Protect Yourself From PC Security Pitfalls

Why Am I Sending Myself Spam?

annB, Answer Line Forum

You're almost certainly doing no such thing. I once received the same spam message from a friend and from myself. I sent out a notice to people who knew both of us, and sure enough, a third party had the infection.

Most spam is sent from infected PCs, but the malware tries to hide the identity of the infected computer. To that end, it spoofs (forges) the Sender address.

A little more detail: The malware searches the infected PC's hard drive for e-mail addresses and sends spam out to them. But it also uses some of these addresses for spoofing purposes. So if you get spam from yourself, that means someone with your e-mail address has an infected computer.

What can you do about it? Not much. But if only a few people have your e-mail address, you might try letting them know about the problem. One of them has an infected PC.

And if someone complains that you're sending them spam, send them a link to this article.

Read the original discussion on the PCWorld.com Forums.