Bombarded by suspect emails

[PEV]

I am using OE5 and have been for a long time with no problems.

On top of the usual batch emails with infected attachments which I always delete without opening the latest ploy seems to be I am receiving up to 30 emails every time I check my in box with the message mail delivery service notification and unable to deliver although I have sent nothing.

These emails are from different senders none of whom I know. They all contain attachments or links to find out what is wrong which of course I have no intention of investigating.

Can anyone suggest how I stop this rubbish as it's driving me mad.

Thanks

PEV

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Ray, lets get this clear, you are receiving notifications from the mail delivery service that E Mails cannot be delivered.

 

The E Mails in question have not been sent by you.

 

According to the information available they have apparently been sent by other people.

 

These so called notifications contain links that are supposed to explain why they were not delivered.

 

Firstly, were these supposedly unsent mails all sent to the same obviously none existent address or a totally different address in each case?

 

You are of course right to delete them as the correct mail delivery failure system explains why in the main body of the notification, never ever with any links. So they are bogus all the way through.

 

Unfortunately we only have one malware expert Etavares, to advise available as Starbuck has just gone on holiday, however I will leave a message for Etavares to have a look and give some advice, however, there isn't a lot can be done to stop these things directly, you may be able to block them, but only if coming from one source.

 

Nev.

[PEV]

Yes they are coming from differnt sources Nev so impossible to block them. I just logged on and there were 33 more!!

Ray

[Plastic Nev]

There is a free software called "Mailwasher" which is supposed to be able to filter out Spam mails, though not used it myself, it has a good reputation. From here if you want to give it a try.

 

http://www.mailwasher.net/

 

Nev.

[KenB]

I use Mailwasher ( free ) on one of my other machines.

It allows you to view the mail whilst it is still on the server.

From there you can mark it as SPAM / etc and delete it if necessary.

This way SPAM doesn't get onto your system.

[PEV]

Guys

thanks as ever for your kind advice.

The emails have been slowing down now stopped ATM. So have saved the url for the mailwasher programme so can use it if the emails start again.

One again many thanks.

Ray

[KenB]

Keep us posted on this one Ray.

Mailwasher is a nice piece of software.

[PEV]

guys my email account is now not accesible to me I am being asked to securely log in using a box with my user name and password already in it. When I try to log in the account stays noy authorised.

I am doing a malware scan followed by a full AV scan but really dont know what to do next!

Ray

[KenB]

Hi Ray

 

I will ask Gene to take a look and advise further.

Hang on.

[PEV]

This is the message I am getting

There was a problem logging onto your mail server. Your Password was rejected. Account: 'mail.o2.co.uk', Server: 'mail.o2.co.uk', Protocol: POP3, Server Response: '-ERR [AUTH] invalid user or password', Port: 110, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 0x800CCC90, Error Number: 0x800CCC92

This type of thing has happened rarely inthe past and was an issue with o2 server and things got back to normal after a few hours but my worry is this happened after days of dozens of email messages telling me mail delivery service unable to deliver which were all from people I had allegedly tried to email (none known to me)

Also o2 boradband was purchased by sky broadband early this year and I was told eventually I would have to change my email address to a Sky one but all has been well until now.

has the o2 email facility been shut down today and the problem is this? would be a bit of a co incidence!

Either way this is a real PIA!!!

Ray

[etavares]

Hi PEV,

 

Lots of ways this could happen. First, I would counsel you to use a computer you believe is free of malware and immediately change passwords on all accounts...email, financial and other ones are the most critical. Especially if you use the same email/password combination for those as you do for your email It's best to have strong passwords (random words, mix of letters and numbers and special characters) and to use a different one for each website/login. You can use a password manager to keep track of them.

 

You should also immediately contact your email provider and let them know what happened. Hopefully they can reset your password.

 

We don't know if they got their password from malware on your computer, or if they intercepted a different way (hack of the mail website, snagged it if you connected without SSL over a public network, they got when you logged in via different computer, brute force, etc.) So, let's take a look at your computer. Please follow the instructions in the link below and post your logs here. I'll look them over.

http://extremetechsupport.com/threads/15547-Before-posting-for-Malware-Removal-help-WinXP-Vista-Win7-Win8-amp-Win8-1

 

Thanks,

-etavares

[PEV]

Hi Estaves

I have run a full Malware Bytes Anti Malware Scan no threats detected

I have run a a full scan with my AVG Free AV no threats detected.

I rather think that this maybe a temporary fault with o2but as they have been bought out by Sky Broadband it may be they just pulled the plug on o2 email accounts which they were originally expected to do in April. So maybe I will now have to set up a Sky email account.

I am working all day tomorrow 12 hours so cant do anything ATM but will ASAP speak to Sky broadband customer services (who I now pay for my broadband) and see what they can tell me/do to help.

I can still access email through Gmail but it's a pain as all my regular contacts have my o2 email address as their point of contact.

Thanks for your help everybody I will be back in touch.

Ray

[etavares]

Sounds good. Keep us posted.

[PEV]

Hi Etavares, Ken, Nev and anyone else who wants in!

OK we have a new ball game!

Situation is my o2 email account is finished! they pulled the plug on most when Sky bought o2 broadband at beginning of the year or earlier but apparently I was one of a few that managed to cling onto my o2 email address although have been paying SKY since beginning of year for my broadband. This is reason on 1st Oct I lost me ability to log into the email account via my Outlook Express6 I still have OE6 and my address book on it so I am now letting all contacts know of my new email address.

Sky have helped me set up a new email account which works fine but I would love to use it using 0E6 as a platform but SKY have not been able to help me set it up on OE6 (three different 'experts' and around 2 hours on theIr broadband help line (free of charge thank God)

Whatever is tried the outgoing email message is not going and get the message 'server could not deliver the message'

I think my OE6 may have become corrupted but if any of you guys wants to give me instructions to get the Sky account into OE6 and working I am happy to try again.

 

However if it wont work how about removing the version of OE6 from my machine and installing another one which would possibly get rid of any bugs?

A problem maybe that I run XP and a tecky pal of mine thinks it might not be possible with such a dated system? Anyway he is going to 'ask around' and I'm to ring him tomorrow (not hollding my breath!)

So my question is any ideas! can OE be obtained and re installed like any other programme?

If so can anyone help/advise please?

Thanks

Ray

[etavares]

Hi,

 

Outlook Express is no longer supported by Microsoft....outlook.com webmail replaced that. Also, as a security guy, I'd be remiss if I didn't suggest you immediately upgrade from XP to at least Vista since XP is no longer getting security updates. We could use a third party email program (e.g. Thunderbird).

 

I don't have much experience from Sky, but I'm guessing they tried this setup?

 

http://help.sky.com/articles/get-emails-on-your-windows-desktop-client

 

-etavares

[PEV]

Hi Etavares

Yes you're right Sky did try to set up me new Sky email account into Outlook Express - so far (4 attempts by different customer service broadband 'experts') Problem is they don't have any experience of OE only Outlook so they are just guessing.

There must be someone on this forum who runs OE6? Can some one help with this PLEASE!!

ATM I am having to use Sky's own Sky/Yahoo email and it is SO BASIC and AWFUL! You cant ask people to acknowledge emails.

You cant use bold or underline text there are nocolour options and worst of all if you reply to anyone you have to go through a capita sysytem which most times you can't read so about 5 minutes guessing what the words are totally useless!

 

I was happy with o2 broadband for years and they helped me set up my OE account rr.peverall@o2.co.uk no problem but now Sky have taken over my o2 email has been cut off and no one at Sky seems to have a clue how to set up me email address through OE - it is doing my head in hours on the phone with clueless customer 'service'

Any help desperately needed now PLEASE

Ray

[KenB]

Hi Ray

 

It is a long time since I used IE6 ..............does this help ?

click here

 

It is for Virgin Media - but the method should still be the same.

[PEV]

Thanks Ken

I have already done this but still not working these are some of the messages I'm getting

 

The message could not be sent because the server rejected the sender's e-mail address. The sender's e-mail address was 'r.peverall1@sky.com'. Subject '', Account: 'pop.tools.sky.com (1)', Server: 'smtp.tools.sky.com', Protocol: SMTP, Server Response: '530 5.7.1 Authentication required', Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 530, Error Number: 0x800CCC78

 

 

 

 

The host 'smtp.sky.com' could not be found. Please verify that you have entered the server name correctly. Account: 'POP3.tools.sky.com', Server: 'smtp.sky.com', Protocol: SMTP, Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 11001, Error Number: 0x800CCC0D

 

Dont know what else I can do except cut my losses and just invest in a new PC!

Ray

[etavares]

I'm not sure it's the PC. We could try Thunderbird, it's another email program like Outlook Express that's free. Can you log in ok via the web? (I"m assuming Sky has webmail access?)

 

-etavares

[PEV]

Hi Estavares and all the rest who have advised on this.

This thread can be closed as I have a new system and my apologies for not replying to your post of 8 October 2014!

I have been involved in so much stuff on and off line I just forgot.

Ray

[KenB]

No problem Ray - thanks for letting us know :)