# Spam E-mail from myself? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-e-mail-from-myself/502244 "2009-07-07T20:15:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-e-mail-from-myself/502244/1 "2009-07-07T20:15:44Z")
Bad thread title I know, sorry. More importantly though, how bad is it that a very high percentage of my spam e-mail, as asked in **[this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=523669)**, is sent by me? I never open the spam mails, but the supposed sender of a lot of them is “me”. Is this bad? How do I fix or stop it? ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-e-mail-from-myself/502244/2 "2009-07-07T20:25:09Z")
It’s common. They are going on the theory that your own address won’t be in your spam filter. So they fake the sender with your own name. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-e-mail-from-myself/502244/3 "2009-07-07T20:32:44Z")
The “from” field of an e-mail is handled in exactly the same way as the return address on a snail-mail envelope, and with the same security: That is to say, none at all. It would be just as easy for me to send you an e-mail with your address in the “from” line as it would be for me to send you an envelope with your address in the return address corner. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-e-mail-from-myself/502244/4 "2009-07-07T20:36:07Z")
I never ever would have thought it was so simple. I love this place. Thanks! Group hug? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diver)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-e-mail-from-myself/502244/5 "2009-07-07T22:40:30Z")
I use a program called “MailWasher” to help control spam and coincidentally the newsletter I got from them today explained how to construct a filter to remove it. The MailWasher filter looks like this: “If the From field contains “[MyName@MyISP.com](mailto:MyName@MyISP.com)” and the return path does not [contain"MyName@MyISP.com](mailto:contain%22MyName@MyISP.com)” then mark the message as mail to be deleted." ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-e-mail-from-myself/502244/6 "2009-07-07T23:01:21Z")
:smack: I’ve been using MailWasher for years and it never occurred to me to filter based on the return path. Thanks **Diver**! And I guess I should pay more attention to those newsletters they send out. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-e-mail-from-myself/502244/7 "2009-07-07T23:10:14Z")
OTOH, what is wrong with blacklisting yourself in your spam canner? I did that, for precisely this reason. How often do I legitimately send myself mail? The only time it bites me is if I want to test my email connection, and I’ll just use one of several other aliases to perform the test, or wind up having to look in the spam can for it.