Tech Talk with Jeff - Spam
We all get spam emails. It is never ending and only seems increase no matter what we do. Why would this happen?
Due to the rules, senders of advertising are required to provide an option to opt out of the emails received. That sounds great and an easy way to get off the list. The problem is a lot of the spam emails are sent by less than reputable companies or by scammers. They meet the letter of the law by adding this tool to take you off the list. They receive your request and remove you from that list but add you to a bunch of other lists since now they know they have an email address that is active.
Also, replying to one of these emails also tells them that your email address has a real person on the other end. That is worth money to them. They can sell your email address as a validated email address. It guarantees you will get more spam or scam attempts.
Whatever you do, don’t ever click on the links in these emails. That is where it really gets dangerous since you don’t know if it is taking you to an ad, a scam, or setting up your computer for a virus. Don’t let any email make you feel like you need to respond immediately or enter personal information. You should always be extremely cautious about any requests for your sensitive information.
So, what to do? First, only unsubscribe when it is something you intentionally signed up for and don’t want anymore. If it was unsolicited, don’t bother unsubscribing. Also, don’t respond to emails that you did not ask for. These two approaches will help keep your spam level from increasing.
If you really want to make a dent in your spam, tell your email program when an email is spam (junk). This will train the email program as to what emails you want filtered out. This is not an exact science, so don’t set your expectations too high.
The reality is spam is a part of our lives and is not going to go away any time soon. All we can do is try to do things that keep it from getting worse or more dangerous to us.
Be aware and be safe!
