What is a Mailer Daemon and Why does He Always Send Me Attachments????

8.01.03 | mlmr

[mlmr]

I have a constant stream of emails from Mailer Daemon from the same address. I just received an email telling me that my email address is going to expire.

I also have been told that a lot of my email is not gettng through. I have been using mailwasher and have disabled the filters so I can personally examine what is coming in.

Would a technically astute and wonderful Freeper explain?

Thank you. The Technically-impaired mlmr

[Chad Fairbanks]

This might help...

[Izzy Dunne]

Hard to say without seeing the headers, but I would suspect a virus or a scammer. Can you look at all the headers of one of these messages?
Normally you don't see them. On the Mac, it's SHOW ALL HEADERS under the VIEW menu, I don't know about Windoze.

They will show you some of the stops the message made on its way to you.
It's VERY VERY doubtful that your ISP would send you a message with attachments explaining that you're about to be expired.

BEWARE

[LibKill]

Do NOT open any of those attachments!

It is a trick of more advanced hackers to send you mail from "Mailer Daemon". The attachments probably have viruses.

If you send an email to an address that does not exist, you will get a real reply from "Mailer Daemon". This means your email did not get through.

But, hackers can fake an email from "Mailer Daemon". I have received several and they all had viruses that my anti-virus caught and deleted.

Get a good anti-virus program now. If you don't know what "anti-virus" means, then turn off your computer and go talk to someone who has been using computers for ten or so years.

Good luck.

[Jay D. Dyson]

"Mailer-Daemon" is a catch-all sender for bounced messages.

What you are most likely seeing are bounces due to some trojan's spew of trojan-bearing e-mails. These trojans are typically (and often trivially) replicated courtesy of Micro$loth crapware otherwise known as "Outlook" and "Outlook Express."

All told, I'd recommend you just delete the messages and forget about it. It's long since passed the point in which ISPs even pretend to give a damn if their users are spewing trojans courtesy of Microsoft's shoddy products.

-Jay

[LibKill]

New computer user needs help!

[mlmr]

I have an anti virus Norton. It doesnt pop up when these turkeys show up and it live updates almost daily...the Norton that is....

[ladyinred]

I am not literate when it comes to computers, however, I have seen personally this week a program that breaks into someones computer called Spywear, or something like that. To activate it, you send an email with an attachment, and when that is opened, the person can see everything, and I mean everything you do on your computer ,and everything in your computer. BE CAREFUL!

[Fred Hayek]

This has been going around at the refinery where I work. The address where it originates from is admin@(domain name), where in fact there is no such username in that company's domain. The e-mails had the same message about the recipient's e-mail account about to expire, with the instruction to open the attached .zip file. It's been reported that opening the .zip file causes the computer to lock up, no telling yet if it causes further damage - it just hit here about noon today, so it's a new one. This kind of behavior does indicate a virus.

[mlmr]

my mailwasher bounces a ton of mail. I thought that a few months of bouncing would have slowed down the spam but it is as strong as ever.

[martin_fierro]

Mailer, Demon.

[mlmr]

Not so much a NEW user as a technically limited user!!

[Capt. Tom]

If your e- mail had the following message and you opened the file you have the W32.Mimail@mm virus which is a worm that spreads by email.

Message: Hello there, I would like to inform you about important information regarding your email address. This email address will be expiring. Please read attachment for details. Best regards, Administrator

[mlmr]

Thank you

[LibKill]

I have an anti virus Norton. It doesnt pop up when these turkeys show up and it live updates almost daily...the Norton that is....

The good news, you are probably safe with Norton.

The bad news, some cyberpuke may be faking your address and sending out spam, some of that spam is going to bad addresses and then bouncing back to you. I don't know what to do about that, maybe Ernest and his team of CyberLords does.

[arasina]

Please look at this thread regarding a new internet WORM. If you've opened the attachment, your computer is infected.

New email worm

Here are some highlights from the thread.

This worm attempts to exploit a vulnerability in Internet Explorer which allows a script to execute in the Local computer...

This mass-mailing worm arrives as an email attachment, which is an HTML file containing a UPX-compressed Win32 EXE file. When the HTML file is opened, the malware code is executed and it exploits the Internet Explorer security system vulnerability. It then launches the .EXE file carrying the worm program.

The email message has the following details:
Subject: your account %n%
Body: Hello there, I would like to inform you about important information regarding youremail address.
This email address will be expiring. Please read attachment for details.
Best regards, Administrator Attachment: "message.zip"

[mlmr]

Thanks, I have that same admin address here.

[mlmr]

Who is that, it can't be Norman, can it??

[mlmr]

That's the new one. I also get numerous letters telling me that my own address has permenent, fatal errors.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I just received an email telling me that my email address is going to expire.

VIRUS ALAERT! Block that address and do not open any attachments!

New Email Virus Warning!