I haven't logged in here in several years, but what prompted me to post was this strange email I got just now. It's obvious it's just a spam message as the link redirects to a site that looks like Fox News, but all the images and links are replaced with some miracle weight loss drink that doesn't work.

Here's the contents of the message with all the recipients whited out:


Has anyone else on this forum received the same message? I noticed that there are a couple of names in the To list that I recognize; RehdBlob and HarryCat18 to be exact. Not sure if someone hacked these forums or they got into Cat's mail somehow.

1 attached image

Haven't gotten a message like this, but . . .wow.

I got one of those as well. I was about to notify Cat about it, but seems there's already a topic about it.

I got it too. Hey, it's bringing people back to VR.

If anyone has received this message, I ask that you delete it immediately. I've only managed to round up about 100 of the e-mail addresses it was sent to in order to issue an apology, so there are likely many others I missed. I've already changed my password.

I'm willing to bet whatever spambot managed to crack in sent a message to everyone I've ever e-mailed from that account from the last 11 years (when I registered the account). >_>

I no longer use the email address that's connected to my account for this site but... I just checked and I have nothing like that. It's pretty bizarre.

Dangit Cat, people stop clicking free smiley ads years ago.

AH HA! Thank you, message headers!

Apparently, my account was not hacked. It was delivered by jeffc@st-charles.org operating on the St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church (in Lima, OH) domain and attempted to be masked by being sent from my address.

x-store-info: *removed*
Authentication-Results: hotmail.com; spf=none (sender IP is 65.17.128.152; identity alignment result is fail and alignment mode is relaxed) smtp.mailfrom=jeffc@st-charles.org; dkim=none (identity alignment result is pass and alignment mode is relaxed) header.d=aol.com; x-hmca=none header.id=cat333pokemon@aol.com
X-SID-PRA: cat333pokemon@aol.com
X-AUTH-Result: NONE
X-SID-Result: NONE
X-Message-Status: n:n
X-Message-Delivery: Vj0xLjE7dXM9MDtsPTA7YT0wO0Q9MTtHRD0yO1NDTD0w
X-Message-Info: *removed*
Received: from bizmail01.wcoil.com ([65.17.128.152]) by BAY0-PAMC2-F3.Bay0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.4900);
	 Thu, 20 Feb 2014 15:56:04 -0800
Received: from mycomputer (Broadband-Dynamic-119-235-77-39.connect.com.fj [119.235.77.39])
	(Authenticated sender: jeffc@st-charles.org)
	by bizmail01.wcoil.com (Postfix) with ESMTPA id 4DEDA2E82A0;
	Thu, 20 Feb 2014 18:55:47 -0500 (EST)
From: "=?ISO-8859-1?Q?cat333pokemon=40aol.com?=" <cat333pokemon@aol.com>
To: *addresses removed*
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?cat333pokemon=40aol.com?=
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2014 12:55:47 +0100
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook, Build 11.0.5510
Reply-To: cat333pokemon@aol.com
Content-type: Multipart/mixed; boundary="50B60084_390367CB_boundary"
Content-Description: Multipart message
Return-Path: jeffc@st-charles.org
Message-ID: <BAY0-PAMC2-F3zJOTfH0008d898@BAY0-PAMC2-F3.Bay0.hotmail.com>
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 20 Feb 2014 23:56:04.0347 (UTC) FILETIME=[508E34B0:01CF2E97]

--50B60084_390367CB_boundary
Content-type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: Quoted-printable
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Description: HTML text

I have now purged my contacts on the AOL account after exporting them. I had 1,258 e-mail addresses in there (again, we're talking ELEVEN years on a popular e-mail account with about a quarter of a million total messages).

What the heck why didn't I get a message like this!?

Just kidding.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cat333Pokémon I have now purged my contacts on the AOL

I stay clear away from the AOL software and only use the e-mail through the website and Windows Mail/Outlook.

Is it a good thing or a bad thing that such a spam email never managed to reach my inboxes? (It seems like it probably got nuked by Microsoft before it even got in.)

I havnt seen this in my email *Yet* but whats it look like? Will it say something in its header so i dont click it the next time i go through my e-mails.

The spam message was delivered to pretty much everyone I ever sent a message to, from my AOL e-mail account. If I never sent you an e-mail through AOL (or added you to my contacts there), then you didn't get one. It did not use the e-mail addresses stored in Victory Road's database.

Hehe.

Makes me wonder what's going on with AOL's security, to be honest.

I use yahoo for my main email, so i dont think i'll get it.

Whoever got a hold of you address book Cat, they are sending messages from contacts to other contacts. I got a message in my spam folder this morning claiming it was from KYA.

Bumping this thread because it happened again. Same sort of message as the first one, only this time it links to a fake version of Women's Health and my browser's anti-fraud thing actually caught it.

Edit: This spam message, while all the recipients stayed the same, had different headers than the first.

1 attached image

I don't get it. My contacts list is completely empty now, and I changed my password since then. Judging by this part of the header in the PM you sent me...

Received: from mail-1.cc.uic.edu (mail-1-456.cc.uic.edu. [128.248.156.182])
        by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id a7si4397701iga.43.2014.04.08.10.28.20
        for <multiple recipients>
        (version=TLSv1 cipher=RC4-SHA bits=128/128);
        Tue, 08 Apr 2014 10:28:20 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: neutral (google.com: 128.248.156.182 is neither permitted nor denied by domain of cat333pokemon@aol.com) client-ip=128.248.156.182;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com;
       spf=neutral (google.com: 128.248.156.182 is neither permitted nor denied by domain of cat333pokemon@aol.com) smtp.mail=cat333pokemon@aol.com
Received: from uic.edu (dsl-189-241-239-129-dyn.prod-infinitum.com.mx [189.241.239.129] (may be forged))
	(authenticated bits=0)

Just a quick update. I received the following message from AOL:

Quote:

Dear AOL User, At AOL, we care deeply about the safety and security of your online experience. We are writing to notify you that AOL is investigating a security incident that involved unauthorized access to AOL's network and systems. Recently, our systems alerted us to an increased incidence of email users receiving spam emails from "spoofed" AOL email addresses. AOL's security team immediately began investigating the cause of the spoofed emails. Spoofing is a tactic used by spammers to make it appear that the message is from you in order to trick the recipient into opening it. These emails do not originate from the AOL Mail system – the addresses are just edited to make them appear that way. AOL is working with other email providers like Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and Outlook·com to stamp out spoofing across the industry, and we have implemented measures that will significantly limit its future occurrence. Although our investigation is still underway, we have determined that there was unauthorized access to AOL users' email addresses, postal addresses, contact information (as stored in the AOL Mail "Address Book"), encrypted account passwords, and encrypted answers to security questions that we ask when a user resets his or her password. We believe spammers have used this contact information to send spoofed emails that appeared to come from roughly 2% of our email accounts. Importantly, at this point, we have no indication that the encryption on the passwords or the answers to security questions was broken. Likewise, there is no indication that this incident resulted in disclosure of users' financial information, including debit and credit cards, which is also fully encrypted. Nevertheless, as a precautionary measure, we strongly encourage you to reset your password used for any AOL service and, when you do so, you should take the time to change your account security question and answer. You may reset your password and account security question at account.aol.com. In addition, there are steps you can take to protect yourself from cyber risks. They include: If you receive a suspicious email, do not respond or click on any links or attachments in the email. When in doubt about the authenticity of an email you have received, contact the sender to confirm that he or she actually sent it. Never provide personal or financial information in an email to someone you do not know. AOL will never ask you for your password or any other sensitive personal information over email. If you believe you are a victim of spoofing, consider letting your friends know that your emails may have been spoofed and to avoid clicking the links in suspicious emails. We place a premium on the security of our systems and our users' information. We are implementing additional measures to address this incident, and we are working with law enforcement to pursue the matter. If you have any further questions, additional information and an extensive Q&A can be found at faq.aol.com. We apologize for any inconvenience, and we are addressing the situation as quickly and forcefully as we can. Bud Rosenthal, AOL Membership Group CEO Privacy Policy | Customer Support ©2014 AOL, Inc. All Rights Reserved.