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Hoping one of you genii out there might be able to help?
My wife has an email address that was created when we were with `Virgin Media'. We are long gone from them, have no account, so can't get any direct support.
Lately we have been receiving daily `bounced' or `fake bounced' (not sure how you tell the difference?) emails, sometimes in the hundreds. It seems someone has hacked her email address and using it as a spam tool, trying to send messages to obscure addresses.
Fortunately, Gmail spam filters them out and I'm currently just deleting them, but wondered if there was any other way of stopping them.
Have considered `closing' the email account (i.e. start using a new email address) but this is my wife's main email address and would cause a bit of a headache to have change all the contacts.
Any suggestions? 
delete old email account id have thought dont open new emails just keep delete
Apparently a lot of these cases are not hacked accounts. They could have hacked someone else's account and got your wife's email address from that - apparently it is then an easy matter to send an email from their own account and put your wife's email address on the front of the email making it look like it came from her. So I could send an email to you and make it look like it came from 'elephants.anonymous@yahoo.com' without ever having hacked any one's account.
In my email inbox I can right-click on the email and click 'View full header' which shows the true sender: you can then block this email address.
thats true a problem in email can affect your contacts in your address book too
i take it you run and update your anti virus regualar surpriseing how many dont
she could try a different password on her email addy make it stronger see wat happens
you could also try search see if still got any folders from virgin media on your computer and delete if not needed
Quote: So it auto updates does it ?
yes..at least once a day
tried the right click for the sender but the messages are generated by the virgin media server (so blocking would have the wrong effect)
Quote: she could try a different password on her email addy make it stronger see wat happens
not sure that she can now gain access to the email management, but worth a look
Quote: you could also try search see if still got any folders from virgin media on your computer and delete if not needed
doubtful but there may be some hidden files...this is a `newish' computer so would not have any historical data
aprreciate the efforts
Quote: Lately we have been receiving daily `bounced' or `fake bounced' (not sure how you tell the difference?) emails, sometimes in the hundreds. It seems someone has hacked her email address and using it as a spam tool, trying to send messages to obscure addresses
Same happened to me a while ago its not nice, change all your passwords.
If you check your sent email folder you will see those emails were not sent from your PC
Nobody has to hack anything to send emails in your name. There's no evidence that anyone has hacked your email address.
It's like someone going to a post box and posting junk mail with your name and house address as sender. They don't even have any contact with you, but you get the complaints and undelivered mail.
They don't have to break into your house to do it.
Quote: Nobody has to hack anything to send emails in your name
They will still need your password to access and use your email account, so yes they do hack.
A while ago there was a problem effecting some members of this Site, I only discovered this after I got an email from Pete including a link to a hackers blog, he was basically supplying information, training and hacking software for free download, it was quite scary, he had a page showing hundreds of email addresses he had hacked including all the passwords, I eventually got his blog removed.
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