I am not a spammer!

@Octav1 (1419)
Romania
August 26, 2011 4:31am CST
Hello everybody, These days I was called by some friends. They asked me why did I sent them e-mails with unwanted advertisements about Viagra. It was so embarrassing! I never sent them any mail related to this subject! It seems my Yahoo e-mail started to send spam mails to all my contacts from my address book. How can I stop this?
1 person likes this
8 responses
@kavya06 (372)
• India
27 Aug 11
That's fun,how it can be done..i think it should be spamming by any websites that you have joined,try to stop joining unwanted sites and contact to yahoo and tell them about this., i thing its good to join gmail that yahoo,gmail have a good resistance to spam's than ymail.
2 people like this
@Octav1 (1419)
• Romania
29 Aug 11
I have this address since I first discovered the Internet! It is so difficult for me to change it for a gmail address! All my friends and family know this address of mine. What should I do to let them know I have a new address?
1 person likes this
@Octav1 (1419)
• Romania
30 Aug 11
I haven't known that I could import the list of contacts from my other e-mail address. What if, while I import the address book, the malware will get into my new address?
1 person likes this
@kavya06 (372)
• India
29 Aug 11
Hey..,you can start a new ymail account by improting your needed friends or family contacts,i hope it can be done.,before you try it,please ask to some expretes..., if it is done,you are safe form all spammers and i think it should be good for stop getting harsh form your contacts.
1 person likes this
@inu1711 (5285)
• Romania
26 Aug 11
I've heard something like this can happen but I never see anybody from my friends or family facing this problem. I think it was some kind of worm but it seems the problem is even worse. Here's what I have found, trying to find the answer to your question: http://ask-leo.com/someones_sending_from_my_email_address_how_do_i_stop_them.html According to this Leo guy, there is not too much you can do (see the "Peter, Paul and Mary's Email" chapter in his page...). Though, I hope installing and running a good antimalware program will solve your problem. Good luck!
@inu1711 (5285)
• Romania
29 Aug 11
Make sure you read the article. It is interesting. He mainly says there is not much you can do to save your e-mail account. It seems you should give up on your old address and create a new one. Another good idea could be to empty the address book and keep all addresses in a word document. This way the worm won't have a list of addresses to send the spam.
1 person likes this
@Octav1 (1419)
• Romania
30 Aug 11
Delete my list of contacts? Then how could I contact my friends and all the people I saved into that list?
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@Octav1 (1419)
• Romania
29 Aug 11
Oh, this is not good news at all! I hope this Leo guy is wrong and I will be able to solve my problem somehow. I'll read the article you gave me. What antimalware program do you recommend me to use? Thank you.
1 person likes this
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
27 Aug 11
Are your friends in your contact list? Then it means that most probably your email account has been compromised. You can try installing a good anti-virus, or a good anti-key logger before changing your password. If your account has been spoofed then there is not much you can do about it. Use a disposable email account to register with money making websites.
1 person likes this
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
5 Sep 11
The real spammer could have obtained the address from a different source. 3 of my email addresses have already been compromised. I even received angry emails from several victims.
@Octav1 (1419)
• Romania
29 Aug 11
Thank you for your advice, rosdimy. I have two e-mail addresses and the one I use for joining money making websites is not the one with the problem. This is why I am so sad about this, because the "problem" address is the one that I use officially. I wouldn't like to give up on that address, it is made on my real name and all my friends and family know it.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
26 Aug 11
your pc might be infected by a mass mailer virus or sometimes also known as a mass mailing worm that sends unsolicited mails to your contacts. I suggest you do a scan of your pc preferably on safe mode using a good anti malware such as malwarebytes (see to it that you have the latest updated version). You can also wipeout or clean your pc using the old reliable cc cleaner after you have performed the scan, good luck.
@Octav1 (1419)
• Romania
29 Aug 11
Thank you for your advice, louievill. Other users advised me to scan my computer with anti malware programs but the idea with performing the scan in safe mode is new. I think it makes sense to do it this way. Is malwarebytes the anti malware program that you use?
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
29 Aug 11
yes I use malwarebytes and spybot, scanning in safe mode has advantages because other processes do not interfere and some malware like that mailer can hide on legit ones (processes), if you still do not know how to go to safe mode, I think this will help http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090425104656AAYVD8Z
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@Octav1 (1419)
• Romania
30 Aug 11
Thank you for the link, louievill. I didn't know how to run the programs in safe mode (in fact, I didn't know how to start my computer in safe mode) but now, thanks to your link, I know. I hope this will help me solve my problem.
1 person likes this
@varier (5685)
• Indonesia
26 Aug 11
First of all, try to change your YahooMail password. If you ever download something related to your YahooMail or YahooChat, like software for additional emoticons, try to uninstall it. Delete cookies on your browser. (Ctrl+Shift+Delete on your browser) And then, try to run your anti virus program. Also try to run anti-spyware and anti-adware - "Spybot - Search and Destroy" would be a good program to do so, but you still can use another programs :) Hope it helps :)
1 person likes this
@Octav1 (1419)
• Romania
29 Aug 11
Thank you for your advice, varier. Other users advised me to change my password, too. But this is the first time I hear that I should uninstall additional emoticons that I've downloaded for Yahoo Messenger. I have installed an antivirus but I haven't used this anti-adware: "spybot". I'll try to search it and to use it. Thank you!
1 person likes this
@Octav1 (1419)
• Romania
30 Aug 11
Thank you! I hope all the good advice I received here will help me solve the problem.
1 person likes this
@varier (5685)
• Indonesia
29 Aug 11
I was just thinking about how that "bad guy" could compromise your YahooMail account and get your Contact Information. There're several ways: maybe your ever download a suspicious email attachment before, or maybe via malware that being integrated into that software Good luck, I hope you can get rid of that spam as soon as possible
1 person likes this
• Philippines
27 Aug 11
hi Octav1! I also received an email from my cousin about viagras. I was confused on why she sent me that since she was still a minor, so I asked her and she was shocked because she didn't send me that email. I figured that maybe her mail was hacked by a virus and this might be your problem too. She hasn't done anything about it yet so i really don't know how to solve this thing but maybe you need a good browser so that it could detect spams and such.
1 person likes this
@Octav1 (1419)
• Romania
29 Aug 11
Hello enaid_osnam, Isn't it embarrassing to receive such e-mails? Imagine how embarrassing it is to be the one that sent them! Even if you haven't sent any e-mail about Viagra... If your cousin will solve her problem, please tell me what did she do, maybe I could use her solution, too.
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@Octav1 (1419)
• Romania
30 Aug 11
Thank you, enaid_osnam, I'll let you know, too, if I have the solution!
1 person likes this
• Philippines
29 Aug 11
sure I will let you know :)
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• Philippines
27 Aug 11
I suggest that you change your Yahoo mail password. I experienced this before and I just changed my password and they disappeared. Also, I am experiencing a lot of spam coming in from my Yahoo messenger. For such spams, just block them and mark them as spam. Also, get a good anti virus and anti malware program to protect you further from such annoying spams.
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@Octav1 (1419)
• Romania
29 Aug 11
This is good news! If this could solve the problem, I would change my password right away! I hope this will be the solution. What anti malware program do you use?
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@WakeUpKitty (8694)
• Netherlands
27 Aug 11
It is hard to find out what exactly causes the spam to your friends. I notice that many people have a kind of virus in their msn so I don't use that anymore. For some reason I keep getting the message even if I blocked and deleted those friends. If you go on the internet and use sites like these/sites to make money the best thing you can do (try out) is using an other email address. One where you don't added friends. If that doesn't help the virus/trojan horse is in your computer.
1 person likes this
@Octav1 (1419)
• Romania
29 Aug 11
But the address with the problem is my "official" address. I never used it for any making money site! I have an address specially created for this. I'm afraid that if all of my friends will mark my e-mails like "spam", Yahoo will do something about it and will cancel my account.
1 person likes this