# Weird payment confirmation email from Augusta utilities.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-payment-confirmation-email-from-augusta-utilities/839526>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 31, 2019, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-payment-confirmation-email-from-augusta-utilities/839526 "2019-08-31T17:14:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-payment-confirmation-email-from-augusta-utilities/839526/21 "2019-09-02T18:42:07Z")

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> [@markn\_1](#):
>
> A spammer can spoof any email headers, but they can’t make the spoofed headers appear before the real Received headers that the servers add. Basically every email begins with one or more real Received headers, followed by zero or more spoofed Received headers. Since the headers are linked to each other, you can detect which one(s) are spoofed. The article that I linked to in #13 explains how to do this.

Exactly. I used to do this when I managed an IT department. There are tools that will interpret the headers for you. You have to view the email source then copy and paste the headers into the tool. You could also try to manually interpret them but why make life difficult.

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**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-payment-confirmation-email-from-augusta-utilities/839526/22 "2019-09-03T10:55:43Z")

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> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> _If_ the utility company is real, I think they would appreciate it if you contacted them with a correction.

Can a company experience a human emotion like appreciation, though?

We had an argument about this years ago when a company was harassing “me” wanting money due them. The thing is, the person they were after wasn’t “me”, but rather a name pretty close to mine.

For months I ignored their calls and threw out their mailings. When I recieved court documents I replied with proof I wasn’t who they were after. My gf thought I should have responded this way to their first attempt, but my POV is that I don’t work for them and it’s not my responsibility to correct their errors.

Hopefully the expense they experienced will make them more careful in the future.

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