I need to know about a virus....

[jjsgranpa]

Recently a friend began receiving occasional emails from my old email address (which has been inactive for 5 months now.
These were "beagle" virus emails: Thanks ), Hello , etc.

I was wondering how the old email address was used as the senders address. Can anyone tell me in layman's terms how this occurs? I need to explain this to my friend and he's not extremely "computer" savvy!! Thanks

 

[eyec]

internet email robots scour the internet for email addresses and use these mined addresses to send scams, virus and other malware/spyware to unsuspecting reciepients.

just because you no longer use and email address does not mean that it is gone from the internet.

try doing a google on your address and see what you find, it may suprise you.

 

[chiph]

Also, many times a virus will use a false email address in an attempt to make you think it came from someone you know. It's possible that someone who had your old email address in their contacts got infected, and is sending out emails masquerading as you.

Or, as eyec says, you could be the one infected.

Chip H.


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If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first

 

[robatwork]

The long and the short of it is that an email's "From" field can be anything at all - it doesn't get verified.

So tell your friend not to believe that who an email appears to be from is actually who it IS from. It's like putting a sticker on the back of a parcel:
sent by
Fred Bloggs
22 Acacia Avenue
Spamville

The post office don't actually look at that and verify that place exists, or originated the parcel. It's the same with email.

Your old email address could have been harvested, or it's just a coincidence.

I think Microsoft plans to introduce some sort of email verification, but we're years away from that. Until then, as someone once said, trust noone.....

Rob