This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(12.8, 38%, 11%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ELM%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
I received 3 emails that were sent to me from my exact email (claming they have all my data, etc and that they will either sell it on the dark web to have my bank accounts etc hacked or I pay a ransom price). This happened within the last week.
Within the last about a month I have been told by different people that they sent me email which I did not receive. My hunch is that these emails arrived to this clone of my email address, which I very bothersome.
Short of going to the police and handing in a complaint, what can I do to get this clone out of the way? I am trying to even find a place to report this to microsoft, but I do not see any place for such a thing.
Any advice from anyone that has dealt with something like this will be very wellcome
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(185.6, 62%, 27%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EBT%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
It is impossible for two mailboxes to have the same address. Any message sent to your address will arrive in your mailbox, barring routing issues. As I said, it's literally child's play to use anyone's address as the From address of an email.
However, if you are not receiving messages sent to you, the senders should be receiving non-delivery reports. Is there any way you can contact them to see if that happened and what the reports said?
Hi. I'm Brian and I'll try to help.
Just because you received a message from your own address does not mean your account was compromised. You can check the activity by visiting https://account.live.com/activity. If you don't see any logins you didn't make, you're still safe. Use a long complex and totally unique password. Use a password manager to generate and remember it for you. Enable two-factor authentication or employ a passkey. Keep in mind that if you do enable two-factor or a passkey, you are totally responsible for maintaining access to your file. Losing access means your account will be lost, but that's the safest way to prevent compromise.
All that said, you know the person sending the junk email knows your address or you would not have received it in the first place. The spammer has total control over all of the headers of the messages they send, so it's simple for them to add your address as the From address as well as use it for the To address. Heck, if I knew your address, I could do that as well. The From and To headers, in reality, have nothing to do with who sends the message or who receives it. As long as those fields contain something that looks like an address, the message is legally formed and a mail service will send it. The actual sender and recipient are specified by the sending client independent of what's in the message itself. I suspect that the messages are scams and your account has not been compromised, but check the activity. Also check your rules and forwarding settings just to make sure there isn't something there you don't expect. You can find rules at https://outlook.live.com/mail/0/options/mail/rules and you can find forwarding at https://outlook.live.com/mail/0/options/mail/forwarding
The problem is not that my email was hacked- as it was not. I did check the activity, and while yes, there have been unsuccessful attempts to get into it within the last year (it is a public email published on official State websites), these were all unsuccessful.
The problem is that there is an email out there on the web that is a perfect clone of mine and that when people send me emails (including for work) I do not get them, and they may get sent to this other email address. I have been told this lately by at least 10 people and who knows how many others that have my email as the sole way of communication had the same problem and I do not even know about it - and they probably also think that I am not answering and that I am rude.
So in the end I just want that other identical email address that is not really offered by microsoft to be erased and for all emails addressed to my real microsoft email be sent to me so I can see them. As we speak I am talking with a person about a possibly missed job because I did not get their emails in the last 2 days.
