Spoofed email address - need help

[dzilla77]

My wife just got an email from "me" that I did not send. In fact, the email it was sent from was not mine - call it [email protected], but had my name associated with it (i.e it came up dzilla77 in my wifes webmail reader).

Two questions - should I be worried that something in one of my email accounts is compromised and, if so, how can I figure out which one and what do I need to do to fix it?

Second, is there any way I can prevent my name from being spoofed?

Or, alternatively, is it something that may have happened to my wife's email?

[JediKooter]

You should check out the "How to Fudge a Bank Statement" thread.

I'd run all the virus scans you can on both your computers.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by dzilla77

Second, is there any way I can prevent my name from being spoofed?

To this, no there is not. People can use any address in the from field when sending an email.

The problem could have come from either someone accessing your or your wife's email account, or could be from a third party who has both you and your wife in their address book. To be on the safe side you should both probably change your password to something new and unique, and if yahoo has a two step verification you should enable that so even if someone gets your password they won't be able to log in to your account.

[thesloppy]

I've gotten emails from myself before.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

I've gotten emails from myself before.

Did you tell yourself to follow the link to see naked pictures of yourself?

[dzilla77]

Originally Posted by mckerney

To this, no there is not. People can use any address in the from field when sending an email.

The problem could have come from either someone accessing your or your wife's email account, or could be from a third party who has both you and your wife in their address book. To be on the safe side you should both probably change your password to something new and unique, and if yahoo has a two step verification you should enable that so even if someone gets your password they won't be able to log in to your account.

The interesting thing is neither my wife or I have a yahoo.com email address.

Thanks to you and JK for the tips.

[molson]

I just got one of these from an address that was one letter off from my mother's email address (both the real and fake are yahoo), saying she was robbed in Glasgow and needs me to loan her money immediately.

[dacman]

About 1/2 million Yahoo usernames and passwords were stolen recently. Probably coming from one of those accounts.

If you use Yahoo, I'd change your password.