Apple @lemmy.world elvis_depresley @sh.itjust.works 8mo ago

Hide My Email: receiving (spam) mails on addresses that don't exist

I haven't been able to find any information about this online, so I'm posting it here.

I've been receiving emails TO addresses like @icloud.com.

I've checked all my hide-my-email aliases (including the archived ones) and I don't own these addresses so I cannot disable them.

I'm wondering if anyone else has run into this issue?

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13 comments

You're being bcc'd.

If you send a shitton of emails to: blahblah and then bcc everyone else, all recipients only see the to:blahblah address.
- Yep, if you’re not on the recipient lists, then this right here is the correct answer.
  
  OP you can confirm this by checking the source or original message and check for the “delivered to” info in the mail headers to see which email of yours that it was delivered to. From there you can decide if it is something you can stop (I.e another privacy relay email), or, the more likely case, just not worth the hassle (I.e the real regular email).
  
  So although the mail client says it was received by @icloud.com. When inspecting all the headers, I do notice my email popping up in there under Received: fields (I'm not posting the details for privacy reasons).
  
  I'm not sure why my email client shows me a weird receiver email. But at least now I know what address is getting spammed!
  
  Cheers!
  
  Strictly speaking, mail clients can’t show the BCC field — technically they don’t exist on the receiving server, the receiving server only knows what address (yours) to be delivered to — so they only display the typical From, To, and CC fields. It’s one of those quirks of email standard and client implementations, I guess.
- You are probably right, but what's confusing me is I don't own the address that is receiving the mails. Say my address is a_name@icloud.com, but the receiving address is juenr5idsnw@icloud.com.
  
  Is there any reason I am receiving emails to this address?
  
  P.S. the receiving address is always different, always @icloud.com
  
  A bcc is a Blind Carbon Copy - so it means that anyone in that field is an invisible recipient.
  
  So i send an email with the following addresses
  
  To: me@me.com.
  Bcc: five billion other addresses
  
  Due to how the BCC field obscures email addresses written i it, any recipients will only see the email address in the To field - their own is hidden. So it looks like you're receiving an email addressed to someone else

13 comments