How do I stop someone else from using my email address fraudulently?

How can I stop someone from using my email address when sending me emails?

• Yes someone is sending me emails showing my emails addrress as theirs. I have tried blocking and I have added filters and have changed my password and email address. I do not buy online so how they have obtained my email address is a mystery. Also what purposes it serves is also a mystery. Your expertise and advice would be appreciated please. Yahoo are unable to help me

• Answer:

  It's important to remember that just because someone writes an email reporting to be from your email address, it does not mean they have access to your email account. With a little technical knowledge, it's easy to make an email's From: line to be [email protected]. A lot of spam mail and virus email uses this technique to get past email filters. If this is the type of email you're getting, I wouldn't worry about it - everyone gets them, it doesn't (necessarily) mean you're computer is infected with a virus or malware. There is unfortunately, little your provider (yahoo) can do about this, (although email providers are working on techniques to stop this, such as Sender Policy Framework). However, this experience shows that one shouldn't assume an email is genuine just because it has a friend's email address in the 'From' line. With anything important, it's always best to double check with the friend. Email is unfortunately not very secure like this!