My e-mail address being used by spammers

[LindaJH]

I have been receiving 500-800 "bounce notices" a day for the last 3 days. Since I'm not sending out spam the bounced messages did not come from me although my e-mail address is the "sender". Is there something I can use to check and see if my Outlook Express has somehow picked up something?

I use Norton360 and have never had any type of problem before. I haven't installed any new programs - no web download and haven't opened any strange e-mail or attachments. In fact I read the majority of my e-mail on-line before I actually collect it. I rarely surf the web and when I do it's almost always genealogy sites.

The easy way to solve the problem is to change my e-mail address but that's not really an option for several reason.

Any help or suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks
Linda JH

[Corporal Punishment]

I have been receiving 500-800 "bounce notices" a day for the last 3 days. Since I'm not sending out spam the bounced messages did not come from me although my e-mail address is the "sender". Is there something I can use to check and see if my Outlook Express has somehow picked up something?




You need to view the headers of the email in order for you to know if it is a true hijack or they are just using your address as a false return.

In outlook it with the mail open click VIEW then OPTIONS to see the headers. They are rather cryptic if you do not know what you are looking for so maybe if you post them hear someone can help diagnose them.

[cat5e]

Some cleaning of email can be done on your own computer.

But having such number indicates that your email server (I.e. the one that is used by your email provider) does not have an effective spam blocker.

I would ditch the address and get another one on a good service that blocks the core of the Spam.

[LindaJH]

As suddenly as this started it has stopped. I have been deleting them as they came in and fully expected to have mail box full today to be able to copy some of the headers and post here but I have none. Thank both of you for your help and suggestions. And, if this starts again, I'll know to not delete the bounces so quickly.

Thanks again.

Linda JH

[LindaJH]

I did receive a delayed bounce:
Header:
Return-Path: <lhaasdav@cox.net>
Received: (qmail 25748 invoked from network); 9 Feb 2008 14:12:53 -0000
Received: from host64-123-dynamic.57-82-r.retail.telecomitalia.it (HELO
utente-77059c8e) (82.57.123.64)
by qmail.15.net with SMTP; 9 Feb 2008 14:12:53 -0000
Received: from [82.57.123.64] by mx.east.cox.net; Sat, 9 Feb 2008 15:14:26 +0100
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 15:14:26 +0100
From: "Ronald Bonilla" <lhaasdav@cox.net>
X-Mailer: The Bat! (v2.04.7) Business
Reply-To: lhaasdav@cox.net
X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
Message-ID: <441006797.41328244162395@cox.net>
To: patrick@clearpoint.net
Subject: Soon you will notice the difference
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----------67CBD3AE1D3AE9"

LindaJH

[usafveteran]

But having such number indicates that your email server (I.e. the one that is used by your email provider) does not have an effective spam blocker.
Maybe, but it's also possible she needs to log on to her email account with her ISP via web browser and manage some security settings there that give her some control over the degree of spam blocking.

When I used Earthlink, I could log on via web browser and set security to the highest level, which blocked mail from any sender who was not in my online address book. I didn't even know about this feature for the first 3 or 4 months I used Earthlink. So, see whether you can access your mail from your ISP account via web browser and, if you can, then see whether you have options to control spam.