I don’t understand how I keep getting fake mail

Question

Hi my name is Maria. I keep getting mail from myself. Emails from myself go to my spam folder/junk mail. The person or persons want money from me . I keep changing my password every often and it’s very hard password. I don’t understand why i keep getting fake emails from myself. This is getting very annoying. I have enough of getting fake emails from myself people want money from me. How can I get hacked if i keep changing my passwords a lot? This is one of the reasons im going to stop using Microsoft outlook because I have enough of this

Answer 1

Hello,

This is the famous Pegasus phishing scam. If you Google about it, you will find tons of information about this. Bottom line - your account is safe, your computer is safe. Nothing is hacked. No need to change password.

They are using scare tactic and ID spoofing to make you believe that your account is compromised, so that they can blackmail you into doing what they asked you to do.

Email spoofing happens when someone uses an outside mail server to send messages that pretend to come from your email address by forging the "From" field. They do not have access to your actual email account. To prevent and detect this, email providers like Microsoft use protections like SPF (to define which servers are allowed to send on your behalf), DKIM (to attach a digital signature to prove the email is real), and DMARC (to tell other servers what to do if a message fails these checks). If a spoofed email fails these checks, it will usually be flagged as spam or rejected.

So, if the email is already in spam/junk folder, you have nothing to worry about. You can just ignore it.

Answer 2

Hi EmilyS726 okay but i have changed my password again and i have Two-step verification and i still keep getting fake emails from myself. I will not give out my iPhones numbers . I have try to block the mail but I can’t find it. I can only find block myself

Answer 3

Maria, as I explained to you, you don't need to change your password or two-step verification contact info. The problem is not because your account is compromised, so keeping changing the security will not do anything to help. No need to block it either because they are already going to spam folder, meaning Microsoft already flagged them. And your spam folder is automatically cleared every 30 days anyway. These emails are no different than other spam emails you received.

Your email address is likely out there due to data breaches, public listings, or signing up for websites and services that shared or sold your info. Once it's exposed, spammers can harvest it using bots or buy it from shady lists. That’s why you’re seeing these emails.

Answer 4

Hi EmilyS726 I see but only Microsoft, teams Apple, amazon and Cdon, celebrity's websites have my mail address and I don’t have any social media

Answer 5

Spammers use algorithms and automated tools to send bulk emails by mimicking legitimate email-sending behavior—but at massive scale. Your email address can be happened to one of those. Once again, there's not much you can do about it. Microsoft's spam filter is apparently working by catching them as spam. And your account is not compromised. You have nothing to worry about.