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I admit right off, I am a computer dummy. Please explain in dummy terms to me….here is my problem….My soon to be ex husband has e-mailed me saying that he has received harrassing e-mails, and sent them to bellsouth to be traced. O.k. fine, I’m not worried.
Then he e-mails me and says it was traced to MY IP ADDRESS!!!!
For God’s sake! What now! I DID NOT send them!! I have friends who use my computer. They swear they didn’t send them! I never sent him ANY Harrassing e-mails! It supposedly came from a yahoo address of an unknown name! He is threatening to press charges. I did not do this and have no proof. For the last week, someone has been trying to tap into my e-mails, and actually have a few times. I have had to change usernames and passwords, several times!
Could someone have stolen my IP address????
My IP address is openly posted on my prayer forum that I maintain…could someone have taken it there????? I am so screwed! Somebody please help, me what do I do?????????
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad:EDIT: Moved from Yahoo! Forums.
It is possible for your IP address to be “spoofed” (someone is masking thier IP address with yours), however, it is very highly unlikely that this has happened. The reason I say this is because of the fact that whoever would do it wouldn’t gain anything from it, except for your “soon to be ex” but I doubt he even has the technical knowledge to do it. Now this doesn’t exclude the fact that he just might have the know-how or have a friend who does, but again this is unlikely. Your ex is probably just trying to scare you. By the way, what kind of internet service do you have. If you have dial up, then don’t count on it being spoofed simply because whenever you dial up to the internet, your IP address changes. If you have broadband such as DSL, cable, or wireless, then most ISP’s will change your IP address once every 48 to 72 hours (give or take a few). Some provide static IP addresses which don’t change, but usually you have to pay for this. I would suggest checking your IP address every day at this site http://computercops.biz/modules.php?name=Reveal_IP for a week and see how often your IP address changes, if it does. If you are using Dial up, then you don’t have to do this because your IP address will change every time you sign on, so you should only do this if you have broadband (ie. DSL, Cable, Wireless, Satalite, T-1, etc.).
Thank you for the reply. I feel a little better. :)I have DSL but I thought I remembered a technician say that my address was static! Anyway, I called Bellsouth a few minutes ago and they walked me through changing my IP address. My stb ex (or sob ex, whichever lol) does know a lot about computers and might have done it or may be trying to scare me. Well, it worked. I’m afraid it will come back to me and I will get into trouble, for something I didn’t do. Do you think I am in the clear, now that I changed my IP, if not how can I prove my innocence?
Thank you again very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BeckyHe might know the IP because he lived there…that would not be hard for him at all. I’d also run spy bot search & destroy and AD-Aware SE to make sure he (or someone on his behalf) have not downloaded a keylogger or something onto your PC. Which means that even if you change your passwords…someone who put the keylogger (it “logs” the keys you type) gets everything you type and knows your passwords. I’ll come back and edit this with the sites for spybot & ad-aware
EDIT: Here are the links, just click on them and you’ll be on your way. Spybot mentions donations, you can if you want to be nice, but you can still download it without donating. Anyway, here you go, hope these help!!
Spybot Search & Destroy🙂
I sincerely doubt he could do much in the way of pressing charges. Email is a very insecure medium. It would be very hard to prove that you sent those emails even if he does have the IP. The only thing that would prove his case would be to discover the original sent emails in your email program. My opinion is he’s simply trying to scare you. Ignore him – he’s the one harrassing you.
Quote:quote:Originally posted by shifterI sincerely doubt he could do much in the way of pressing charges. Email is a very insecure medium. It would be very hard to prove that you sent those emails even if he does have the IP. The only thing that would prove his case would be to discover the original sent emails in your email program. My opinion is he’s simply trying to scare you. Ignore him – he’s the one harassing you.
Correct, and if in fact you did not send those emails — your ISP will protect you, they have the “real” logs, those connection logs will hold up in court. He is trying to scare you I’m sure.
Thanks to all who have replied.
I hope it was only a scare tactic. Anyway, I e-mailed yahoo customer service, and again talked to bellsouth.I have started to wonder if one of my friends may have sent the e-mails from here, though. (They have promised that they did not.)
Hopefully, it will be resolved. Though I can’t prove I did not send them or my friends did from here. I assume he cannot prove the opposite.
It scares me to think of going to jail or paying a fine for something I did not do. When you say my ISP has the real logs….how do I go about contacting them for help in this (to maybe get a copy of the logs.)?
Thanks again.
Hi computer dummy, if u think that some of your friend “might” have used your computer to send such emails, I would advice u to create multiple user accounts. Atleast two user accounts. One for urself with a password which no one else knows, and the other account for guests. So when some one else uses your computer, he/she will use that account whereas u will use the other account. So by then atleast u can be sure that no one else can send any email from your computer from your user account.
But before doing that, as Oreo said, do a virus, spyware and keylogger scan using the above mentioned softwares.Quote:quote:Originally posted by neo_ny_23Hi computer dummy, if u think that some of your friend “might” have used your computer to send such emails, I would advice u to create multiple user accounts. Atleast two user accounts. One for urself with a password which no one else knows, and the other account for guests. So when some one else uses your computer, he/she will use that account whereas u will use the other account. So by then atleast u can be sure that no one else can send any email from your computer from your user account.
But before doing that, as Oreo said, do a virus, spyware and keylogger scan using the above mentioned softwares.And what would that solve? It’s still the same network, the same software, the same IP, the same hostname, the same Mac Address. Why bother in this case?
Quote:quote:Originally posted by DavidQuote:quote:Originally posted by neo_ny_23Hi computer dummy, if u think that some of your friend “might” have used your computer to send such emails, I would advice u to create multiple user accounts. Atleast two user accounts. One for urself with a password which no one else knows, and the other account for guests. So when some one else uses your computer, he/she will use that account whereas u will use the other account. So by then atleast u can be sure that no one else can send any email from your computer from your user account.
But before doing that, as Oreo said, do a virus, spyware and keylogger scan using the above mentioned softwares.And what would that solve? It’s still the same network, the same software, the same IP, the same hostname, the same Mac Address. Why bother in this case?
That will mean that if some one is sending the email from the computer or has a key logger, the user account will always be the “Guests” which means, atleast some one else is sending the emails from her computer.
Its just for her own reference.
If I had been in her shoes, I wont hesitate to install some keylogger on my own laptop just to make sure if some of my friends are doing this( if some one is using my laptop ). And having different user accounts for different people will also let me know who is doing this from my computer (if anyone is sending emails at all ).thanks, I have major computer problems….trojans, hijackers, etc. Something fishy is definitely going on. I have made separate accounts…for guests…but like I said, if someone from here did write the e-mails
I will be to blame, since it’s mine:mad:. How do I get my ISP to provide me with these “logs”.It’s me again. My problem has worsened. My soon to be ex has hacked into my bellsouth account. (He has my social security #) With this info., he was able to change my security password! He has been able to send himself various e-mails “FROM ME”!!!! Of course, I cannot prove this, but he is the only person with access to my social security number and bellsouth account. Tonight I received an e-mail to my address from my address….se what I mean? I SWEAR TO GOD I DID NOT SEND THIS! I am afraid he will use these fake e-mails in court. I have reported this to [email]abuse@bellsouth.net….so[/email] far nothing. I have called Bellsouth and no one can give me any “LOGS” on my account…..nobody seems to know what to do, though I have called and called. DOES ANYBODY KNOW HOW TO HELP. I AM SCARED TO DEATH. He is an evil bas****, How can I prove it was not me. I was out of town when they were supposedly sent, and no one had access to my computer.
THANKS FOR ANY HELP.:mad::mad::mad::mad:Hi computer dummy,
Calm down, save this topic’s postings down, or print it out to keep as reference. Also if you can, try to print out the log or print screen the results of trojans, spyware, etc. on your computer so you have proof that someone was gaining access to your computer. Have witnesses that can verify your existen at the time, day that those emails was sent. Leave your computer intact, try not to remove any trojans, spyware, etc. from your computer just yet. Keep them until everything is settled in case the problem get worse, which will probably involve a computer forensic. They can prove your innocent based on what’s on your computer. For the mean time, try to use another computer. Overall, your chances are pretty good, don’t worry about it. Emails, IPs can be spoofed easily, it’s not enough to hold in court.
Hope that helps, I might miss something, if anybody spot it, please add more to help her out.
If you had to: Fly,Use a bus, train, have ANY credit card charges that PROVE you were out of town you have NOTHING to worry about….Just make sure to SAVE those things. IF he really has used your SS# THAT is a federal offense and he could do hard time if you can prove it. People are getting particularly hard on indentity theft. ALSO, mark down the TIMES, DATES and to WHOM you spoke at Bellsouth so that their logs can be checked and your story can check out. It’s important to have things like that. ALSO, I would inform the local police that you believe he’s used your SS# because like I mentioned before…THAT is BIGTIME against the law. The best thing to do is what SS Anti Hacker said and calm down. The more freaked out you are the better he likes it and the more things you are apt to forget….like saving those recipts. It will all be OK. Just take a deep breath and go do something else for about an hour that has nothing to do with your soon to be ex or anything else…when you come back to the situation you’ll see the clear path.
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