# Message from <span 
                data-original-string='5jezB9Kk2PRxkSvm/7GMjw==468AwD06VStA9dr4+LN7W6htVZRUaTD5sJfCyBDKODS+TY='
                class='apbct-email-encoder'
                title='This contact has been encoded by Anti-Spam by CleanTalk. Click to decode. To finish the decoding make sure that JavaScript is enabled in your browser.'>ad<span class="apbct-blur">***</span>@<span class="apbct-blur">************</span>co.uk</span>?

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2003/08/06/message-adminfundraisingcouk/
- Published: 2003-08-06T23:00:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

If you’ve received an e-mail apparently from ‘ad***@************co.uk‘ then please
ignore and delete it. A spammer is ‘spoofing’ this and other businesses’ e-mail 
address to send unsolicited e-mails with a virus attachment.
We were surprised to
receive a couple of spam messages apparently from ‘ad***@************co.uk‘ for 
two reasons. First, UK Fundraising does not send spam or unsolicited commercial 
e-mail, and secondly, that is not an e-mail address that we use or publish.

On further investigation (into the message’s headers) we confirmed that the messages
do not originate from us. So, if you receive such a message please delete it: it
is not a genuine message from UK Fundraising. Even worse, the message comes with
a virus-infected attachment which you most certainly should not open.

Such spoofing is sadly common and there is little one can do about it if one is 
targeted. Certainly a number of UK charities have suffered from this and had to 
field queries from concerned or annoyed recipients. All we can suggest is that if
you receive a spam message from an otherwise bona fide organisation, look at the
detail of the message’s headers. You should be able to see the source or at least
path of the message through various servers across the Internet. These should show
that the “from” address is not accurate.

## Advertisement

 [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/)

Although such messages can be damaging to an organisation’s reputation, the problem
tends not to last too long. The spammers move on and target someone else. Perhaps
the biggest problem is that some recipients or e-mail filtering systems wrongly 
add the e-mail address or domain name to a ‘kill file’ or otherwise prevent their
delivery to recipients.

If anyone would like to share their experiences of dealing with their e-mail addresses
being spoofed, feel free to contribute to the new media section of the [UK Fundraising Forum](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=15).

Find out more about the ‘Mimail’ virus from the BBC.

 * **[World Vision expands its affiliate marketing online](https://fundraising.co.uk/2003/08/16/world-vision-expands-its-affiliate-marketing-online/)**(
   16 August 2003)
 * **[New legislation on spam](https://fundraising.co.uk/2003/09/17/new-legislation-spam/)**(
   17 September 2003)
 * **[First radio appeal by children's hospices](https://fundraising.co.uk/2003/09/18/first-radio-appeal-children039s-hospices/)**(
   18 September 2003)