Has anyone had a problem with Yahoo email causing dodgy messages from dirty old men?

[edam]

If you sign up to a new Yahoo email account, beware.

My poor mother is seriously upset. She got a horrid phone call yesterday from someone claiming she was offering spanking sessions. He read out her new Yahoo email address - had clearly got her phone number from it (she uses email for work so was emailing all her contacts).

Has anyone else had a problem with Yahoo email and receiving dodgy messages?

This was within half an hour of her opening a Yahoo account. Turns out, when I checked, Yahoo automatically headlines the 'I've got a new email address' message with 'I have a brand-spanking-new Yahoo! Mail address.' So I guess some nasty people might crawl the web looking for this as a keyword?

Do any of you technology experts have any advice/thoughts about how he might have done this (assuming he isn't in her address book - she didn't recognise his voice or phone number when she did 1471 and you'd have to be bloody barking to think that email was offering sexual services)?

I'm afraid she was too shaken to think of writing down his phone number. I've managed to find a number for Yahoo (their reporting abuse stuff online is only for reporting someone using a Yahoo address to send abusive messages) so she's in touch with them.

bump

Message withdrawn

I know, she was very distressed and doesn't want to answer the flipping phone (but she has to, because of her job).

Message withdrawn

When she answered the phone, he said she was offering spanking sessions. She was so taken aback, she said 'I beg your pardon' and he bloody argued with her, reading out her email address as if to confirm it.

VERY stupid of Yahoo to put 'brand-spanking-new' automatically on your messages.

both me and dh have started getting obscene messages on our yahoo accounts lately, and we haven't given our addresses out to any companies that could ahve passed them on. Dh has closed his account but he had worse ones than me.

Did you report it, Bibi?

bump in case anyone is thinking of opening a yahoo account or has had any problems...

dh reported his, mine are more of the "get a bigger penis" type, so i spam them

edam, do you know how he got her phone number?

I have got a Yahoo email address recently (for freecycling) and have been a bit puzzled at how people can tell what my name is - it's not obvious from the email addy iyswim...

that's interesting... her phone number was on the email (she was sending out a message to all the contacts in her address book, many of them work contacts).

Oh - but then he must surely be someone already in her address book that she emailed when she emailed everyone?

I don't think so, you'd have to be seriously dim to imagine an email saying 'this is my new email address' was an offer of a spanking session. Even though blasted Yahoo added their own headline about a 'brand-spanking-new email address'.