# Tech query: bouncing emails I did not send **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 14, 2022, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tech-query-bouncing-emails-i-did-not-send/959488 "2022-02-14T23:14:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2022, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tech-query-bouncing-emails-i-did-not-send/959488/1 "2022-02-14T23:14:00Z")
I’ve been getting repeated bounce messages in the last few days for emails I did not send. They come from Google, because they were attempts to send to (my username)@google.com, which I’d never do. I have 2FA on for the web interface for my email, and I haven’t seen any signs of sending attempts on my end. My research indicates this is probably spoofing at work, and not some kind of breach on my end, but does anyone have other opinions or things to try? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2022, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tech-query-bouncing-emails-i-did-not-send/959488/2 "2022-02-14T23:22:22Z")
Little known fact: the “From” address is (like almost everything else in email) entirely honor-system, insecure, and trivially spoofed. Possible scenario: a spammer sends a spam dump using your randomly selected email address as the “From” address. Since this is also a cheap and lazy spammer, a lot of the intended victim email addresses are invalid. The receiving email servers, running software written last millennium, assumes (a) the From address is sincere, and (b) you would like to know about the assortment of failures and rejections because you really want “your” emails to get through. Sometimes this tactic is used in conjunction with particularly vile and egregious email content to slander the spoofed sender, a thing called a “Joe job”. > **[Joe job](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_job)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > A Joe job is a spamming technique that sends out unsolicited e-mails using spoofed sender data. Early Joe jobs aimed at tarnishing the reputation of the apparent sender or inducing the recipients to take action against them (see also email spoofing), but they are now typically used by commercial spammers to conceal the true origin of their messages and to trick recipients into opening emails apparently coming from a trusted source. > The name "Joe ... To summarize: someone sent a lot of emails naming you as the source, which doesn’t require anything from you or your email provider. Only the ability to put in the email addess \@gmail.com into the message stream submitting the email to a sending email server. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tech-query-bouncing-emails-i-did-not-send/959488/3 "2022-02-15T00:32:31Z")
I’ve gotten two or three of those. ---
**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tech-query-bouncing-emails-i-did-not-send/959488/4 "2022-02-15T01:39:44Z")
I had 11 of them today - also with the [google.com](http://google.com) domain. Nice to know I’m not alone. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tech-query-bouncing-emails-i-did-not-send/959488/5 "2022-02-15T04:22:32Z")
Happened to my sister a few years ago, so many that her ISP blocked her email or somesuch. Took a few goes to get them to understand what was happening.