# Can I get viruses through Yahoo mail attachments?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-get-viruses-through-yahoo-mail-attachments/197498>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 25, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-get-viruses-through-yahoo-mail-attachments/197498 "2003-08-25T13:04:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-get-viruses-through-yahoo-mail-attachments/197498/1 "2003-08-25T13:04:02Z")

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Recently I received an email in my Yahoo! Mail account that was returned “undeliverable” mail. It was addressed to an email address I had never seen before. I found out that I have a worm/virus called W32.Sobig.F@mm.

What I don’t understand is how I could’ve gotten the virus if in ONLY use my Yahoo mail, which has a virus checker for attachments? And I know that the virus is going around because every day, I get about 10 emails with the exact same virus attachment, and I cannot download any of them because the virus checker prevents me from it.

Anyone have any guesses on why it happened?

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**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-get-viruses-through-yahoo-mail-attachments/197498/2 "2003-08-25T13:22:35Z")

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AFIAK, you didn’t get the virus. What you got was an email saying that an email you had ostensibly sent was infected. But the Sobig virus spoofes the “from” field; it basically fooled another mail server into thinking an email was from you. That’s why the “undeliverable” went to you.

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**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-get-viruses-through-yahoo-mail-attachments/197498/3 "2003-08-25T14:33:10Z")

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Makes sense. Thanks! 🙂