Hotmail/Outlook spam mail from own account

Osem · 30-10-2015, 10:52

I don't get a massive amount of spam mail but today found one which appeared to come from my own email account. Normally I just select such messages then block the senders but on this occasion the 'block all mail from...' confirmation message opened up showing my own email address listed as opposed to the sender's. I know that often the displayed email address on such messages is false with the real sender being revealed when I view the message source. On this occasion I'm confused about why my address is shown on the to be blocked list.

Can anyone clarify please? TIA as always.

adzii_nufc · 30-10-2015, 10:59

Spoofing in hopes you'll refuse to block your own address, more common than you think. Most services wouldn't even allow you to block your own address either, that's the idea behind the spoofing. Whether that rule still applies in places is another question.

Osem · 30-10-2015, 11:13

OK sorry to be dense (having a very bad few weeks) but if I try to block it will I be blocking the hidden sender's ID then or trying to block my own?

qasdfdsaq · 30-10-2015, 16:12

Spam using your own email address as the "From" address is very common for this very reason - to bypass any address-based blocking.

---------- Post added at 17:12 ---------- Previous post was at 17:12 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osem

OK sorry to be dense (having a very bad few weeks) but if I try to block it will I be blocking the hidden sender's ID then or trying to block my own?

There is no hidden sender's ID. Blocking your own email address will block your own email address.

Osem · 30-10-2015, 17:04

So when I get emails such as this which 'appear' to come from my own account (which happens very rarely) I can't do anything about it because the true sender is unknown?

heero_yuy · 30-10-2015, 17:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osem

So when I get emails such as this which 'appear' to come from my own account (which happens very rarely) I can't do anything about it because the true sender is unknown?

If you can view the source of the message then the sender is shown as well as a load of other information.

Osem · 30-10-2015, 20:12

Yes I can do that but the problem is I couldn't find how to enter such addresses manually into my block list until just now when I just discovered how to do it via 'settings'/'options'.

I was confused because when this happened in the past, I found that although my email address would appear as the sender, the real sender's ID would always be displayed if I hovered the cursor over the message entry and it is this address which would then be entered into the block list. I guess this must have been a different technique from what happened recently then.

Thanks everyone.