Help..An Email in my Name i did not send???

[jane-doe]

I am so baffled about an email i didn't send but was accused of sending to somebody because it had my name and address on it when recieved.
It was a nasty email and i honestly did not send it . I tried to defend myself but they kept on saying well it's got your name and address on it.

I feel like somebody stabbed me in the back by sending such a cruel email but have no way of explaining how it arrived with my name and addy. I have sent mail before to this address so the person would have me in their address book as well as knowing my typing style etc.

Also one person in that home where the baffeling email arrived is a computer whiz so am thinking she must have sent it to her son from me but how ? This is a mean nasty email and that's the difference in me and the words i didn't type.

Does anyone have a clue how this could happen? I would appreciate all and any replies in advance. I am clueless with computer stuff like that.

Thanks for any replies.
JD

[monosodium]

I am so baffled about an email i didn't send but was accused of sending to somebody because it had my name and address on it when recieved.
It was a nasty email and i honestly did not send it . I tried to defend myself but they kept on saying well it's got your name and address on it.

I feel like somebody stabbed me in the back by sending such a cruel email but have no way of explaining how it arrived with my name and addy. I have sent mail before to this address so the person would have me in their address book as well as knowing my typing style etc.

Also one person in that home where the baffeling email arrived is a computer whiz so am thinking she must have sent it to her son from me but how ? This is a mean nasty email and that's the difference in me and the words i didn't type.

Does anyone have a clue how this could happen? I would appreciate all and any replies in advance. I am clueless with computer stuff like that.

Thanks for any replies.
JD

Yup - it's called a "Joe-Job". It's more frequently a technique used by spammers so that they don't have to worry about replies and rejected emails being returned.

Easy to do, you just set the name and email address in your email program to be someone elses, create the message and send it. When people receive the messages the sender will be given your name and address even though you had nothing to do with the message.

It's possible to prove it wasn't you but you'd need someone who really knows their way around in order to prove it.

[jane-doe]

I am so baffled about an email i didn't send but was accused of sending to somebody because it had my name and address on it when recieved.
It was a nasty email and i honestly did not send it . I tried to defend myself but they kept on saying well it's got your name and address on it.

I feel like somebody stabbed me in the back by sending such a cruel email but have no way of explaining how it arrived with my name and addy. I have sent mail before to this address so the person would have me in their address book as well as knowing my typing style etc.

Also one person in that home where the baffeling email arrived is a computer whiz so am thinking she must have sent it to her son from me but how ? This is a mean nasty email and that's the difference in me and the words i didn't type.

Does anyone have a clue how this could happen? I would appreciate all and any replies in advance. I am clueless with computer stuff like that.

Thanks for any replies.
JD

Yup - it's called a "Joe-Job". It's more frequently a technique used by spammers so that they don't have to worry about replies and rejected emails being returned.

Easy to do, you just set the name and email address in your email program to be someone elses, create the message and send it. When people receive the messages the sender will be given your name and address even though you had nothing to do with the message.

It's possible to prove it wasn't you but you'd need someone who really knows their way around in order to prove it.

Thanks so much. Are you saying that if i set up a new email address in say one of my friend's names and because i am using a different password as in new account when I mail it BAM it's that easy.

If so this has been driving me batty for the last few mos. I told the recipent i would piece this together if it was the last thing i did but the few people i asked didn't have a clue how it was done.

I hope i am understanding this as to what you mean. It just sounds so simple. To good to be true for a first try here asking this question.

I don't think i will be able to prove it b/c due to the anger/hurt over the mean words in the email apparently it was deleted when i asked them to plz forward it back to me so i could could look into it more clearly but for my piece of mind this apparent "Joe- Job " helps me alot to understand what posibly did happen. And i can try to explain it one day again when i get the chance. *I don't care how long it takes at least now i have an explanation.

Can thank you enough also for such a swift reply. You have been a great help. Appreciated more than you could know.
Take care..
JD

[Venom]

How are you sending your emails? What software do you use, Outlook?

[jane-doe]

How are you sending your emails? What software do you use, Outlook?

No i was using hotmail for yrs. I had two account's at the time as the other was an alias from yahoo.
The nasty email came from my hotmail account which was my first email account with my real name and an account i had for about 5 yrs.

[monosodium]

How are you sending your emails? What software do you use, Outlook?

Doesn't really matter what email package jane-doe uses, it's just something that's in the way SMTP* works. There are various add-ons which are aimed at proving that messages came from the correct sender, but none are set in stone or followed by everyone, so don't really exist.

Anyone can provide any email address they like and say it belongs to them from any email application they like... It doesn't even have to be valid to work.

There are reliable ways to prove you are the sender of a message, but then they trip up webmail applications (to the point where messages cannot be read at all) and have to be applied when the mesage is sent.

* SMTP = Simple Message Transfer Protocol
Does what it says on the tin really, it's simple, it is a protocol (a list of rules to follow) in order to transfer a message.

[Tina TV]

Uhm that's "Simple *Mail* Transfer Protocol" (See RFC 821 or STD 10, August 1982) but what's in a name, Monosodium is correct, anyone can fake the sending address on the mail so as to fool a naive user. You don't even need a special program, simply telnet to port 25 and type away for those that know how. Look at the date on that original specification, security and spam were not big problems in those days.

There are ways that you can quickly prove most messages like this to be faked and even narrow down the identity of the faker. You need someone with experience of the inner working, but most importantly of all you need the original message as received, with all headers, unfiltered by any "helpful" mail program. Without that you are dead in the water.

If this is a problem at work, talk to the system admins about it, but without the original unmodified email I doubt there is much they can do.


If I want to prove that I sent an email I sign it with my GPG key, this is still readable with every webmail system I've come across, although you will still need a real mail reader if you need to verify the signature.

[monosodium]

Uhm that's "Simple *Mail* Transfer Protocol"

Thanks Tina - I was being hard of thinking at the time.

Yes, you're absoultely right, although RFC 821 has been replaced as a standard a few times, last time I checked it was RFC 2821, although that is compatible with RFC 821.

Ahh - the fine art of telnetting into SMTP and POP3 servers. I've not done it in years. That takes me back to my helldesk days I tell ya.

* waits for non-geeks to go cross-eyed *

[minigirl]

Yup - it's called a "Joe-Job".

also known as "spoofing" where a spammer or, worse still, someone spreading a virus or some other nasty, “spoofs” or hides their return e-mail address replacing it with another unrelated address, making it look like the email came from someone else. a form of identity theft in a way. some miscreants also use the technique to sabotage commercial websites.

[Venom]

I was wondering if it was something as simple as someone either using a keylogger or gaining access to email accounts/passwords to use the account.

I know there are many ways to do this.

[wildmlt]

There's a program which lets you do this!

[billy69]

an interesting thing to do if you have some malicious infection that sends stuff allegedly from you from your address book is to put a fictitious email address at the start and end of your email address book - such as aaaaaaaaaaardvarksrus.cm & zzzzzzzzzzzzzebereberasrus.co.uk

if a malicious prog then starts to send stuff to your email address people - you will get an error message re the fictitious ones at the start or end - saying they can't be sent or similar - so now you know something other than you is messing with your setup internally - then you have to set the anti spy etc gear into action to find the rogue

[KiltyCol]

an interesting thing to do if you have some malicious infection that sends stuff allegedly from you from your address book is to put a fictitious email address at the start and end of your email address book - such as aaaaaaaaaaardvarksrus.cm & zzzzzzzzzzzzzebereberasrus.co.uk

if a malicious prog then starts to send stuff to your email address people - you will get an error message re the fictitious ones at the start or end - saying they can't be sent or similar - so now you know something other than you is messing with your setup internally - then you have to set the anti spy etc gear into action to find the rogue

Thanks, I'll try that.

[none of the above]

I get those at my work mail address, due to our MD and his obsession with visiting dodgy sites with a company laptop...

[switchy]

It could have been a spoofed email (just hiding the name and replacing it) but to be safe you are probs best to change your account password. Also if you can try and change your security questions incase someone might be able to guess them correctly and change the password or retrieve it.

Cheers