Spam thats sent to me but not my email

[SS Dave]

Hi all

As i sit here going though all the emails sent to my company i see some of the spam mail has a receivers address thas not mine or any one's in the company.

example

my email dave@someware.one.ok

i receive mail sent to fred@gohome.now, nwbgflcphfqkpk@hotmail.com and many more.

I sent all to junk as most a trying to sell tab's i don't need or want.

I am just trying to work out how i get mail sent to me that appears to have someone else s address.


Dave

[autotuner]

Probably as simple as your account being in the BCC list, this won't show up (hence blind). I don't think the headers will show it either.

[SS Dave]

i am still not sure as how i get email that not my email address as a eg i just got a email sent to "Gerald Diaz <eibwatdruwhwan@hotmail.com>"
So i sent a email to this address and got

The following message to <eibwatdruwhwan@hotmail.com> was undeliverable.
The reason for the problem:
5.1.0 - Unknown address error 550-'Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable'



Reporting-MTA: dns; outbound.icp-qv1-irony-out5.iinet.net.au

Final-Recipient: rfc822;eibwatdruwhwan@hotmail.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.0.0 (permanent failure)
Remote-MTA: dns; [65.55.92.168]
Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 5.1.0 - Unknown address error 550-'Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable' (delivery attempts: 0)

how is this so?


Dave

[autotuner]

Well, sometimes you can send email as anything you like, the SMTP "from" field is not checked in a lot of cases (even the ISP mail server does strict checking, it is often only to the level of domain), so anybody can send email as whoever they want.
Whether that email address actually exists or not is not a concern.

So I could send emails from Kevin.Rudd@yingyang.com, with a fake or real "to" address...copy in tons of people, and away you go.
Most of this stuff is robot scripts..

[Tradesman]

yes , and if one person replies to that spam , then they know they have one genuine address right and spam gets delivered forever after.

[SS Dave]

OK I under stand that but now i am still confused as the the mail is sent to all sorts of address but not my address IE vntqaeqqebvimk@hotmail.com this is not me but it was sent to me at rb26dett_hr_xxx@yahoo.com.au. It's like i am getting mail for someone else.

vntqaeqqebvimk@hotmail.com is not my email so why do i get mail for this address

rb26dett_hr_xxx@yahoo.com.au is my email address.

any idea's

Dave

[autotuner]

As I tried to explain but not very well.

If I am a spammer, I send an email TO: Bill@Bloggs.com
I BCC: Fred@hotmail.com (and lots of others)

Fred get the email, but doesn't see anyone it was for EXCEPT Bill@Bloggs.com.

So his email program, even though he is logged into Fred@hotmail.com, will see the mail as sent to Bill@Bloggs.com, which of course is not him. To him it looks like he has got mail for someone else completely.

What he cannot see, is the BCC list which may have hundreds of other email addresses, including his own in it.

[SS Dave]

As I tried to explain but not very well.

If I am a spammer, I send an email TO: Bill@Bloggs.com
I BCC: Fred@hotmail.com (and lots of others)

Fred get the email, but doesn't see anyone it was for EXCEPT Bill@Bloggs.com.

So his email program, even though he is logged into Fred@hotmail.com, will see the mail as sent to Bill@Bloggs.com, which of course is not him. To him it looks like he has got mail for someone else completely.

What he cannot see, is the BCC list which may have hundreds of other email addresses, including his own in it.

OK think i under stand but call me slow or some thing but could you explain

What he cannot see, is the BCC list which may have hundreds of other email addresses, including his own in it.

What is a BCC list and why can't i see all of it.

Thank you for your assistance

Dave

[autotuner]

BCC is Blind Carbon Copy.
It is used so recipients cannot see the entire list of recipients.
Typically mailing lists, where the Business does not want the people getting the mail to know who else is getting it. (security and privacy reasons).

Most mail systems require at least one "To:" address, thats why you see this address and not your own or any others if they are in this BCC list.

[SS Dave]

Now I understand.

I think.

It kinda makes sense.

Thank you

Dave

[vlada]

Hi all

As i sit here going though all the emails sent to my company i see some of the spam mail has a receivers address thas not mine or any one's in the company.

example

my email dave@someware.one.ok

i receive mail sent to fred@gohome.now, nwbgflcphfqkpk@hotmail.com and many more.

I sent all to junk as most a trying to sell tab's i don't need or want.

I am just trying to work out how i get mail sent to me that appears to have someone else s address.


Dave

Unfortunately I haven't the answer to your question because I am not so experienced in the Internet. I am only user. But I think that I had made a mistake some time ago. I have taken part in the survey and after that I am receiving a lot of spam.

[Joey]

Hi all

As i sit here going though all the emails sent to my company i see some of the spam mail has a receivers address thas not mine or any one's in the company.

example

my email dave@someware.one.ok

i receive mail sent to fred@gohome.now, nwbgflcphfqkpk@hotmail.com and many more.

I sent all to junk as most a trying to sell tab's i don't need or want.

I am just trying to work out how i get mail sent to me that appears to have someone else s address.


Dave

Dave , Autotuner did a good job of explaining although it is deeper than this.

What you are receiving is munged script that looks like an email from a real email address to a list of people , The script is what's called a phishing script that is executed by the reply command , ( replying to the email )
When you reply the script will attempt to extract your address book and BCC it to an embedded capture address in the script , it could be an email address , an ftp site or url that converts this data into a "live list" .
Your address and all your stored addresses and then compiled into a list that is sold to real spammers that now have real working addresses.

The email you received was probably sent too several millions of randomly generated email addresses , it doesn't matter if 99% of them are not real it's what happens to the 1% that is important , if only 2 people hit reply they have literally 100's of real working addresses that you have confirmed for them.
Real working addresses are worth money to spammers !

They also operate web harvesting software that will have already picked up all the email addresses posted in this thread , they are also considered "live" and will be tested and verified before being sold on , testing only requires a non rejection from the receiving mail server to be verified.

The Moral of the story , NEVER EVER reply to spam , especially if they promise to remove you by clicking on a link , the only time you should unsubscribe from anything is when you are certain your subscribed in the first place.