Here's an interesting item from ZDNet: *************** What is Email Spoofing? By Tom Merritt Email spoofing is the practice of changing your name in email so that it looks like the email came from somewhere or someone else. Spoofing is generally used by spammers as a first defense against people finding out who they are. It's also used by general malcontents to practice mischievous and malicious behavior. Spoofing can be a legitimate and helpful tool for someone with more than one email account. I spoof regularly from my ISP-provided email. For instance, you have an account, [email protected], but you want all replies to go to [email protected] You can spoof yourself so that all the mail sent from the isp.net account looks like it came from your purplemonkeys.com account. If anyone replies to your email, the reply would be sent to [email protected] This is also helpful if you temporarily use a Web-based email account but want the replies to go to your regular email address. Remember that spoofing anyone but yourself is absolutely and undeniably illegal. You should not ever spoof anyone else, not even in fun. To change your email identity, go into the mail preferences of your email client, or Web-based email host. Look for fields about identity. They will normally default to your email address and your name. You can change them to whatever you want. *************** This is from me, SgtGeorge: Now, you can do as suggested above, or, you can simply delete the default name and email address in the "From:" header of your email and replace it with whatever you want. I'm not suggesting that you do this, just sending the item to let you know how those d***ed SPAMMERS do what they do. And, the same thing works for those who would send viruses. I just sent this identical email to myself, but changed the "From:" header to: "The Phantom" <[email protected]> I received the email back and it was from: "The Phantom" <[email protected]> Without any clue to my real name and email address. But, normally, when the headers are expanded, there will be a line, "X-Sender" that will identify the actual sender. Using a small free DOS utility that works for Eudora, called "Edit-X", I was able to keep the "X-Sender" line from showing up in any email I send; thus, I could send the same email to anyone and they would have no NORMAL way to find out who sent it. Now, the reason for this email: SPAMMERS, and other lowlife creatures, do this all the time. But, there is still a way to find out WHO actually sent the email, if you contact the appropriate server, and, if they will cooperate!!!!! If you look at the "expanded" headers, that is, ALL the headers of any given email, you will find a header, "Received: from....." In that header, the sender WILL be identified. Here's what that header looked like in the email I sent to myself: Received: from 0015523864.Subscriber (ts005d10.kno-tn.concentric.net [206.173.4.214]) by newman.concentric.net (8.9.1a) id WAA22463; Wed, 10 May 2000 22:28:39 -0400 (EDT) Look at: 0015523864.subscriber (ts005d10.kno-tn.concentric.net [206.173.4.214]) That says that the sender (me) originated the email through the "concentric.net" server, and that the connection originated in Knoxville, TN. The "0015523864.subscriber (ts005d10" can be used by Concentric.Net to determine who I am. You and I can't tell who "0015523864.subscriber (ts005d10" is, but Concentric.Net can! That's why, when we receive SPAM, or receive an email containing a virus attachment, we HAVE to look at ALL of the headers. Case in point: Melissa Virus Melissa sends email to randomly selected addresses in your address book. It then selects an address from the address book to put in the "From:" header. You get a virus-containing email "supposedly" from so-and-so. But, it didn't really come from that person. Looking at the "Received: from..." header will show you the SERVER of the person whose system is infected. The part that I extracted and showed above will let Concentric.Net know from which subscriber the email actually originated. It's getting so we all have to become "experts" in order to thwart all the SPAMMERS and viruses that abound today. Yes, it's aggravating, and, yes, it makes for more work than most of us want to do, but, I'm afraid it's something we're all going to have to learn, sooner or later. Regards, SgtGeorge George W. Durman Knoxville, TN VIRUS-DISCUSSION List Administrator