Spam email how do they make it look like

tenaki · 23rd March 2008, 01:38 PM

Spam email how do they make it look like it came from you.

For example I got 2 emails today from me@mysite.com to me@mysite.com

When I looked at the headers it seems like it actually came from somewhere in Asia so how do they make it look like I sent it?

Also why? I just can'tunderstand what they get from it

MrBen · 23rd March 2008, 03:10 PM

You can set the FROM address to anything you like. When you setup your account in Outlook or Thunderbird etc you have to enter your from address. There are no checks.

It's used because you're quite likely to have white-listed your own domain in a spam filter.

SPF and DomainKeys help to validate the from address but I don't think many actually incoming mail servers actually do.

Ben

tenaki · 23rd March 2008, 05:03 PM

Thanks MrBen I still can't fathom why they do it but hey ho

Vger · 23rd March 2008, 07:13 PM

Quote:

so how do they make it look like I sent it?

Because around 100,000 other people also received those emails. If the address they were emailing bounces it goes back to you, not them.

Vger