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Resolved Question

I have been getting emails marked from friends

by Sep 8, 2012 1:46PM PDT

which are not from friends. The emails are all the same and they advertise some sort of "work from home" opportunity. They come in my spam folder and they are all from people in my address book. It seems that someone has gotten hold of my address book and send me this ad (always the same) but make it appear that it is from a friend. I am concerned about the security of my computer because someone seems to have access to my address book. I would like to know if I have cause for concern and if there is anything I should or can do to secure my computer

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hashiff has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer
8 Posts
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Best Answer

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A possible point of interest..
by Sep 12, 2012 3:40AM PDT
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Thanks for forwarding that article
by hashiff Sep 12, 2012 9:20AM PDT

I did have the feeling that there was a scam involved but my main concern was with the possible security breach with my computer. I guess there are enough desperate people out there grasping at any straw that they hope might keep them afloat. That's why these schemes are so sucessful.

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Answer
It's Probably A Friend's Computer That's Infected, But....
by Forum moderator Sep 10, 2012 9:00AM PDT

...if you haven't checked your own machine, now is a good time to do so.. Please download BOTH of the freeware versions of the tools at the links below, install them, update them, then run full system scans using them.. Delete anything they find.

Malwareybtes
http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free/

SuperAntispyware
http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html

Generally, such email "work from home" SPAM messages are the result of a friend getting infected who has all your addresses. As such, you may not be the only person receiving the messages. All it takes is for you to forward a message to all of your friends and all those addresses are received at each of those computers.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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That sounds good
by hashiff Sep 10, 2012 1:34PM PDT

I use Malware bytes and Super Antispyware on a regular basis and my computer, which is about 2 years old has never had any other real problem, so having a friend who is infected is not surprising as most of my friends are past 80 (as am I) and are not too computer literate and have never heard of malware or spyware and never scan their computers with even the simplest tools. I do thank you for your input. It is the only response that I got to my inquiry.

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Answer
spam emails from friends
by Sep 14, 2012 11:47AM PDT

Run your own anti-spyware and anti-virus checks to make sure your computer is clean. then contact your friends [if possible not by email but if you have to use it]and advise them of the situation and suggest they run the same checks also. Often the friends whose computer the spam has come from are not aware that their computer is infected by a virus doing this. all you can do to secure your computer is keep anti-virus and anti-spyware up to date on your own computer and be wary of opening links in any emails you recieve.
Hope this helps.

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Answer
ghost emails
by Sep 15, 2012 12:07AM PDT

I and several of my internet acquaintences have had this same problem. It's been around a long time.
Before you invest a lot of time and money on spyware, you might try changing the password on your email
account(s). I've done that and the problem usually goes away. Good luck!

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Answer
bogus emails and hacked accounts
by Sep 15, 2012 8:25PM PDT

One way to know right away if someone has hacked your email account is to make sure you have another email account listed in your address book. Check it regularly, try not to use the same user name and definately do NOT use the same password. That way if someone gets in and starts sending bogus mail in your name you will see it. As recommended by the others, change your password immediately. Make the new one more difficult to guess. Scan your computer for malware. Notify friends if they are sending the mail or if your account has sent to them.

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Answer
Spam
by Sep 17, 2012 4:28PM PDT

I have found that when that happens, all you have to do, assuming your friend(s) use free online email, is tell them about the emails you are getting, and tell them to change their password. That should stop the emails from leaving their email. If that happens to you, then change your password. If you, or your friend(s) use outlook, or other computer based email, then scan computer with MBAM, and SUPERAntiSpyware as suggested in another post.

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