When the spam you get is from you
Like everybody else, I get a lot of spam. Lately, some of it purports to have been sent by me as well. As I have mentioned many times, it’s the easiest thing in the world to spoof the “from” line in an email. Spammers can send out mail pretending to be anybody they wish. One reason for them to pretend to be you is is to circumvent mail filters. Since most email clients pass email if the “from” address is the same as one in your address book, spammers use your address.
A worse situation is when spammers “borrow” your address for mass mailings all over the world. They do this to hide where the mail is actually coming from. I have a number of email addresses that are publicly displayed and sometimes a spammer will take one of these and start mailing things pretending to be me. I find out about it when people’s spam filters start bouncing the spam back to me instead of to the spammer. It is infuriating but there is little I can do about it. I can look at the header and see the IP where the spam originated but usually spammers are using botnets and there are a myriad of IPs they use. So if you get an email that claims to be from me and it’s peddling porn or investment schemes, don’t believe it.
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