Lots of people have web-based e-mail addresses, such as Hotmail, Live, or Gmail. Some of these addresses are used as “throw away” accounts, and abandoned once they are no longer needed. Others are simply left alone and forgotten as real life intrudes. It seems likely that most of the corporations that offer the service also have a policy of closing accounts that have been dormant for a period of time. Once the account is closed, someone else can easily create a new account and take over the e-mail address.
As a result, some e-mail addresses which originally belonged to “famous” people might end up belonging to less famous people who decide to trade on the reputation of the original owner. Sometimes, only the account name is constant, while a different service provider is used. In some cases, the deception is obvious, but in other cases, it’s unclear or just too hard to tell at all. Of course, we’re also talking about people who are “celebrities” only in a very small circle. These are virus writers, after all, so they are hardly household names.
Read more: http://blogs.technet.com/b/mmpc/archive/2011/02/25/identity-theft-affects-virus-writers-too.aspx
