Spoofed Email Messages?

I received 3 emails yesterday that appeared to come from me, but I did not send them. The content of the message was:

"This is an e-mail message sent automatically by Microsoft Outlook's Account Manager while testing the settings for your POP3 account "

The "From" and "To" address were both my same email address.
I looked in my Sent Items folder and determined these messages did not come from my machine. It appears that perhaps someone is spoofing my email address? Though it sure seems odd that they'd send emails to me, in effect alerting me that they're doing so.
I've ran AV, Spyware, Trojan checking software, and my machine checks clean. Anybody ever seen anything like this before? So far my web searches reveal very little about what caused this type of message to be generated.

Any ideas?

(I run Win98SE & Outlook Express)

 

I've got a feeling it came from a spammer checking for valid email addresses.

By opening it, something in the message itself communicated back to its owner that the message had been opened, thereby validating the address.

Spammers can sell lists of "quaranteed valid" addresses for a lot more money than just any old list of addresses.

 

Stevereno--I have no idea if this applies to Outlook, but in Outlook Express you can read the message without "opening" it by clicking File|Properties|Details.
You also will find all the message path info there to perhaps allow you to determine who sent the message. It can be complicated, especially when the sender is trying to spoof.
PCMagazine had an article recently
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,929898,00.asp

 

Thanks!

Appreciate the quick replies. Hopefully, it's just some spammer confirming email addresses. Not that I like spam, but guess I feel a little better thinking that be the case instead of it being somebody doing identity theft or sending emails out in my name.

 

A question for Welshjim here regarding your tip on viewing the Properties of received email. When I attempt to do what you suggested, the Properties option is cleared out and I am not able to select that option. However, if I move the received mail to another folder in my inbox, and then select the Properties option it is available. Is this something that can be corrected or is this normal for Outlook Express?

 

Stevereno--In my post above I should have said to click File|Properties|Details|Message Source to be able to see the message (without "opening" it).

Stoofer--I do not have this problem, and cannot find any obvious setting that might cause it. I can see the message in Message Source (per above) when clicking File, etc. on messages in either Inbox or Sent Mail.
I doubt it will make any difference, but try right clicking on a (unopened) message name in the list and see if "Properties" are offered in the drop down box that should open.
Otherwise I hope some one with more knowledge will chime in.
P.S. You could try http://www.tomsterdam.com/ or
http://www.oehelp.com/default.aspx
And possibly Repairing Internet Explorer might help (OE and IE are tied together pretty closely). Not all versions of Windows offer it, however. If you have it, it is found at Start|Programs|Accesories|System Tools|System Information|Tools|Internet Explorer Repair Tool|Wait. A reboot might be needed.

 

Tried all of your suggestions, Welshjim but had no luck with finding a solution.

Will let you know that I'm up-to-date on all of my Microsoft uddates for Windows 98SE. Also have Messenger 6.0, ZoneAlarm 3.7.202.

I don't regard this as a major problem, but more of an annoyance. Still, it would be nice to have everything working as it should.