I've just had a spam email in which the "from" address was the same as the "to" address, ie mine. The subject was something like Error: returned email. Is this a new wheeze to get round spam filters?
Tim Gossling
Yes. Internet email systems don't actually use the To: and From: addresses, which can be forged to say anything. The recipient (you) is identified in the headers that are created when the mail software sends the email to the mail server. Mail headers are hard to read, and nowadays, most mail software hides them. The trick works because curiosity may make people more likely to read a message they appear to have sent themselves. Also, you can't really blacklist your own address, though content-based blockers should still catch this type of spam. But I wouldn't worry about it unless you have a copy of the same email in your Sent folder.
