21 replies to this topic

[longgone]

I have finally come to the point that this pain in the butt has irriated me enough to the point where it needs to be "TERMINATED" ... I keep getting this notice from "mail software delivery" stating that an email I have sent was undeliverable to one or more receipients. The problem is that the one email address that continually comes up, I do not send any email to in the first place. In fact, over the past week I have received said notification at least 10 times but have not sent any emails to cause it to be generated........  So what is the cause, how do I fix it, and, finally, how do I make sure it does not happen again. ???

[ross549]

The following is a possible scenario. All details may not be 100% correct in this case.

- Someone besides you has your e-mail address. Either you sent them a message, or you are in their address book. Your address could also have been on a website that was compromised.

- Spam bot software needs a list of e-mail; first, to send messages to, and second, to make it appear that messages are coming from a valid address.

- The spam bot in this case was probably sending a message making it look like it was coming from you, and since the message was going to an invalid address, it was bounced back by the Mail Delivery System to you, because you are who it thinks it came from.

Now, before you say it, there is nothing preventing me from writing a small program that sends e-mails that look like they are coming from you. All I need is a SMTP server that will accept the messages and attempt to deliver them. Again, this is not hard to do, and in fact many viruses do just that- turn your computer into a mail transport and delivery machine.

Sadly, there is nothing you can do about this. Your address is out there somewhere, and to paraphrase, "You cannot unsee what has been seen."

In the future, be careful who you give your address to. That includes websites and people. The problem with this approach is that you never know who is going to be hacked or compromised.

I wish there was a better answer.

Adam

[LilBambi]

There is another scenario possibility. Have you checked your Outbox? Sometimes things get stuck there due to the very thing you are saying happening ... an email address doesn't work.

The way that could happen is maybe replying to all on an email that has one of the email addresses no longer working maybe?

But I would definitely check on that. Also check your client to make sure you don't have it set to copy yourself on emails but the email address has a typo maybe.

Just looking for some more normal possibilities other than spammers being their normal butthead selves.

But I really think it could be stuck in the Outbox.

[ross549]

If the e-mail was stuck in the outbox, you would not be getting replies from the Mail Delivery System. The-mail at that point has not left the machine. Once it does get out the outbox, it goes to the SMTP server which then attempts to locate the recipient. That check is not done until the mail has been transmitted to the SMTP server.

Adam

[LilBambi]

Yes, true Adam. Mail Delivery System does indicate it actually went out to a server.

I think we all get those email though. I wouldn't worry about those. Trash them and move on, or call them junk.

[ross549]

You could call them junk, but then you might miss one that was real and not realize an e-mail did not make it to an intended recipient.

Adam

[LilBambi]

That's true if you don't look at the source first and see where it is coming from, but in most cases, you can just junk them with no real harm.

[longgone]

Soooo confusing,,,, normally, when I send an email it is one I have received and what I do is basically remove the headings and just pass on the text, so that would make me the source. In the event that will not accomplish what I want I do use 'forward" to send it on. This however is what I am at a loss for,, the email address that I get this error notice (mail box unavailable) is for my U.S. congressman who is not even in my address book. If he were, I would just remove him and that should take care of it, but, since he is not there, so much for that game plan. Also, there are no pending messages in the draft box.

[ross549]

Well, if you are getting a Mail Delivery System message in response to a message you send, then that is exactly what is supposed to happen, if the recipient's mailbox does no longer exist.

Adam

[longgone]

Uh huh,,,, I agree, BUT, since I did not send it to that particular addressee in the first place, why am I getting that response to an email that I did not send???

[LilBambi]

Likely best to NOT forward any forwards/chainletters.

I would suggest that for the future, you strip the formatting from the email you wish to share and create a totally new email to send it to those you wish it to go to.

Here's some things that might help for that:

• Five tips for cleaning up email messages before you forward them – TechRepublic AND Text Cleanup Apps: Windows: Format And Clean Up Text Of Emails For Easier Reading With StripMail- AddictiveTips OR emailSTRIPPER OR on a Mac: Clean Text helps you clean up messy text – Macworld OR in Linux: stripmail OR GREP/SED/AWK to remove formatting manually OR IN ALL OSES: LibreOffice or OpenOffice

That was something from the links of a recent show on CNIRadio.com Blog.

For now, you will have to wait it out till it they no longer try/give up trying to send that email.

Sorry, all I can say is, I hope the servers give up soon so you don't end up getting those for months on end.

[LilBambi]

It really does sound like somehow you did send it to that broken/non-existent address even if you didn't mean to. Likely just a typo.

But you will have to wait it out now.

[ross549]

longgone, on 20 May 2012 - 03:19 PM, said:

Uh huh,,,, I agree, BUT, since I did not send it to that particular addressee in the first place, why am I getting that response to an email that I did not send???

See my above explanation. I am betting that someone has your address somewhere and their computer was compromised. Now that your address has been harvested, it is being used as the From: field in these junk adresses. The spam is getting bounced back to you since it was sent to an invalid address.

Can you copy/paste an example of this message you are getting?

Adam

[LilBambi]

Yes, that could still be the situation sadly. It's happened to most of us at one time or another.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I don't think Dale's system has been compromised, but I do definitely believe that his email addy has been spoofed. I had this happen to one of my accounts a few years ago. The irate replies and Mailer Daemon notices fade away with time, as long as the SPAMMER isn't still spoofing your addy. It must be an amateur SPAMMER because spoofing is a primitive way to SPAM these days. There are much better ways.

Just out of curiosity, Dale, you should do a search for your full email addy in Google to see if you pop up at any anti-spam sites or lists.

[crp]

Can the OP post a copy of one of the emails, with all the headers? You can redact your actuall email address , but there is a good chance that there is something in the header that would enable your email filtering to pick them out.

[longgone]

I did make an attempt (key word "attempt") to post the error that I get here but for reasons beyond my limited expertise, I could not get it to work. If someone can give me some tips on how to get it from my  email to here, I will for sure post the portition in question.

[LilBambi]

What email client do you use longgone?

You will want to get to the source code for the email. There should be a CTRL U or, right click and choose view source, or something that will open the email so you can get to the source that will include all the headers. Some email clients will actually show and allow you to copy all headers without getting to the source of the email. But would need to know what you use for an email client or are you using webmail, and if so, what company's webmail?

[crp]

LilBambi, on 21 May 2012 - 05:22 PM, said:

What email client do you use longgone?

You will want to get to the source code for the email. There should be a CTRL U or, right click and choose view source, or something that will open the email so you can get to the source that will include all the headers. Some email clients will actually show and allow you to copy all headers without getting to the source of the email. But would need to know what you use for an email client or are you using webmail, and if so, what company's webmail?

I think longgone means he encountered the mysterious filters that this forum uses, much like my problems with the Linux board.

[ross549]

What about using paste bin.com to hold the text for now?

Adam

[LilBambi]

Yes pastebin.com is a great way to handle that

[securitybreach]

LilBambi, on 21 May 2012 - 06:04 PM, said:

Yes pastebin.com is a great way to handle that

Yup, pastebin.com is an excellent resource!!