e-mail privacy

[ajoe]

I've been receiving many messages titled "Delivery Bot ([email protected])" with a 39KB attachment. The strange is, the sender has an e-mail address of someone who regularly sends me mail in a DIFFERENT account. For example, if I know a Bob Jones in one e-mail account, then I will receive the delivery bot message in another account from [email protected].

This is freaking me out. :eek2:

[emily655321]

I've heard of some kind of worm like that. My mom was getting those a few months back. Hers worked something like this:

1) Person is unknowingly infected with virus
2) virus worms in and -- before it deletes his whole system -- makes copies of all the people in his address book and email history
3) sends itself to all of them via his addy
4) recipient opens message, sees something like "you gotta check this out!" or "this is really important -- see attachment" and underneath is the attachment
5) person is dumb enough to open attachment, get's infected with virus
6) virus -- before deleting his entire system -- memorizes recipient's address book and email history, et cetera, ad infinitum...

DON'T OPEN THE ATTACHMENT, KIDS!!

There are other spammers that use the same code (eg. showing up as a different sender in your inbox) -- they show up as a well-known bank or insurance company, and ask you to confirm your account info or some other line. So the recipient replies, sending either their bank PIN number, or Social Security number, or name and addy, or other personal info. But the reply gets deferred to the real sender -- a spamming harvester of personal info. :( Naughty, naughty spammers.

[ajoe]

How do they get the e-mail addresses from the account that doesn't receive these messages though?

[Stanislaw]

They can get them from friends who have your email adress, if the friend has some kind of wormy-spyware, than your email adress might get picked up and junck will be sent to it.