# Whoah - somebody's using my yahoo mail address for spam - how?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoah-somebodys-using-my-yahoo-mail-address-for-spam-how/198731>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 31, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoah-somebodys-using-my-yahoo-mail-address-for-spam-how/198731 "2003-08-31T01:57:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoah-somebodys-using-my-yahoo-mail-address-for-spam-how/198731/1 "2003-08-31T01:57:59Z")

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This is really weird. On my yahoo account I got a bounceback mail that I never sent that was clearly spam. The weird thing was it was sent to a defunct aol account of mine. The subject was “tickets.”

I don’t get how this happened. I have a contact list on yahoo, but that address was not on the list.

Any ideas?

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoah-somebodys-using-my-yahoo-mail-address-for-spam-how/198731/2 "2003-08-31T02:01:15Z")

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They’re not actually using your email address. They are spoofing it in an attempt to hide the origin, and many of these bounceback emails contain virus attachments. I’m getting between 10 and 20 a day myself.

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**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoah-somebodys-using-my-yahoo-mail-address-for-spam-how/198731/3 "2003-08-31T02:06:10Z")

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But I don’t get where they got _both_ addresses from - the aol address is old. It’s really unnerving.

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**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoah-somebodys-using-my-yahoo-mail-address-for-spam-how/198731/4 "2003-08-31T02:08:49Z")

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Also anyway to prevent it?

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoah-somebodys-using-my-yahoo-mail-address-for-spam-how/198731/5 "2003-08-31T02:54:45Z")

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Viruses that spread thru email look up addresses in people’s address books. If your aol account was in somebody’s address book and they got the virus, blammo.

Don’t ever trust the “From” line in suspicious email. You have to look at the whole header to find the origin. Spammers, e.g., might hide the origin in a longish list of servers. The ones after the real one were faked. It’s a bit technical.

Just make sure _you_ never open attachments without scanning them first. Try to turn off as many default/html/preview stuff as possible. (I only read email in plain text myself.) Using something other than the Most Commonly Attacked Email Program On The Planet is also a really good idea.