Help on fake email - personal attack

jess7575 · 05-01-2009, 07:40 PM

Hi,

Firstly my apologies if I am posting this in the wrong forum!

I would appreciate some advice and some knowledge (technically challenged here;)) on the ease of creating fake emails from particular domains.

The problem:
A male friend of mine has been told by his crazy ex that she has been recieving emails (supposedly from me). The content of these emails is nasty and I certainly didn't send them!

The problem is that when he looked at the email on her computer when "traced" back it appears to have originated from my work domain name. The email was sent from a free UK email site.

I am confused! I know I have sent no such emails but have no idea how someone could make it appear that it came from my work in Australia (not my email i might add). I don't have access to these emails so cannot even pass them to a friend to find out what is going on.

I just wondered if this was an easy thing to fake and whether it requires any tech skill (as i believe she has as much as me!).

Thanks for any info you can give me.

Jess :)

**koala** · 05-01-2009, 08:40 PM

Hi Jess, welcome to TSF

Faking email addresses (or "spoofing" as it's called) is very easy to do, and is becoming more and more common.

If the messages contain personal details that only you or your friends would know, then it could be that another friend or work colleague is playing a joke on you. If the messages just contain links to porn or other unwanted material, then it's probably spammers using your email address to cover their tracks.

You'll have to get hold of the emails and examine the headers to find out more about their true origins. Your address being listed as the Sender is not enough evidence to say it was you who sent them.

jess7575 · 05-02-2009, 01:47 AM

Thank you so much for the information!

The emails don't include any personal information about me, but are supposedly threatening messages to her.

It is my belief that she is sending these messages to herself and somehow has made it seem they have come from the same domain name as my work.

I guess if I cannot get my hands on a copy of them, I have no chance of proving it is not me.

Ah well, such is life! Got to love the Internet lol

Jess (who is a little bit over it ;))

**johnwill** · 05-02-2009, 08:05 AM

This happens all the time. My domain regularly gets hijacked and I get a ton of rejected SPAM with an address for my domain. I just trash them and move on, nothing else you can really do.

05-01-2009, 07:40 PM	#1 (permalink)
jess7575 Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 2 OS: XP	Help on fake email - personal attack Hi, Firstly my apologies if I am posting this in the wrong forum! I would appreciate some advice and some knowledge (technically challenged here;)) on the ease of creating fake emails from particular domains. The problem: A male friend of mine has been told by his crazy ex that she has been recieving emails (supposedly from me). The content of these emails is nasty and I certainly didn't send them! The problem is that when he looked at the email on her computer when "traced" back it appears to have originated from my work domain name. The email was sent from a free UK email site. I am confused! I know I have sent no such emails but have no idea how someone could make it appear that it came from my work in Australia (not my email i might add). I don't have access to these emails so cannot even pass them to a friend to find out what is going on. I just wondered if this was an easy thing to fake and whether it requires any tech skill (as i believe she has as much as me!). Thanks for any info you can give me. Jess :)

05-01-2009, 08:40 PM	#2 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 12,366 OS: XP/7/Ubuntu My System	Re: Help on fake email - personal attack Hi Jess, welcome to TSF Faking email addresses (or "spoofing" as it's called) is very easy to do, and is becoming more and more common. If the messages contain personal details that only you or your friends would know, then it could be that another friend or work colleague is playing a joke on you. If the messages just contain links to porn or other unwanted material, then it's probably spammers using your email address to cover their tracks. You'll have to get hold of the emails and examine the headers to find out more about their true origins. Your address being listed as the Sender is not enough evidence to say it was you who sent them. __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here Last edited by koala; 05-01-2009 at 08:41 PM.

05-02-2009, 01:47 AM	#3 (permalink)
jess7575 Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 2 OS: XP	Re: Help on fake email - personal attack Thank you so much for the information! The emails don't include any personal information about me, but are supposedly threatening messages to her. It is my belief that she is sending these messages to herself and somehow has made it seem they have come from the same domain name as my work. I guess if I cannot get my hands on a copy of them, I have no chance of proving it is not me. Ah well, such is life! Got to love the Internet lol Jess (who is a little bit over it ;))

05-02-2009, 08:05 AM	#4 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,748 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Re: Help on fake email - personal attack This happens all the time. My domain regularly gets hijacked and I get a ton of rejected SPAM with an address for my domain. I just trash them and move on, nothing else you can really do. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience