Help..An Email in my Name i did not send???

jane-doe

I am so baffled about an email i didn't send but was accused of sending to somebody because it had my name and address on it when recieved.
It was a nasty email and i honestly did not send it . I tried to defend myself but they kept on saying well it's got your name and address on it.

I feel like somebody stabbed me in the back by sending such a cruel email but have no way of explaining how it arrived with my name and addy. I have sent mail before to this address so the person would have me in their address book as well as knowing my typing style etc.

Also one person in that home where the baffeling email arrived is a computer whiz so am thinking she must have sent it to her son from me but how ? This is a mean nasty email and that's the difference in me and the words i didn't type.

Does anyone have a clue how this could happen? I would appreciate all and any replies in advance. I am clueless with computer stuff like that.

Thanks for any replies.
JD

monosodium

jane-doe

Venom · Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:06 pm Post subject:

How are you sending your emails? What software do you use, Outlook?

jane-doe · Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 4:54 pm Post subject:

monosodium · Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 8:49 pm Post subject:

Tina TV · Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 9:46 pm Post subject:

Uhm that's "Simple *Mail* Transfer Protocol" (See RFC 821 or STD 10, August 1982) but what's in a name, Monosodium is correct, anyone can fake the sending address on the mail so as to fool a naive user. You don't even need a special program, simply telnet to port 25 and type away for those that know how. Look at the date on that original specification, security and spam were not big problems in those days.

There are ways that you can quickly prove most messages like this to be faked and even narrow down the identity of the faker. You need someone with experience of the inner working, but most importantly of all you need the original message as received, with all headers, unfiltered by any "helpful" mail program. Without that you are dead in the water.

If this is a problem at work, talk to the system admins about it, but without the original unmodified email I doubt there is much they can do.

If I want to prove that I sent an email I sign it with my GPG key, this is still readable with every webmail system I've come across, although you will still need a real mail reader if you need to verify the signature.

monosodium · Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:57 pm Post subject:

minigirl

Venom · Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 9:45 am Post subject:

I was wondering if it was something as simple as someone either using a keylogger or gaining access to email accounts/passwords to use the account.

I know there are many ways to do this.

wildmlt · Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 2:13 am Post subject:

There's a program which lets you do this!