Reference number: CH000529

Why am I getting e-mails telling me I am sending viruses?

Question:

Why am I getting e-mails telling me I am sending viruses?

Answer:

A virus or worm that is infected on your computer can cause this issue, and/or another computer infected with a virus or worm is using (spoofing) your e-mail address as the e-mail address of who is sending the virus or worm. When a network or user receives an e-mail infected with the virus that is capable of detecting the virus, it will automatically reply to your e-mail address. Below are some examples of automatic replies.

Automatic reply examples:

This message is simply to warn you that your computer system may have a virus present and should be checked.

Report: >>> Virus 'W32/Sobig-F' found in file details.pif
Shortcuts to MS-DOS programs are very dangerous in email (details.pif)

In the above example, the automatic reply is for the Sobig virus and may have also listed movie.pif, sky_world.scr, document.pif, or application.pif as the attached program.

To help verify that this issue is not being caused by your computer, make sure you are running the latest updated version of your virus scanner and scan your computer to make sure it is not infected with any viruses or worms.

If your computer is infected with a virus or worm, make sure to let all your e-mail contacts know that your computer was infected with a virus and to make sure they check their computers as well.

If your computer was not infected with a virus or worm, it is very likely that another computer on the Internet is infected with a virus and may have used your e-mail address to distribute the virus. Unfortunately, there is no simple method of tracking down the computer that was infected with the virus, but telling all your e-mail contacts to make sure they have checked their computer for viruses or worms is still a good idea if you continue to receive automatic virus replies.

Note: Some virus protection programs may also send your e-mail account a virus when someone else attempts to send you a virus. These messages are meant as notification messages to let you know that an e-mail was blocked.