I have gotten two junk mail e-mails from myself. I can't remember the topic of the first one but the second one was a Viagra ad. It is showing as having come from Jonathan Cross and Hotmail e-mail address exactly the same as mine.

Two things stand out as being strange. If someone had access to my account and sent some e-mails out, wouldn't those e-mails be in my SENT folder? They weren't. Second, the e-mails that I got came into my JUNK folder. I routinely send stuff from myself to myself and they always go to my INBOX.

Another thing that was very suspicious was that twice while trying to sign out of my e-mail account, it said that it was unable to sign me out of all parts of that account. Specifically the MESSENGER thing which I never use.

The last link may be a new button on my tool bar at the top of my page. It is a link straight to the sign-in page of Hotmail. I didn't put it there and neither did my wife. It just appeared one day and I have used it a few times. I have not used it since being suspicious. Could this be some kind of dangerous link that gives access to some remote user?

I have changed my password and secret question. I did that yesterday. So far, no more e-mails. So what do you think? Hacked or copied address? Am I safe now?

------------------
Jonathan
1987 Notchie - Reborn with 2.8V6/Getrag
I'm not a mechanic but I play one in my garage - me
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely - Lord Acton
Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not - Thomas Jefferson
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants - Thomas Jefferson

that is a classic spammer tactic to circumvent spam filters: use the reciepients name/email address

you have not been hacked - just spammed

edit: the toolbar - often, just things like Adobe update or Java update try to install toolbars. just go to the top right of internet explorer, hit [Tools], then [Toolbars], and uncheck unused toolbars (favorites, command & status are the usual toolbars to keep)

[This message has been edited by Pyrthian (edited 03-04-2011).]

Thanks. How is it possible to send something with someone else's name and address?

Jonathan

quote Originally posted by Boostdreamer: Thanks. How is it possible to send something with someone else's name and address? Jonathan

They spoof it. If you review the headers you'll see it came from elsewhere.

quote Originally posted by Boostdreamer: Thanks. How is it possible to send something with someone else's name and address? Jonathan

just about any email client, when you set it up asks for your name & email address.
this info is NOT actually needed for email to be sent, it is just for your own convienance.
you can put anything you like in those fields. the email address is used for reply purposes, thats it.
the name, is just how you want your name to appear
so - anyone can put anything they like in the "from" fields. if you use Outlook, just go to your account settings and try it. put anything you like in the reply & name fields - it will still work fine, your emails will just have different "from" info.

I have seen the way you can change the way your name appears on a sent message. My account used to have my name in all lower case letters. When I changed my password the first time, I changed it to first letter caps. The second e-mail I got was like that.

After that, I changed my password AND my secret question. If my account had been compromised, they could have gotten my new password if they had viewed my secret question info.

I actually opened the Viagra one and it said it was from me at my address. I was looking for something different but it was the same.

Jonathan

quote Originally posted by Boostdreamer: I actually opened the Viagra one and it said it was from me at my address. I was looking for something different but it was the same. Jonathan

Cialis?

Brad

quote Originally posted by Boostdreamer: I have gotten two junk mail e-mails from myself. I can't remember the topic of the first one but the second one was a Viagra ad.

So, you sent this to yourself as a reminder and now you don't remember why. You made up this other story to cover up your memory loss, which apparently is pretty bad. Sad, very sad.