Somebody used my emailaddress to spam

I am just spammed by my self. What to do?

[Tinus]

Hello,

I just received a spam email with my own emailaddress as sender. It is one of those regular spams about sending ten thousends of emails for free.:) Problem is that is from [e-mail], my major website. The mail pretends to be not commercial. It gives a link to a website where you can be cheated in peace.

<Quote>:
the primary purpose of this email is sent to gain attention to non-profit organizations looking for immediate exposure via opt-in email to assist in worldwide causes. this is not a commercial email and we make absolutely no commercial profit on this beneficial service.

<Quote ends>

So much goodness. I don't want to end up with my domain name on a black list of search engines and it is a misuse of my bussiness name. The spammer mentionnes their name as the Newport corporation in Seattle. Emailing them will not prefend to use my emailaddress again I am afraid. Other suggestions what to do? Or is it better to leave it and hope. Thanks.

[physics]

Hi and welcome to webmasterworld.com!
A lot of spam will make your own address the sender in hopes of getting through your spam filters. So I think most likely you're the only one who got the email with your address as the sender. In which case there's nothing really to worry about ... unless I'm wrong ;) And yeah I think emailing them is straight out; you're just confirming that your email address is a hot commidity.

[kaled]

It's happened to me a couple of times and will no doubt happen again. Unless you have reason to believe your server has been compromised, forget about it.

Kaled.

[luckychucky]

I get a lot of this too, because my site's got some relatively decent Internet presence, and attracts these creeps.

One thing I've wondered: if an anti spam ware program doesn't bother to notice the originating server URL, but rather only the spam's purported "From" address, then does my domain land on a whole bunch of identified-spammer blocklists/blacklists?

[Stefan]

It's standard spammer crap. They've spoofed the sender address. And no, it hasn't just been sent to your email address - they're using it for lots of other spam emails to other people. No worries though, it won't get your site put on a blacklist.

At times, depending on which scum has crawled my site for the email anchor, I'll consistently get spam emails and notification of failed email deliveries in pairs - they launch off their scum, using spoofed adresses, and the ones that bounce using my email addy give me the failure notice.

Anyway, don't panic. But if you ever get your hands on one of those creeps, hit him with the baseball bat a second time for me.

[Tinus]

Hi guys,

It makes sense they made the name of the receiver the sender as well so I will wait and see. Indeed replying on those creeps is not wise. I found the mail in the spam box though so it didn't succeed to pass the spam filter. Still it gives an unresty feeling about black lists. I share the fear of LuckyChucky in this regard.
It was a good day for spammers yesterday. I ve got even an invitation from Paypal (or at least they pretended to be) early morningwith a copy of the site of Paypal with an invitation to update my password immediately. I forwarded the mail with fake site to Paypal ofcourse. I hope my mail didn't end up in their spam box for futere attention, they didn't replytill now. Feels like watching a robbery from a train.

Anyhow spam will never disappear I am afraid, especially when your email address is on sites. If you don't read spam, then it doesn't take your time. Maybe that is the sollution.
Thanks for your reply's.
have a nice day.

[luckychucky]

I wouldn't be so sure about the lack of consequences. I get a number of bouncebacks of my legitimate outgoing eMail. Reason code says something to the effect that "sender's address rejected" and believe me, I have not been broadcasting spam of my own.

I think a lot of common off the shelf antispamware uses the "From" address as-is, regardless of whether it's actual or spoofed.

[kaled]

I think a lot of common off the shelf antispamware uses the "From" address as-is, regardless of whether it's actual or spoofed

Without checking IP addresses, I don't think there is any way to identify fake "from" addresses.

It's true that some anti-spam software may block your ligit mail as a result, but my advice still stands - forget about it. Unless you are a major player (like MS or Google) there is nothing you can do about this. A rule I have lived by for many years is Don't worry about things that are outside your control - it is totally pointless.

Kaled.