people do send out e-mails that are 'delivery failure notifications' I've heard of nasty little things being attached to the messages that get at your computer if you open the message. If the message titles are all different your name could have been fed into a bot type computer that is mass mailing you your very own private DDOS attack, trying to fill up your mailbox. Spam related more likely that Scam related. Unless you really have annoyed a lad recently. I've got only box that attracts around 100 viagra and rolex messages per day because I upset a lad.

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:11 pm

It sounds like a spam trick to me. Your addy has probably been spoofed or used as a "reply to" address so that when the spam bounces or gets rejected it goes to you.

edit: slow today.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 25 Mar 2008 Posts: 74

Hmmm.

Can you see whether the mails originate from the same mail addy or domain?
To me it seems like an attempt to check whether your mail addy is active, and when you reply by writing "hey, what is going on, I've never written to this address"... then the game is on. Dunno whether that would be a real scam or a mere "spam-scanning" thingie, though.

I fell for that trick once, when someone wrote me and told me that my PC was virus infected and that the virus was passed on to his/her PC - when I replied with a polite "who the hell are you" mail I suddendly got a whole lotta Viagra ads from his "mother" Laughing

Luckily enough this lad was so dim so I simply had to block his only two mail addies, and that was the end of it.

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:12 pm

What you've got here is that your email address has been spoofed as a 'from' address as spam traps don't have you blacklisted. It's a shitty trick, you're getting all the responses from the polite mail servers trying to tell you you made a typo in the address you tried. They may all have different subject lines, but they'll all be the same email, just sent out in different clothes each time to disguise it and get it past more spam filters. I've had this a few times, it's bloody annoying, especially when bounces arrive at 3 a second - in that spam run, I had about 200,000 emails claiming to be from one of my domain addresses, it killed my mailbox just with the sheer weight of bounces.

As it's not specifically SCAM just SPAM, there's probably little you can do about it, other than bitching about caving in the face of the next spammer you meet. I did for days. I probably still would - I abhor them costing me money and credibility to sell their crappy fake pills, etc., but as I'm about to go on a rant, I'll chop it here... Wink

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:50 pm

THANKS, guys,

Figured it out meanwhile. Thing is , the delivery failure notifications did not come from the same IP. Some were russian (indeed referring to rolex washers - pun intended), some from Japan etc.

I went to symantic about this (my email is work), got an update, and it seems I had a "troyan.adclicker" or something.

Now to make up for your help, I travel a lot for work, speak 4 languages. Been in Negiria several months (as well as other African, Asian countries) and am browsing this forum almost dayly (if I have internet access). I will not hesitate to pester and plague your lads if needed, on the site. No time for baiting though.

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 9:14 pm

Now I'm at it, next question. A while ago I got a mail from a Russian girl who claimed to have a VISA, a Passport, and an AIRTICKET to BELGIUM. She was just trying to find someone to pick her up from Brussels airport and take her to whichever cheap hotel, or find lodging for her.

What could be the scam here, or did I miss an "opportunity"??? You may have noticed that my addy is xxxx.XXXX.BE, but she may have sent mails to .DE domains as well, claiming she had a ticket for Frankfurt.

Sometimes I which we could just trust people....

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 10:14 pm

You missed an opportunity Laughing

Had you taken her up on the offer she would have had visa trouble, expired or somewhat and would need $$ to fix the problem.
So the opportunity you missed was to send a scammer your hard earn t dollars.

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 11:11 pm

Whocares wrote:

...the delivery failure notifications did not come from the same IP.

They wouldn't - they are the innocent spamees, they'll come from everywhere around the world. Those notifications were from friendly servers trying to help you!

Quote:

I went to symantic about this (my email is work), got an update, and it seems I had a "troyan.adclicker" or something.

Almost certainly "Trojan.whatever", read the Greek myth, that's exactly how you catch these things. However in this case, it's unrelated, just bad luck someone picked on your email address. That said, if you've had a nasty on your machine, keep a VERY close eye on it, nasties tend to invite in other nasties. Think of an infected computer like a cheating spouse, you can stop the problem in an instant, but the trust has gone...

Quote:

Now to make up for your help, I travel a lot for work, speak 4 languages. Been in Negiria several months (as well as other African, Asian countries) and am browsing this forum almost dayly (if I have internet access). I will not hesitate to pester and plague your lads if needed, on the site. No time for baiting though.

Fantastic - I'm certain a lot of guys here are keen to learn lots of info you can only get on the ground! Internet caf� prices, operating hours, good and bad areas of Lagos, good panaramic pictures of areas/scenes with topical stuff (to act as convincers for baiters with dolla choppa characters like Mr Gomer). If you speak any Yoruba, that could be handy too!

Smile

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