Trying to figure this out...

[psi20]

Ok, here's the scenario. I get this email that has a virus on it. I don't open it up, though, but now I'm trying to figure out whether my friend did it or not. Here are some of the key points.

 

1) The sender has her name on it, and so does the email address.

 

2) I never received any emails from her until 3 weeks ago, one day after I sent her something. In other words, she didn't know my email prior to my sending something to her.

 

3) The first virus email had a list of all her friends' emails, although the next two didn't.

 

The first point makes it really suspicious. I can't imagine somebody without access to her email doing it.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Viruses can send emails themselves. Ask her to update her A/V and run a virus scan. That could be it.

[The Rebel]

Ok' date=' here's the scenario. I get this email that has a virus on it. I don't open it up, though, but now I'm trying to figure out whether my friend did it or not. Here are some of the key points.

 

1) The sender has her name on it, and so does the email address.

 

2) I never received any emails from her until 3 weeks ago, one day after I sent her something. In other words, she didn't know my email prior to my sending something to her.

 

3) The first virus email had a list of all her friends' emails, although the next two didn't.

 

The first point makes it really suspicious. I can't imagine somebody without access to her email doing it.[/quote']

 

1) Virus can send email from user accounts without the user knowing but with their email headers attached

 

2) Maybe she now knows your email address, she has added you into her contacts book/email account, etc.

 

3) Now you are in her email account the virus, has sent you and all the others in her account the virus.

 

One good tip I've heard is to add a fake email address into your contacts. For example add aaaa@aaaa.com with the name aaaaa. When the virus arrives it will go to the first address (aaaa@aaaa.com) and find that it is not successful and go on elsewhere. You'll wil also receive an email back from your email server that the mail was not successful, thus indicating somethings dodgy was going on. Not sure about the truth in this idea however, jus do it anyway.

[psi20]

I think its a virus because the message sounded weird. It was like: I want you to be part of my group of friends. I've added you to my list. Can you confirm that you are one of my friends? Click this site. [site] If you don't want to be a part of the group, then click the site to unsubscribe.

 

Thanks for the info. If viruses can send themselves, then that's the most probable case.

[1veedo]

Try searching the URL, or a base of it and looking for the cache.

 

Or try searching for the title of the message, or some of the content and see if you find anything. Generally if you suspect something, the title will always give it away in google.

[The Thing]

The Melissa virus is the most notorious virus, and it works by sending itself to everyone in your contact list. So it is very possible for a virus to be sent to you from her account. The fact that it had a list of all her friends' addresses confirms that it is a virus.

[JohnB]

I think its a virus because the message sounded weird.

It may not be virus at all. There are a few sites around like NamesDatabase dot Com that are a sort of contact network to find old school friends, that sort of thing.

 

Sometimes they use a pervasive type of software that gets into the address book.This software is not really malicious but if your friend is registered with them, they will register your addition to her contacts and invite you to join. Or perhaps she ticked a section when she registered to allow the site to use her contacts list to invite her friends.

 

That is possibly why the first email had a lot of her friends on it but the later ones didn't.

 

I've recieved similar emails myself and they were always from this type of site when a friend registered.

 

I take it from your comments that your AV did not register it as a virus?