email spoofing

[linedancer16]

I'm not at all technical but I believe this is called spoofing. A couple of days ago at least two friends in my email contact list got a spam email supposedly from me. I had never seen it and certainly not sent it. It was a money making sceme originating in the US. They read it and forwarded it to me but my security warned me not to open it. The thing is that they sent it from an old email address which I havent used in years. The only time I need to use it is it's the log in address for my BT Yahoo but I only use it when they periodically ask me to cofirm my login. How can I stop this happening again? I have run a full scan with McAfee Total Security and nothing was found. I have changed the password email and password on my Yahoo and will now make sure I log out each time but I also have Windows Live and cant find how to log out with that! Anything else I can do?! Thanks

[philg]

Yes, you are right - it's spoofing

As to "How can I stop this happening again?" - sorry, you can't

What is happening is someone is sending mails from THEIR computer but fooling the eMail system that it came from YOUR eMail address not theirs - normally this only happens a couple of times and then they move on to spoofing someone elses address

[linedancer16]

Thanks for your reply! If there's nothing I can do, I just hope they now move on. At least my contacts now know what's happening. I was a bit worried that whoever's doing it could also access other more critical details but hopefully not!

[diadem01]

This can also happen when you are on someone's "Circulation" listing. Someone else on that listing could pick up your details and use them. Always ask people to remove you from such lists other than those on the social networks like face book.