HELP!! unknown spam using my email!

new

:eek: I am alarmed to find yesterday and today that emails about ''business opportunities in China''[ you know, one of those spurious emails] is being sent from my email address to addresses on my contact list!!!!!
Both on hotmail and blueyonder!
Luckily, the emails are being bounced back by the postmaster.
How can this happen, as I never respond to such spam and junk it strarght away?:mad:
How can my email accounts be abused like this?

Help!:eek:

M4RKM

let me try explain this

i can send an email from any SMTP (which is an outgoing) mail server, and as long as they give me permission to send, i can, regardless of whether the email address that I am saying i am, is actually true


now, the problem with hotmails etc, is that it is always easy to guess an address, because nearly everyone has one!

put the bounce backs in the junk, they haven't hacked your account, it is just one of them quirks of the spam world..

you say they are going to people on your contact list though? how can you be sure?

M

Browntoa

sometimes these are just trying to get you to open the attached files in the email , which then infect your PC with a virus

new

markymoo wrote: »

let me try explain this

i can send an email from any SMTP (which is an outgoing) mail server, and as long as they give me permission to send, i can, regardless of whether the email address that I am saying i am, is actually true


now, the problem with hotmails etc, is that it is always easy to guess an address, because nearly everyone has one!

put the bounce backs in the junk, they haven't hacked your account, it is just one of them quirks of the spam world..

you say they are going to people on your contact list though? how can you be sure?

M

'
'cos the delivery failure notification shows the names of the people to whom the spurious enail was sent from my email address- thats how I can see that the names are from my contact list.:eek:
Hence worried!
thanks for prompt reply!

new

Browntoa wrote: »

sometimes these are just trying to get you to open the attached files in the email , which then infect your PC with a virus

I never open attachments or respond to chain letters

Browntoa

just to check , do the following and post the log for me

Please download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and save it to your desktop.

• Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
• Double-click on mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
• When the installation begins, follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
• When installation has finished, make sure you leave both of these checked:
  • Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  • Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
• Then click Finish.
• MBAM will automatically start and you will be asked to update the program before performing a scan. If an update is found, the program will automatically update itself. Press the OK button to close that box and continue. If you encounter any problems while downloading the updates, manually download them from here and just double-click on mbam-rules.exe to install.
• On the Scanner tab:
  • Make sure the "Perform Quick Scan" option is selected.
  • Then click on the Scan button.
• If asked to select the drives to scan, leave all the drives selected and click on the Start Scan button.
• The scan will begin and "Scan in progress" will show at the top. It may take some time to complete so please be patient.
• When the scan is finished, a message box will say "The scan completed successfully. Click 'Show Results' to display all objects found".
• Click OK to close the message box and continue with the removal process.
• Back at the main Scanner screen, click on the Show Results button to see a list of any malware that was found.
• Make sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
• When removal is completed, a log report will open in Notepad.
• The log is automatically saved and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.
• Copy and paste the contents of that report in your next reply and exit MBAM.

Note: If MBAM encounters a file that is difficult to remove, you may be asked to reboot your computer so it can proceed with the disinfection process. Regardless if prompted to restart the computer or not, please do so immediately. Failure to reboot normally (not into safe mode) will prevent MBAM from removing all the malware. MBAM may make changes to your registry as part of its disinfection routine. If you're using other security programs that detect registry changes, they may alert you after scanning with MBAM. Please permit the program to allow the changes.

new

running it...will update you with the log- thanks for help!

It is a pity that MCAFEE, which I have didn't manage to catch this spam.
So far, one infected item - will keep you posted once scan is complete.
Thanks1

new

Browntoa wrote: »

just to check , do the following and post the log for me

Please download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and save it to your desktop.

• Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
• Double-click on mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
• When the installation begins, follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
• When installation has finished, make sure you leave both of these checked:
  • Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  • Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
• Then click Finish.
• MBAM will automatically start and you will be asked to update the program before performing a scan. If an update is found, the program will automatically update itself. Press the OK button to close that box and continue. If you encounter any problems while downloading the updates, manually download them from here and just double-click on mbam-rules.exe to install.
• On the Scanner tab:
  • Make sure the "Perform Quick Scan" option is selected.
  • Then click on the Scan button.
• If asked to select the drives to scan, leave all the drives selected and click on the Start Scan button.
• The scan will begin and "Scan in progress" will show at the top. It may take some time to complete so please be patient.
• When the scan is finished, a message box will say "The scan completed successfully. Click 'Show Results' to display all objects found".
• Click OK to close the message box and continue with the removal process.
• Back at the main Scanner screen, click on the Show Results button to see a list of any malware that was found.
• Make sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
• When removal is completed, a log report will open in Notepad.
• The log is automatically saved and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.
• Copy and paste the contents of that report in your next reply and exit MBAM.

Note: If MBAM encounters a file that is difficult to remove, you may be asked to reboot your computer so it can proceed with the disinfection process. Regardless if prompted to restart the computer or not, please do so immediately. Failure to reboot normally (not into safe mode) will prevent MBAM from removing all the malware. MBAM may make changes to your registry as part of its disinfection routine. If you're using other security programs that detect registry changes, they may alert you after scanning with MBAM. Please permit the program to allow the changes.

All done - 5 infected files found and removed, one registry key infected - do youwant me to post the whole log here, or pm you?

Browntoa

just to see what it was

new

Browntoa wrote: »

just to see what it was

:T good riddance!

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\model.dat (Spyware.MarketScore) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\LDPackage.dll (Spyware.MarketScore) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\opls.dll (Spyware.MarketScore) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
C:\RECYCLER\ADAPT_Installer.exe (Heuristics.Malware) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
C:\Documents and Settings...
(Heuristics.Malware)

Thanks once again!