Some one is Spaming from my organization's e-mail!?

Question

I put together a web site for an organization I belong to. Of course there are a couple of e-mail boxes that came along with the site. In the past I've averaged one or two e-mails a week at this address. Suddenly I'm receiving 10 - 15 e-mails a day telling me that the e-mails I sent didn't make it. The problem is, I haven't sent any!!

I've gone to the screen that shows the active e-mail addresses and there aren't any new ones there. How can I stop this from happening?

Answer 1

You probably aren't spamming at all, but someone is doing so on your behalf (using a return address from your organization).
E-mail looks works similarly in some way to regular mail:
Me (Bob, an evil spammer) can send a mail message to Johny, specifying a return address of Alice.
In that case, suppose that "Johny" has an invalid e-mail address (Spammers usually acquire email addresses of recipients, or sometimes simply generate them. think how many Johny19@something (gmail, yahoo, hotmail, etc) there are!!
Now, since Johny has an invalid address, the mailing system (the post office bureau) will simply return the mail to the sender, which appear to be ... Alice ! (Although Alice sent nothing !).
That's most probably what is happening with you.

To make sure that your domain is not listed as part of a Black List subscription system, you can query your domain on dnsstuff.com - look for "Spam Database Lookup".
Enter the name of your domain, or the IP address of the mailserver that is authoritative for the domain (usually noted as the MX holder in the DNS Zone). The domain name should be sufficient.
I hope this solves your question!

Answer 2

This is probably someone spoofing the email address(es). They are not actually using those email addresses to send from but the headers have been manipulated in such a way that it appears that those addresses have been used. When the mail is bounced, it is returned with a message to whoever *appears* to have sent it.

It is very hard to trace this kind of spammer.

Answer 3

It is more likely that someone overseas is using your site as the return address on their spam. They don't have to be from your organization to put your address on it. Bummer.

That is why web sites have a question form for people to fill out rather than email addresses to communicate with.

Answer 4

It sounds like you may have a virus on your computer that is trying to spread itself via email on your behalf. First, try changing your email password. If this solves it, then some actual person was falsly using your email. If not, try moving to a different computer for a few days, and see if it still happens. If this solves the problem, then you have a virus on your machine. Run your antivirus software for a fix.

Answer 5

it incredibly is a great rip-off, only delete the digital mail and forget approximately approximately.... Alot of folk fall sufferer to those, because of the fact they are unaware that it incredibly is a rip-off... i take advantage of to recieve them fairly alot, and only delete them, the final one I have been given, I spoke back back and instructed them that my dad, became a very nicely commonplace and respected choose, my DF became a excessive ability legal expert and my brother became a cop, and that i havent had any for the reason that, and that became over a million 3 hundred and sixty 5 days in the past now.

Answer 6

could possibly be spammers using the email address in there spam (spoofing your address)
or it could be a mm/virus spread thru email
do a full scan with your anti-virus
i would also change passwords

Answer 7

Delete the email and get a new one !