Bogus emails

I am having an issue where my email account is being used to channel bogus emails to all of my contacts. When one of my contacts replied to the email that he received I was made aware that the emails are not being sent by me yet the account information identifies my email address as the sender. I have contacted all of my contacts and advised them not to open any emails sent from my email address. Every time the hacker sends a new email I receive Postmaster notices of any failures to deliver the message. This is how I know that it is an ongoing issue. I tried to contact Verizon and was forwarded to a solicitation for net protection. I pay for a service that I feel should be secure. Please let me know if any one else is having this problem. A solution would also be helpful.

I had something like this happen to me today. I use Windows Mail for my email and very rarely go to the Verizon website to check my email. I received 4 notifications about undelivered email, that I know I did not send.
However, when I logged into my email on the Verizon site, it showed that I had apparently send emails to those that are in the Contacts folder on the website, not contacts that I have in Windows Mail. I haven't updated the website contact folder, and there were a few addresses that no longer existed. That's why I got the failure of delivery notices.
The messages contained some quotes from a book called "Radio Boy Cronies", and each one included a link, which I did not open.
I did call Verizon and they suggested that I change my password to a much stronger one than I had. It apppears more that someone hacked into my email, rather than just copied my email address. The emails also show that they were sent through Verizon Mobile. The tech support I spoke to said they would initiate an investigation.
Because I was aware of the problem, I was able to send out emails warning the recipients not to open the mail or click on the link. After updating my contact list, I did leave the invalid addresses there, just in case it happens again. That way I will receive a notice of failure of delivery.

Similar Messages

No phone service, now bogus email from Verizon

We haven't had phone service for over a week and now received a bogus email that would like me to believe it is from Verizon saying there was a problem processing my payment. Does Verizon want to know about this email and how would I contact them regarding it? It is very hard to find information on website other than very general information. Thanks
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Try this link>> https://www22.verizon.com/Content/ContactUs/EmailUs/emailus.htm
If a forum member gives an answer you like, give them the Kudos they deserve. If a member gives you the answer to your question, mark the answer that solved your issue as the accepted solution.

I have a virus on my iPad that sends out bogus emails to everyone in my contact list. I don't know where it came from (email, apps not from iTunes, etc) but it sits somewhere on my iPad. Does anyone know of a scanning app that will find and eliminate it?

I have a virus on my iPad that sends out bogus emails (no subj and an URL that goes nowhere) to everyone in my contact list. I don't know how it got on my machine (email, non-iTunes apps, etc.) Does any one know of a scanning app that can find this virus and eliminate it? I have an iPad version 3 (WIFI) with 6.0.2 IOS. This scanner should be capable of running on my iPhone as well -- just in case it made it to to my other IOS machine. Thanks for your help! Steve

The chances that it's a virus on your iPad or iPhone is very slim. Who is your mail provider? it's far more likely that your address has been spoofed and it's your mail service that has been compromised not your iDevice. I know my Yahoo mail was hacked and people in my address book received spam mails that I didn't send.
have you changed the address on your e-mail account?

Opened a bogus email *.zip file from amazon that put two files in my downloads folder OSX 10.8

Hi
Can anyone advise my next steps to take, I accidentally opened a bogus email *.zip file attachment from 'Amazon" It unzipped an put two files in my downloads folder one appeared to be a *.exe file. They were deleted immediately along with the email.
Now I am terrified that there is something lurking on my system...trojan/ keylogger/ virus..
I am no expert so can anyone give me help!
My mac is 8 months old running OSX 10.8 with latest updates.
Thanks Mick

Thank you both, you have put my mind at rest.
Normally I am red hot at intercepting bogus emails, not today it would appear!
I actually was in the process of deleting it and double clicked the file by complete accident, and in a flash it had opened up and put the files in the folder, I spent the rest of the afternoon panicing and reading all forums blogs etc..
Actually Thomas I found your blog and took some good tips from it, one of them was to switch java off immediately.
Thanks again
Mick

In Mac Mail on OS 10.5.8 I am receiving bogus emails which claim to be sent by people in my address book, but actually are not. How does this happen and how can I correct this problem

n Mac Mail on OS 10.5.8 I am receiving bogus emails which claim to be sent by people in my address book, but actually are not. How does this happen and how can I correct this problem

You said:
I am receiving bogus emails which claim to be sent by people in my address book, but actually are not.
...and:
Are you saying that my address book has not been hacked into? That others are getting these email addresses from another source?
This confuses me. Are you saying that you are receiving bogus e-mails from some of your contacts, or are you saying that they are receiving bogus e-mails from you?
If the latter, there are a number of reasons that people might be getting e-mail from you. Malware, though technically possible, is extremely unlikely. See Someone is sending messages from my e-mail address!
If the former, that's rather unusual. The only decent explanation I can think of is that a bunch of your Windows-using contacts got infected with something and their machines are being used to spam everyone in their contact lists, which would include you.

Nephew used bogus email account(used valid credit card)

I am trying to help my Nephew to regain his previous purchases in iTunes.
When he received his iPod Touch last year, a friend helped him setup his account using a bogus email address. However, he did use a valid credit card and was able to purchase music, movies, tv shows and apps. Everything was working, he was able to sync his Touch without any issues. When he bought an iPhone and tried to sync/transfer his library, he kept receiving "incorrect password, please retry".
The issue is he needs a new iTunes account. But, he doesn't want to lose his purchases
All of the pruchases are still on his iPod Touch and Macbook Air.
Does anyone have any advice or a suggestion?
Thanks in advance!

edit: I should add that the bogus email account was used as his iTunes id.

I received what appears to be a bogus email, does apple have a report fake emails link?

Does Apple want bogus emails forwarded to them so they can go after the senders?

Read http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4933?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
Allan

Just installed iOS5 - getting bogus emails that have no sender

Bogus emails with no sender & no content pop up randomly. Can't open or delete them but they usually disappear after getting in & out of email a couple times.
I never had this issue until updating to iOS5 last week.

Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars>Select the account in question>turn the mail slider from "on" to "off" then back "on". See if that fixes things.

How to prevent email id from being used to send out bogus emails?

My yahoo email id was "hijacked" last week and bogus emails were sent out under my id to my contact list. I have a macbook with snow leopard and norton antivirus. What can I do to prevent this from happening again.

Welcome to Apple Support Communities.
If you haven't already done so, change your Yahoo password to something extremely secure.
Then go to Yahoo's recommendations for compromised accounts, found here:
http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?page=content&y=PROD_MAIL_CLASSIC&locale=en_US&id= SLN3420&pir=.ERun_NibUlqprOy6AQ5KLRAOrUdr0acOZBh12BjZ6uUgTx7O5KFy_g3RVY.usintguY mSbHjESfUDXQC_FwPo2Cxt_KEGnx3QnKIu6C7_5._vmX207fxMRD53yXCsEdulnEIA1af.bHN_fWp2R_ tQ_5VnaDSXZv1mCvr1ctsfKaP._9hTnsSqrM4SMQ6b_tNq7QQHsysg1qM14mLsADfJLF2DZmVIYIPDpo hK15cCGe_JhidaJ1Vxt5O07TuhoshHRCrQ3eaa0gkp6dnbqceRgKRWuaLKDL7L6ovGban7n4UzFvdWWp x4TDgNxgLv3ehjmTj0.Hnh1lHKWL6cG6iJ0E1xjY_jfBAX3d2cwKpgTDV_AI8T25LElgA_upWicMBpj_ OjZ9sk9asfCbAOTXnQ--
It's likely the hacker sent spam to your Yahoo-account email addresses, without accessing your Mac Address Book. (Most of the time it's hard to tell, because you probably have many of the same addresses in both lists.)
Next, change your password on EVERY account.
Make certain that every site you visit as a registered user has a unique account name and password.
Yeah, that can be a lot to manage.
Let your Mac 'Keychain' help manage all that information by remembering which user ID and which secure password goes where. There are password manager programs for sale such as 1Password. I don't currently use it, so I can't recommend it.
In my experience, there is ongoing and widespread 'hacking' at Yahoo, Hotmail, and other popular free email accounts. Why? Because most free email accounts permit unlimited unsuccessful login attempts and never 'lock' accounts for suspicious activity the way banks and brokerage firms do.
So far, the hackers are primarily using the accounts send out 'spam' to your trusted email list.
Hacking most often occurs when someone discovers or guesses the password to the email account, and it's about 99% certain that it had nothing to do with your MacBook, or any malware or virus on your physical computer. No, it doesn't hurt to run a virus and/or malware scan, but it is 99% unlikely you'll find anything harmful to OS X. You may discover a few of your incoming email attachments DO contain Windows viruses and malware!
Virtually everyone I correspond with via a free Yahoo account has been 'hacked' in the last six months. Three Yahoo friends sent me the same 'no subject' email with a surreptitious link to a FoxNews video about weight-loss in the same day!
When thousands or millions of passwords and/or account names are revealed and posted online (as documented here:http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-eharmony-hacked-linkedin-201 20606,0,4578300.story ) enterprising hackers worldwide will begin systematically testing them everywhere.
If your email address is widely-used and widely-published and your password is not very secure, every account you have is eventually vulnerable.
DO USE a combination of upper and lower-case letters mixed with numbers and permitted punctuation that does not contain common sequences, names, or dictionary words.
If you don't want to buy software, use the first letters and numbers of phrases that are easy for you to remember, but meaningful only to you. The longer the phrase, the better:
MyLimeGreen72DodgeDartHadA340Six-PackEngineAndATorque-FliteTranny!
MLG72DDha340S-PEaaT-FT!
Of course I don't actually use that, but yeah, there are still a few of those cars around: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUk0jdmAKzM

What is the likely source of a recent flurry of bogus emails supposedly from trusted correspondents, with no subject, no message and only a link (which I never click)?

I don't know that this is the community I should be addressing, but I can't find any dedicated to Apple's Mail appllication that came with my iMac or OS.
I've always been fortunate (as I'm told all Apple product users are) to have little trouble with phony messages or invasive viruses, etc. Lately, however, I have been getting numerous (a couple a day or so) bogus emails suppossedly from my brother or niece or a friend. They frequently have no subject line and often give return email addresses that make no sense and bear no resemblance to the actual addresses of the supposed senders. What is goin on? Is my computer infected? How do I find out? How do I go about correcting the problem?

Your computer is not infected, and it's not anything you have done nor anything you can do about it. Someone else's computer or email account has been hacked and harvested to send out spam messages. My guess is someone's computer with a link to Facebook has been hacked, since the messages like this I've received have all been people on Facebook.
All you can do is delete the messages, and if you have a spam filter looks at the email addresses in your address book, whitelist the actual addresses you wish to allow through and then start marking these bogus messages as spam.
Regards.

550 5.7.1 Unable to relay for [probably bogus Email address]

Hello,
My Exchange Server has been reporting numerous instances of the following message (or very similar messages) most days for a couple of weeks or so now:
This is an SMTP protocol log for virtual server ID 1, connection #3. The client at "118.161.64.59" sent a "rcpt" command, and the SMTP server responded with "550 5.7.1 Unable to relay for [email protected] ". The
full command sent was "rcpt TO: <[email protected]>". This will probably cause the connection to fail. For more information, click http://www.microsoft.com/contentredirect .asp
The Email address is unknown, and probably bogus.
What really concerns me is that the messages from yesterday (Sunday!) contained a now defunct Email account from someone who used to work in our London head office, but left about a couple of years ago. To me, this implies that there has been unauthorised
access to the company IT infrastructure - possibly at both sites - and that someone is trying to get our Exchange Server to relay unsolicited / mailicious Emails. The above message suggests that the attempted relaying has not been successful to date, and I
can't find anything out of the ordinary in the SMTP queues or the Exchange logs - but the persistence does concern me.
So, am I reading this correctly? If so, what can I do about it? Or if not, what does it really mean?
Thankyou very much for your help.
Kind regards,
Keith

If your Exchange server is accessible from the Internet, as it would be to allow you to receive SMTP mail unless you have a relay server like an Exchange Edge server, then Spammers will attempt to use it to relay. Your server is correctly rejecting
that, so I don't see a problem. If you're worried about this, then you could contract with a third-party cloud-based message hygiene service like Exchange Online Protection, and the restrict the IP address that can talk to your Exchange server to those
of the hygiene service.
Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."

Bogus email fromServiceApple Support@supporteapple.eu

This email came to me this morning stating "my account apple need update"….also said "automatic message from our system gets to inform you that it’s necessary to have the records of your account updated within two days". I just wanted to make sure that this is bogus and can it be reported to apple?
thanks...

Fran,
It is a bogus message.
Read Identifying fraudulent "phishing" email - Apple Support. It will help you identify and report fraudulent email.

Remove Bogus Email Addresses from Address-Completion Cache?

Clearly Apple's Email program retains a small cache of Email addresses for address-completion purposes as you type in addresses on the To or Cc lines.
Is there a way to remove bogus addresses from that cache?
A few folks have long since moved to different addresses, and it keeps popping up their ancient addresses...

From your Mail menu choose Window > Previous Recipients, delete whatever you like.
-mj

My e-mail address was "hacked into" and a bogus email sent in my name---now I can't access my email because it won't accept my password.

The email was sent at approx. 6:45 a.m. Tuesday to everyone in my address book. It stated that I was in Wales and had been mugged---all my cash, credit cards, and cell phone taken. My flight was supposed to leave in 6 hours, but the hotel wouldn't let me leave until I paid my bill. The email didn't give any contact information---so I'm assuming it was a "Trojan horse" to give a virus to everyone on my address list.
Now, I can't open my email because it won't accept my usual password. Attempts to change my password have been unsuccessful. It says that I have not been properly identified to change my password.

You will need to contact the customer services for the email service that was hacked and try to convince them that your account has been hacked.
There are a number of ways that they get access to the password. One of the most common is by phishing, you are presented with a bogus site that looks like the login page for the email service/site and you enter your login details. This is frequently done by sending an email to you saying that you need to log into the site or need to confirm your details.
To makes sure that your computer is not infected with malware, try running several malware scanners. It is best to run several as each will pick up things that the others miss. Some scanners you can try are:
* [http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php Malwarebytes]
* [http://www.superantispyware.com/ SUPERAntiSpyware]
* [http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php Ad-Aware]
* [http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx Windows Defender]
* [http://www.safer-networking.org/en/home/index.html Spybot S&D]

Recieved a bogus email regarding payment via credit card

On May 14th I received two email notifications that appeared to be from Verizon about my bill. It stated that there was a problem with my credit card and my service would be suspended by the 16th if nothing was done. When I attempted to click on the link in the email my anti-virus software notice an issue, so I did not go any further and just ignored both emails. When I look at the sender the address was not something that appeared to be from Verizon but a person and the source showed it was a "Hotmail" account. The main reason I wasn't concerned is I don't pay by credit card. Be careful some one is trying to get spam into your system with these emails. The data within the email has since disappeared and the email is now just a small black box with an x in it.
The subjects were:
Problem with your payment
from: [email protected]
Customer Service
from:[email protected]

The following is a good article regarding phishing email. If you have any doubt about it, don't do it.
10 tips for spotting a phishing email - TechRepublic

Bogus emails

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for