Valid email account sends spam regularly

A friend's yahoo email account sends emails with subjects like:

This Kit changed all my life
no regrets after doing this venture
Look what i found here!

What can he do to about it?

Thanks!

Valentin

Posted 2011-12-06T12:28:57.807

Reputation: 125

How do you confirm that the emails are actually coming from his Yahoo account? Are you sure the emails are not faked by others? Just like that one can write any "sender name/address" on the envelope of a piece of First Class Mail, SMTP does not require the "sender" field to be the real one. – Frank – 2011-12-06T13:26:40.590

Answers

First of all you should check if the sender is not faked (check the e-mail header if it has been sent via Yahoo). If it is not faked your frind should immediately

Change the account password to a totally new and secure password (min. length 8 characters, numbers and special characters)
Check the "security question" to make sure no-one can guess it
Check the used computers for viruses and trojans (they can be used to steal passwords)

Robert

Posted 2011-12-06T12:28:57.807

Reputation: 4 857

He's not asking what to do if his account has been hacked - his friend's account is the one compromised. He does not need to change any password etc. – Traveling Tech Guy – 2011-12-06T12:44:57.163

True, the answer was misleading - now corrected. – Robert – 2011-12-06T12:47:10.390

Your friend's account has, most probably, been hacked. He should take it back immediately by changing his password (if he still can - assuming the hacker hasn't changed it already) and/or notifying Yahoo. See Robert's reply for details.

In case your friend's account has been taken over by a worm or virus, recommend a full computer AV run for him - and do one yourself. You can never know what has been transmitted so far.

You need to block all emails from your friend's address until such time as he has taken it back. Make sure you do not click any links in any emails, or take anything in them as real until such time.

Traveling Tech Guy

Posted 2011-12-06T12:28:57.807

Reputation: 8 743