Rogue Emails

[Gary]

I had my MSN taking over by a rogue virus about 4-5 years ago. It was sending out porn links to everybody. that virus was so good, it even incorporated my and my Thai girlfriends name in the messages. it was sending out messages every 15 minutes. GRRRRRRR

BUT there was a very easy fix for it. I changed my Password AND security Question, problem solved in less than 5 minutes.

i dont know if that would work for other e-mail providers but its worth a try.

[Mike S]

Yes that worked for me too Gary ...... and like you said it didn't take long ...... they only got to send out one batch of spam before I shut them down ...... I now have a password of 16 digits long with numbers ... upper and lower case letters and symbols ...... if they crack that one I will let them have it ....... :hystery: :hystery: :hystery: :hystery:

Edited June 12, 2012 by Mike S

[i am bob]

Changing your password is good but remember to do a thorough check of you system first! That is where running a second antivirus program comes in handy - it may pick up something that your regular one missed. Or get a good anti-rootkit and check for things you aren't going to find.... Some antivirus come with it - most do not. And then change your password after all is clear!

[Call me bubba]

about ROUGE emails. slightly off topic,

 but i have been 1 from "Adriana" a former facebook friend( news to me as i dont have FB)

  does anyone else get these "spam" emails?

[Curley]

about ROUGE emails. slightly off topic,

 but i have been 1 from "Adriana" a former facebook friend( news to me as i dont have FB)

  does anyone else get these "spam" emails?

Yes, the cheating bitch told me I was her only one.

[i am bob]

If I go and check my spam folder in my main Gmail account, it is full of them.

[Dave Hounddriver]

OK, This has finally happened in my house so I am more interested LOL

 

I just got an email from my wife/partner from her Yahoo account.  It is a link to some spam/virus site but I did not follow it.  Problem is she was standing right beside me and has not accessed her Yahoo account in 5 years.  So someone else did it somehow.

 

Now the problem comes with trying to do something about it.  Even though she has her password, which is acknowledged as correct, she/we cannot get on to change anything or delete the account.  It says the computer she is using is not recognized.  It says she needs to have authorization sent to her back up  email (her backup email is one we don't recognize and may be a fake one).  It says she has to answer some questions but it has been 7 years since she opened the account and she does not know the answers to the questions.

 

We tried to contact support but anything the online help suggests includes first signing into her account.

 

So I guess she is screwed?  Her account is now stolen and there is nothing that can be done?  Know that she does not want the account but does not like the idea of strangers accessing it.

[MikeB]

So I guess she is screwed?  Her account is now stolen and there is nothing that can be done?  Know that she does not want the account but does not like the idea of strangers accessing it.

 

I doubt anyone is accessing her account it's much more likely her email address has been "spoofed". Basically a spammer alters the From field so it appears that the email is from her but is not. To verify log into her email acct and see if there is a Sent item of the email you received. There's lots of articles on email spoofing, not much you can do except delete and recreate the acct if it really gets out of hand. Yahoo email has lots of security issues. 

[Dave Hounddriver]

To verify log into her email acct

 

Arrr.  There's the problem.  Cannot log on any more.  But the spammer got my email from HER email account so he must have logged in.  How else can he get info from her address book without logging in?

[MikeB]

But the spammer got my email from HER email account so he must have logged in.  How else can he get info from her address book without logging in?

 

It's possible her acct was hacked. Is the From field her email address or her name? If it's a name click on it to see the associated email address. You can also look at the email's internet headers for more information about the sender. Since the account is inactive I would either delete it or request that be done.