PLEASE HELP - Does my Mac have a virus?

Joined
Aug 7, 2012
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
hi there,
a friend of mine has by now received two email messages from someone using my first and last name, but some yahoo email address i have never heard of before. there is no subject line, or the subject line says "Fwd:". there is a link, which is not a true website link, but a forwarding link, which takes you to a website, that says something to the effect of "Work from home Mom makes 10,000 in a month" or some crap like that.
just under the link, there is a date and a time. Both times the actual email addresses have been different, but of course, my name is attached to those correctly spelled out (it is not a usual first name I have, and I believe i am the only one with this first last name combo, period). It is only this one person that gets that email, that i am aware of. I asked others in my gmail/outlook address book, but no one else has gotten this. thank god.
I might have gotten myself into trouble few months ago, when i was communicating with someone on craigslist about something i wanted to purchase. I got an email from them where i was the received along with 4-5 other people. the email address of the sender was the exact same as the one of the person i was emailing back and forth with (if you notice above, in the case where it appears that i sent something, they only use my name, but not my actual email). there was a link, and of course, i clicked on the **** thing, so that's how i know what is behind it.
my question is, does anyone know how to stop this? do i have a virus of some sort? i have downloaded a free trial of Norton and did a full system scan, nothing was found though...
please help me. obviously, my emails were not hacked (i have couple that i use), since they are using just my name, but a diff address...
OS was Snow Leopard, now is Mountain Lion, if it makes a difference.
ANY HELP will be outmost appreciated! THANKS
 

Raz0rEdge

Well-known member
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Messages
15,745
Reaction score
2,071
Points
113
Location
MA
Your Mac's Specs
2022 Mac Studio M1 Max, 2023 M2 MBA
Welcome to Mac-Forums

If it was your proper name and e-mail address as well, I'd guess that your webmail (Yahoo) account was likely compromised and being used to send unsolicited e-mails..

If it's just your name and not real e-mail addresses, it's likely that the spammers have come with the combination of names that happens to match yours.

When you clicked on the link in the e-mail, what happened? Were you sent to a website? Did you download a file or program and install it?

Getting malware on your computer does take a little bit of help from you..
 
OP
H
Joined
Aug 7, 2012
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
hi Raz0rEdge,
I didn't think my account was compromised for that same reason - they just use my first and last name. As i mentioned above though, my name is VERY unusual. so a random combo someone may have come up with is out of a question.
when you click on the link, you see the address bar changing rapidly from one address to another and again, meaning i got bounced off and re-directed quite of few times to finally end up at a site which had a headline "Work from home Mom makes 10,000 in a month". When i saw the address bar changing, that's when i was like, ****... this is going to be bad. but nothing really seemed to be happening afterwards so i thought, well i am running a Mac OS and hopefully whatever they've got isn't made for that, but windows.
i did not download anything, again, the moment i saw the address bar changing addresses, i realized how stupid and impulsive i have been to click on that link to begin with. but i bet that's how every single person felt too. so, yes, i did help it definitely.
the question is, how do i remove it, or do i even have it? if i did, wouldn't there be more emails, going out to all my contacts and not just one? my scenario doesn't really match anything else i found on the net by far, that's why i am hoping to get some sort of help here! again, THANK you guys!
 

Raz0rEdge

Well-known member
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Messages
15,745
Reaction score
2,071
Points
113
Location
MA
Your Mac's Specs
2022 Mac Studio M1 Max, 2023 M2 MBA
I don't think you have anything on your computer that you can remove, and this might have been a one time event. If your contact that did get the spam or others start getting more spam with your name, then it might be worth looking further, but for now be diligent with links from people you don't know and move on..
 
Joined
Oct 12, 2012
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Bangalore, India
Your Mac's Specs
No mac :(
I agree that there isn't anything on your computer that you can remove. And its probably just a one time event. Best thing to do right now would be to simply wait and see...
 
C

chas_m

Guest
1. You don't have a virus.

2. You DO, however, have a friend with a Windows PC that has a virus, and is using names from his/her address book to send out spam.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top