New Spammer Trick?

[mcp6453]

Here is a problem posted by a colleague who uses Outlook 2000:

"I received spam, which I then deleted. As soon as I deleted them,
e-mails appeared in my Outbox informing someone that I had deleted the
spam unread.

"These were not bounce-back e-mails that I received in my Inbox because
someone else received spam with my e-mail forged in the header. These
were e-mails that were about to be sent from my Outbox when I caught
them.

"I do not preview e-mails to avoid web bots. This is something else.
A spammer has figured out a way to cause Outlook to generate a return
receipt (and to not notify me that it is doing so) despite the fact
that I have my Outlook Tracing Options set to never send return
receipts."

Does anyone know what Outlook 2000 would send a read receipt when it is
configured not to do so?

 

[Vanguard]

Here is a problem posted by a colleague who uses Outlook 2000:

"I received spam, which I then deleted. As soon as I deleted them,
e-mails appeared in my Outbox informing someone that I had deleted the
spam unread.

"These were not bounce-back e-mails that I received in my Inbox because
someone else received spam with my e-mail forged in the header. These
were e-mails that were about to be sent from my Outbox when I caught
them.

"I do not preview e-mails to avoid web bots. This is something else.
A spammer has figured out a way to cause Outlook to generate a return
receipt (and to not notify me that it is doing so) despite the fact
that I have my Outlook Tracing Options set to never send return
receipts."

Does anyone know what Outlook 2000 would send a read receipt when it is
configured not to do so?

Ask your "friend" if they have Security configured in Outlook to use the
Restricted Sites security zone (and that the zone is set to its High level).
Also ask your friend if they have bothered to get the latest Office service
pack and if they have visited Windows Update.

By the way, your "friend" is infected. If tracking is set to disabled for
responding to requests for read receipts, the e-mail can't do anything about
that - but an add-on or COM plug-in could.

You might to ask your friend as to how they know there is an item sitting in
their Outbox. Read receipts are not shown (i.e., they are hidden). You
have to use something like OutlookSpy to drill into the message store to see
the hidden items in the Outbox.

 

[mcp6453]

Ask your "friend" if they have Security configured in Outlook to use the
Restricted Sites security zone (and that the zone is set to its High
level). Also ask your friend if they have bothered to get the latest
Office service pack and if they have visited Windows Update.

By the way, your "friend" is infected. If tracking is set to disabled
for responding to requests for read receipts, the e-mail can't do
anything about that - but an add-on or COM plug-in could.

You might to ask your friend as to how they know there is an item
sitting in their Outbox. Read receipts are not shown (i.e., they are
hidden). You have to use something like OutlookSpy to drill into the
message store to see the hidden items in the Outbox.

I will forward your response to him as I don't know the answers to your
questions, although I'm sure he is up to date on his service packs. He
knows the messages are in his Outbox because he saw them appear when he
deleted the messages that triggered the responses.

Thanks for the input. I, too, think he's infected.