Getting emails from unknown senders

There are several reasons you may have received an email from someone you don't know. Usually, it's just a mistake. Other common reasons include:

  • Someone spelled an email address wrong and accidentally typed yours instead when sending a message or signing up for a mailing list.
  • Someone is sending out emails to common names. This is usually done by spammers, trying to find new addresses to add to their mailing lists. While annoying, this doesn't mean that your account is less secure. Please report these messages as spam.
  • Someone is sending emails somewhere else, but they're forging the email to look like it came from you. If the address they are trying to send to doesn't actually exist, you'll get a "delivery failure" email back, even though you never sent any email to that person. Again, this is often done by spammers to hide the original source of the message.
  • Someone you know has a virus, such as the Klez virus, which is sending out emails to everyone in their contact list.

Most of the time, getting a message from someone you don't know is just a mistake, or spam. If you think the message might be spam, the best thing you can do is click Report Spam.

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