Strange emails "from friends"

[peek 21]

On occasion I get emails from friends similar to
Subject: from Joe Blow
From: Joe Blow
Message is something like: Hi! How are you? Oprah said this is the best http://example.com/
And followed by their name, Joe Blow
The list of recipients usually include other people I know.

Does anyone know, is this email accounts getting hacked, and is it Gmail or their mail client like Outlook, etc.?

[JohnMitchell 16]

I can't answer that (I ain't much of a tech guy) but I do know sometimes some link or webpage asks if it can access my email contact info. That's when I leave!

[champu 1]

It's more than likely someone with that group of people in their local address book downloaded malware onto their computer.

[rcs 1]

Could be "spoofing"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_spoofing


I have had it appen to me.

[NewGuy2005 53]

That person's email account has been hacked and is being used to generate spam or other nefarious e-mail.

[peek 21]

NewGuy2005

That person's email account has been hacked and is being used to generate spam or other nefarious e-mail.

But is it their webmail account or their mail client?

[CanuckInUSA 0]

peek

***

That person's email account has been hacked and is being used to generate spam or other nefarious e-mail.

But is it their webmail account or their mail client?

Your friend's computer has been hacked. It's best to let them know about it so that they can take action. If you don't know your friend all that well, just ignore the message and hopefully someone close to them will let them know about the problem.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Phillbo 11]

You know Joe too? I have not heard from him in a while. How are he and Cathy getting along these days?

[peek 21]

CanuckInUSA

Your friend's computer has been hacked.

So you are saying that a virus on their computer has targeted their email client? (I know that this used to be a typical way of getting spam emails from "friends", but is it now?)

[Arvoitus 1]

peek

***Your friend's computer has been hacked.

So you are saying that a virus on their computer has targeted their email client? (I know that this used to be a typical way of getting spam emails from "friends", but is it now?)

All someone needs to sends those fakes mails is the list of contacts the e-mails were sent to. So the computer doesn't need to be infected. Only the information needs to have been leaked somehow.

Would it make sense for the perpetrator to send the fake mails in the name of the person who they used to acquire the information from? Or would it make sense to use some other random person from the list of contacts? Most peoples reaction is to inform their friend that they might have been compromised so it would make sense not to disclose your source indirectly by sending the fake mails in their name.

Your rights end where my feelings begin.

[champu 1]

peek

***Your friend's computer has been hacked.

So you are saying that a virus on their computer has targeted their email client? (I know that this used to be a typical way of getting spam emails from "friends", but is it now?)

People never learn so attack vectors don't ever really go away. You're correct that it could be a few different things though. Someone with you and the other contacts may have downloaded malware that pulled the contents of their e-mail client's address book and phoned home with it. There may have been malware on a public computer that retrieved their address book when they logged into a webmail account. Their webmail account password may be compromised and their address book may have been retrieved that way (no malware on their actual computer.)

Also, if they have malware on their computer associated with spammers they are also likely now part of a botnet set up to actually generate and send the spam messages. I'm not sure what the latest is as far as what ISPs are doing about that though, normiss might be able to comment.

[NewGuy2005 53]

When it has happened to me, all I did was change my e-mail password. Problem solved.

[TheBachelor 5]

I get these from two friends, and after a few of them I did some tracing, and found that they weren't actually coming from those people. Apparently, someone got their address, along with some of the people from their address book, and sends out emails spoofing the "From" address to look like they came from my friend.

As others have said, it's also possible that they have malware on their computer, or that someone has their email password.

There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

[SkySpice 0]

TheBachelor

I get these from two friends, and after a few of them I did some tracing, and found that they weren't actually coming from those people. Apparently, someone got their address, along with some of the people from their address book, and sends out emails spoofing the "From" address to look like they came from my friend.

"Help! I'm in Hong Kong and my cash and credit cards have been stolen! I need some help from my friends immediately so I can get home again. Please respond immediately for instructions on how to send me emergency money by Western Union. Thanks!"

[BillyVance 34]

in some email platforms, simply hovering the mouse cursor over the email address shown in the email can reveal the true address. If you don't recognize it, fuck em.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban