Wrong Email Address in the To Box

[paul.raeburn]

On occassions I get mails from my pop server with different email addresses in the To box:

paul.r.worrall[at]ntlworld.com

paul.r.reed[at]ntlworld.com

Is this a fault of my ISP or spamcop?

Many Thanks

Paul R

[Wazoo]

you didn't mention what your "real" address is, but just going with what you provided, I'd guess that you'd want to see what's in the BCC: line (Blind Courtesy Copy) .... I'm guessing you'll either see your "real" address there or a "Recipients not provided/Listed" .. something like that ...

You're suggesting what's called a dictionary attack, spammer taking your "paul.r." and just adding some extensions to it, then shotgunning the whole mess out. You may see only the one address in the "To:" line, but there may be a couple of hundred addresses that were included in the "BCC:" line that you don't get to see the contents of, being stripped during handling (the "blind" part of the line title.)

[jefft]

On occassions I get mails from my pop server with different email addresses in the To box:

paul.r.worrall[at]ntlworld.com

paul.r.reed[at]ntlworld.com

Is this a fault of my ISP or spamcop?

Many Thanks

Paul R

Neither.

The To: address isn't actually the address that the email was sent to. The email address the email was sent to is actually in a hidden field that you can't see. It isn't part of the email headers at all.

Now, of course, most people generate email where the To: and this hidden address are the same. However, there's no need for them to be the same at all. In fact, the To: can be entirely missing and email works just fine.

What you're seeing is that a spammer is sending to a list of addresses sorted in alphabetical order. For every email, say to 10 people, he puts the first guy in the list on the To: line, but sends it to all 10 of you at once. So, you see an address that's close to yours on the To: line, but not yours.

JT