Strange email address

[Newbii]

I received an email from a strange address. It was like this.... 6149******9@telstra.online.com.au who is it from? What is that type of email address used for? How do I get one similar?

[Jupiter · Accepted solution]

That's an fake email address, pretending to be from a mobile phone. They used to be common (amongst us nerds) in the early 2000's, but the telstra and online are in the wrong order in this case.

Online.com.au is owned by some guy in South Australia, but is inactive and doesn't have a mail server associated with it currently.

It is Spam.

[Newbii]

Why would someone use it? What could they access if I reply to it? And where would my reply REALLY go if it's not real?

[Jupiter]

It all depends on how the email is structured. If there are links in the email, then they could take you to a fake site, or download malicious software. There could be an attachment containing malicious code.

Or the return email address may not be the same as the one displayed, in which case they are probably phishing.