e-mail hack

[Masie]

Grr although i'm mostly using my new e-mail now (masiedee@googlemail.com) i've kept my hotmail one so I dont lose contact with anyone. Someone has been sending e-mails from my hotmail account indorsing an electrcal company or soemthing please ignore I dont understand elctronics let alone recommend them.

Masie x

[justickleme]

It may not have been hacked, your address may simply have been forged, ie: someone is pretending the email came from you, so you get the replies / bounces.

The most common way for this to happen is where people like yourself post your email address on public forums like this one (which is exactly what you've done with your new email address!!) and it is harvested by automated bots (computers).

[Masie]

I know its risky putting out my address but I need people to know it as I need work more than I need people not to know about the exciting new electorincal wires they can buy in the new year. But I do take your point,

[justickleme]

I do understand and yes it is awkward, but the easiest way to let people know your address and not have it spammed is to mask it as "yourname [at] domain [dot] com" (or similar), so it is less likely to be harvested, eg:

Email me at:
myname [at] hotmail [dot] com
or
myname_at_hotmail_dot_com, etc.

It does not need to be clickable any more as almost everyone is savvy enough to work out what it should be written as.

[Autolycus]

Yes, I have had two or three emails like that "from" Kelly Marina...lol