Some thoughts on getting a dodgy email allegedly from a friend, please

Tringa

Tringa

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Dave
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Now and again I get an email supposedly from a friend but clearly it is not. Her name appears in my Inbox but the address it was sent from is clearly not her's. It is usually something like name@xtlidh4nud.com and the emails just about always have a link I am encouraged to click:eek:

I just delete the email and I assumed someone had got into her address book and sent emails to every email address they found.

As the friend is ultra careful and does virtually nothing online other than surfing and also pays for Norton Security. However, I wondered could I be getting the dodgy emails because she had emailed others whose security is not so good and someone has got to our friends contacts list via a third party.

Or this that a load of rubbish and the only way I can get a dodgy email from her is because her email has been compromised?

Thanks

Dave
 
Loads of ways.

Her contacts could have been hacked or they've just spoofed her email address or they've hacked her whole account.

Or as you say it may be a 3rd party's account has been compromised.

Impossible to say really.

Has she changed her passwords for all accounts now?
 
Could be that she's clicked a link in a similar email thinking it was one of her friends and that's how they've gone in. You get it alot on facebook.
 
With the right SMTP server I could send emails to make them appear like they are coming from just about anyone. That's why you have to be careful what you trust and what links you [don't] open. Same for text messages or phone calls.

Lot's of ways to got address books. Most likely some dodgy andoid or ios app or browser extension of which there are more than plenty. It is surprising how much personal info any apps can pull. A while ago some bloody ios developers used to email me bugging me to buy subscription and detailing what I did with their app. I never registered or supplied my email to them directly so all came from apple. Ipad is long gone and I'm about to cut all ties with them.

Or a virus...
 
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Loads of websites have been hacked and email lists harvested, careless users have had their email hacked and address books copied. I just delete these emails and mark them as 'junk' and 'block sender'.
 
Delete.. Move on.. been happening for years :) Nothing to worry about for either of you..
 
KIPAX said:
Delete.. Move on.. been happening for years :) Nothing to worry about for either of you..
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This. The email has nothing to do with her because the address after her name is from an unrelated address. It may be that if she had a Hotmail account then her address book was harvested, but you both can and should ignore it.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone.

Dave
 
As an extra security measure both you and your friend, or just you if you wish could change your email address and just give that one to close contacts. You could also keep your present one active, knowing it is unsafe, for public websites like Facebook, so if it is then spoofed you still have a secure email address that only your trusted friends have.

Adrian.
 
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