[ale] OT(ish) Sold or stolen?

[ale at sixit.com (Robert Reese)]

Hello Alex,

Tuesday, September 2, 2014, 8:37:46 PM, you wrote:

> I never gave anyone else that particular alias, I don't use it as a
> username for my online account access, it's not stored in my phone or on
> any address books, and I don't send email from it (receive only alias).

I do something similar, and there are three possibilities that I see:
1: AT&T indeed either sold your email address or had some email address data stolen from them.
2: Your own server has been infiltrated.
3: Somewhere between AT&T's email servers and your email servers has been compromised where data is being intercepted. "Pharming" at one time was the phrase, but that's since been absconded.  

I suspect #3 is the most likely culprit.  This is one of the reasons people shouldn't send confidential or sensitive information via unencrypted email, even in an attachment.

Best wishes,
Robert~