HELP, still getting spammed

Ladywriter1968

Hi,

I keep getting spammed from my own email address.

I changed my passwords and secret questions on aol, I checked and I am still getting them, I dont know how to stop this now, its like 15 a day in my normal mail to, since its from my email I cant block myself.

How are they still getting into my email?
What can I do to stop it?

I_have_spoken

Are you sure it's email directly to you?

When my email address is picked-up by spammers, I often get 'bounce back' messages from recipients saying the email was blocked/undeliverable.

It's quirk/flaw in email that you can set the 'From' email to be anything you like, so it's possible the email isn't even originating from your AOL account.

psychic_teabag

Does your mail program let you view all the headers ? That would give information about the route the message took to reach your inbox.

grumpycrab

Once your email address gets on spam lists...you cannot stop them. If it really bothers you
1. get a gmail email
2. forward all aol mail to gmail (or if you cannot forward all mail from aol, get gmail to pick up the aol email)
3. gmail has an excellent spam detector (even for the 15 you referred to)
4. you can set the gmail "send" email to be your aol one but I suggest you change to the gmail one and so in slow time tell everybody your changed email address

jshm2

Have you done a system scan to ensure you're not being botnetted? It might be your system is infected .

jenniewb

I have had emails from myself, no idea how this happens but they all go straight to my junk folder. I am using Gmail and the emails are random things like saving money for electricity, dating websites and various offers. I don't know how long it's been going on but to say that it's happening to me too and I already use Gmail!


I'm wondering if it's some sort of spam/hacking issue and I can't help thinking it must be someone reputable as I have a competitions email account set up for freebies and offers, I only give my gmail account to people I know or companies I trust (i.e ones I actually use for services or information) so I'm wondering if a reputable firm has been hacked or sold off their email list.

mgfvvc

jenniewb wrote: »

I have had emails from myself, no idea how this happens but they all go straight to my junk folder. I am using Gmail and the emails are random things like saving money for electricity, dating websites and various offers. I don't know how long it's been going on but to say that it's happening to me too and I already use Gmail!

Obviously the email isn't from you, but there is nothing to stop anyone putting your name and address as the return address on anything they send through the Post Office and the same is true for email. The low lifes that send spam do this because they think this makes it harder to stop the spam getting through. If it's all going to your spam folder then the filtering is doing it's job.

Unfortunately there is no 100% perfect way of deciding which emails are spam and some has to be let through to the spam folder to minimise the number of genuine emails that are blocked.

jenniewb wrote: »

I'm wondering if it's some sort of spam/hacking issue and I can't help thinking it must be someone reputable as I have a competitions email account set up for freebies and offers, I only give my gmail account to people I know or companies I trust (i.e ones I actually use for services or information) so I'm wondering if a reputable firm has been hacked or sold off their email list.

It's certainly a spam issue. It's possible that your email address has been leaked or sold. It's also possible that your email has been guessed. Spammers may guess a range of addresses, e.g. [EMAIL="fred1@example.com"]fred1@example.com[/EMAIL], [EMAIL="fred2@example.com"]fred2@example.com[/EMAIL], [EMAIL="fred3@example.com"]fred3@example.com[/EMAIL], etc. or [EMAIL="fred.jones@example.com"]fred.jones@example.com[/EMAIL], [EMAIL="fred.wilson@example.com"]fred.wilson@example.com[/EMAIL], [EMAIL="fred.smith@example.com"]fred.smith@example.com[/EMAIL], [EMAIL="fred.flintstone@example.com"]fred.flintstone@example.com[/EMAIL], etc.

I'm afraid spam is a fact of life. While 15 a day is annoying, gmail are probably completely blocking 10 times that. The trick is to not let it worry you. It's easy enough to delete it all, once a week or however often suits you.

Ladywriter1968

Thanks for all your replies, I think I managed t stop it, I scanned my pc and changed passwords and question names and not had any more today or last night, I hope that its worked, time will tell. I checked where they were coming from and found IP address trace to be in North America, I reported it to AOL. As AOL warned people that their company had been hacked and some would received these emails and to report them, most were from same location of north america. But since I live in London there was not much I could really do accept report it giving the details to them. I guess this type of thing will never end as so many criminals out there.

Ladywriter1968

grumpycrab wrote: »

Once your email address gets on spam lists...you cannot stop them. If it really bothers you
1. get a gmail email
2. forward all aol mail to gmail (or if you cannot forward all mail from aol, get gmail to pick up the aol email)
3. gmail has an excellent spam detector (even for the 15 you referred to)
4. you can set the gmail "send" email to be your aol one but I suggest you change to the gmail one and so in slow time tell everybody your changed email address

is a gmail account the same as a google account?

cookie365

Ladywriter1968 wrote: »

is a gmail account the same as a google account?

Yes. When you sign up for a google account you get a gmail address.

forgotmyname

You can add your own email address to the blocked list, not a problem unless you send yourself emails.

Helping someone with a similar issue also, they are on AOL and get lots of spam mails a day, some even with their first name on them.

I think AOL had a security breach a few years back. You can have 7 names and emails on each account, create a new one and keep personal stuff to that and dont share it except with trusted sources.