What to do When Spam is Delievered From Your Email Address

Posted: July 07, 2015

[caption id="attachment_12369" align="alignright" width="300"] Image from pcworld.com[/caption] Most everyone agrees that getting spam email is just plain annoying. However, if your email address is the one sending it, it can be even worse. If this happens, you need to find out right away whether you've been just been spoofed, or really been hijacked. These tips can help determine which has happened, and help you take steps to remedy the situation. Lincoln Spector, writer for PC world, shares what to do when spam starts being sent from your email address.

What to do when your email address sends spam

What’s worse than getting spam? Unwittingly sending it. When bogus and probably malware-laden advertising goes out in your name, you look bad. And you get flooded with bounced messages from dead addresses that some crook attempted to spam in your name. The good news: You’re not sending out spam. Neither is your computer or your IP address. But the bad news can still be pretty bad. If spam is going out from your email address, the address has been either spoofed or hijacked. Either way, the spam isn’t going out from your computer, and probably not from the criminal’s computer, either. It’s probably going out from an unknowing victim’s malware-infected PC. Spoofing an email address is, in a sense, forging it. The criminal sends out mail with your From address, even though they have no access to your account. Read the entire article What to do When Your Email Address Sends Spam on PC World.