Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender

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Level 1

6 points

Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender

For the last few weeks I have been receiving 300-400 mail delivery failure emails a day for emails that I haven't sent.
I have managed to get most of them transferred to my Spam folder so I am not getting notifications through the night anymore but now when it comes to me trying to send an email myself I get the message that I have reached my quota and the message cannot be sent.

If anyone can advise me on any action I can take it would be greatly appreciated.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Oct 9, 2015 6:35 AM

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Answer 1

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Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Oct 9, 2015 8:59 PM in response to Tommmyd

Usually this means that a spammer has compromised the mail account or PC of one of your contacts, and is forging your address as the return address in the headers of his messages. The bounce messages from mail servers that reject the spam come back to you. You should check your own mail accounts to make sure there's been no unauthorized activity.

You can create a Mail rule to delete the bounce messages automatically. Most often, the problem lasts only a few days before the spammer moves on to another forged address. If that doesn't happen, all you can really do is change your email address.

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