Insane and sudden Spam Bombardment. Help!!

audelair · 25 May 2009, 01:13 PM

Hi,
I always diligently protect my email address from Spam. I actually get very little spam. Actually almost none, other than mail forwarded to me from my old University Email.

Today however that all changed. I got bombarded by probably thousands of spams in the past hour. And they are still coming to me (as I write this, they are coming in about 10-15 new spams every couple of minutes).

The problem is that this is all directed to <randomletters>@myuser.fastmail.fm.

And the <randomletters> seem to be all different.

And all of these are "undeliverable messages" which seem to be spam that is being sent back to me as undeliverable messages where my <randomletters>@myuser.fastmail.fm is being used as a "from" address.

So someone is using my personal domain and using thousands of different unique email addresses to send spam to a bunch of unknown recipients. But because they are all my personal domain, I am getting ALL of the bounce-backs!

Can someone offer some ideas of what I can do about it? I have been using this fastmail service for 6-7 years spam-free.

Thank you very much!

kaptitsky · 25 May 2009, 01:28 PM

Do a search for "backscatter" on this forum or in a wider search.

It's a common problem.

audelair · 25 May 2009, 02:01 PM

Thanks! I didn't even know what to search for. It looks like Fastmail has a backscatter action setting, so I just set it to discard. Hopefully that works.

Is it generally safe to use "discard" on that option? I only use Fastmail's servers to send mail, so I'm not worried about sending from other smtp servers or anything. But is there any chance of it discarding any other types of legitimate mails?

robmueller · 26 May 2009, 04:43 PM

No, it's very safe. About 5-10% still gets through, but that seems to be getting less over time as other MTAs get better. The "Aggressive" level has "discard backscatter" as the default. That's what I use.

Rob

25 May 2009, 01:13 PM	#1
audelair Essential Contributor Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 271	Insane and sudden Spam Bombardment. Help!! Hi, I always diligently protect my email address from Spam. I actually get very little spam. Actually almost none, other than mail forwarded to me from my old University Email. Today however that all changed. I got bombarded by probably thousands of spams in the past hour. And they are still coming to me (as I write this, they are coming in about 10-15 new spams every couple of minutes). The problem is that this is all directed to <randomletters>@myuser.fastmail.fm. And the <randomletters> seem to be all different. And all of these are "undeliverable messages" which seem to be spam that is being sent back to me as undeliverable messages where my <randomletters>@myuser.fastmail.fm is being used as a "from" address. So someone is using my personal domain and using thousands of different unique email addresses to send spam to a bunch of unknown recipients. But because they are all my personal domain, I am getting ALL of the bounce-backs! Can someone offer some ideas of what I can do about it? I have been using this fastmail service for 6-7 years spam-free. Thank you very much!

25 May 2009, 01:28 PM	#2
kaptitsky The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 2,186	Do a search for "backscatter" on this forum or in a wider search. It's a common problem.

25 May 2009, 02:01 PM	#3
audelair Essential Contributor Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 271	Thanks! I didn't even know what to search for. It looks like Fastmail has a backscatter action setting, so I just set it to discard. Hopefully that works. Is it generally safe to use "discard" on that option? I only use Fastmail's servers to send mail, so I'm not worried about sending from other smtp servers or anything. But is there any chance of it discarding any other types of legitimate mails?

26 May 2009, 04:43 PM	#4
robmueller Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 6,102 Representative of: Fastmail.FM	No, it's very safe. About 5-10% still gets through, but that seems to be getting less over time as other MTAs get better. The "Aggressive" level has "discard backscatter" as the default. That's what I use. Rob