Friend's AOL email account sending advertising email.

citsme · Nov 15, 2010

Hello,

A friend of mine is having a problem that I am aware of because I am on the receiving end! He has an email account with AOL for years and I'm sure he doesn't want to lose it. Yesterday, I received four emails from his email address that he didn't sent.

Comparing who they went to, each group was a bit different but I was in all four.

What does he do now? He is worried about any compromise to his AOL account and when I checked in AOL's internet support files they were quick to call it "spoofing." He's got a lot at stake so he needs to make the right decision with your help!

How serious is this and what would you suggest? AVG shows that the emails do not have a virus.

Thank you for your time!
cs.

TimW · Nov 15, 2010

Best thing your friend can do is to use another computer to change his password. Then he needs to clean out his inbox. As a general guide:

Malware detected in email databases has to be cleaned up by you. You have a few choices:

1. delete the whole file which is not an option you normally want to use
2. load the email folder that contains the infection and delete ALL unnecessary emails (hoping to remove the problem email) and then use the Mailbox Cleanup option to delete all old emails. Then compact the Outlook database to permanently remove data. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291645 If you do not cleanup and compact the databases, the deleted emails may still be leaving hidden information in the database that you just cannot see but a scanner may still pickup on it.
3. create a new folder and move only emails you really need into the new folder and then delete the infected folder.

citsme · Nov 15, 2010

TimW said: ↑

Best thing your friend can do is to use another computer to change his password. Then he needs to clean out his inbox. As a general guide:

Malware detected in email databases has to be cleaned up by you. You have a few choices:

1. delete the whole file which is not an option you normally want to use
2. load the email folder that contains the infection and delete ALL unnecessary emails (hoping to remove the problem email) and then use the Mailbox Cleanup option to delete all old emails. Then compact the Outlook database to permanently remove data. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291645 If you do not cleanup and compact the databases, the deleted emails may still be leaving hidden information in the database that you just cannot see but a scanner may still pickup on it.
3. create a new folder and move only emails you really need into the new folder and then delete the infected folder.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply. He is not using Outlook for his mail; he is using AOL exclusively. How does that change your instructions?

Thanks, again, for your time.

TimW · Nov 15, 2010

It still relates to his issue. He has to manually remove any suspicious emails, ones that have attachments and make sure what he keeps is safe. I don't know if this works, but he might want to add a bogus contact such as aaa@aaa.com. This may help in some cases when the fake email can not make that connection.

You can also read this:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/securitytipstalk/archive/2010/07/07/hotmail-hacked-take-these-steps.aspx

citsme · Nov 15, 2010

Thanks Tim. I haven't followed your link yet - do you think it is necessary to go to another computer to change his password if he is dealing with AOL only?

Thank you for your time and now I will take a look at the link!

cs.

Will these steps in the link above refer to AOL also? The discussion is regarding a Hotmail Account with a Windows Live ID and that is a different (more complicated) situation.

TimW · Nov 16, 2010

Yes, he should use a different computer to change his password. Then he needs to sift through his emails and find the offending one. May not be an easy task, but his best bet is to delete as much as he can.

citsme · Nov 16, 2010

Thank you, Tim, for your assistance. There is one question that I have posted before that possibly you have missed. That question is in regard to a link you suggested in a previous post - that post was regarding a Hotmail account linked to a Windows ID.

This account is an AOL EMAIL ACCOUNT used for email only with the cable company as the ISP. Does that article pertain to this situation?

Adding in a question: should MalwareBytes and SuperAntiSpyware be run on the computer after the offending email is removed before the password is changed? So the order is: remove offending emails, run clean up programs and then go to a different computer and change his password to something more complicated, is this correct? I can't afford to make a mistake!

Sorry so many questions!

Again, thank you so very, very much for your limited time!
cs.

TimW · Nov 17, 2010

He should use a different computer to change his password first. Then on his computer, run SAS and MBAM to see if he has any infections as a result of the email. Then delete all emails that could possibly contain a virus. Then I would suggest that he do an online scan with BitDefender.

citsme · Nov 17, 2010

Thanks, Tim, I feel better about this answer. I will pass it on to him asap!
Thank you for your time and assistance with this problem.
Very much appreciated!
cs.

TimW · Nov 17, 2010

You are most welcome....hope he gets straightened out.

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Friend's AOL email account sending advertising email.

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Friend's AOL email account sending advertising email.

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