How to Avoid and Block
Spam
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How to Block Spam
A word all of us have learned to
hate. Spam (and I am
not talking about the sandwich meat). Advertisers litter our inboxes with
junk mail and pop up advertising to the point where it actually gets in the way
of normal activity, but what do you do about it. Below you will find some
helpful information which will help you understand what it is and how to keep it
under control.
Blocking Spam / Stopping Spam:As far as spammers are concerned, sending spam email is
very cheap! A spammer can send out a direct marketing
email to hundreds even thousands of recipients for under one cent. Believe it or not, people buy things
from the pop-up ads and reply to junk email. This is how it starts. NEVER EVER BUY
ANY GOODS OR SERVICES ADVERTISED BY SPAM! It just encourages more spam.
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Spammers will
send out 10,000 emails and they get even
10 responses.
These are consider good odds to them. |
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If there is something advertised by spam you are actually interested in, find
it somewhere else online. Spammers are making a lot of money by swamping your
inbox because they consider it the most effective form of marketing. If they
send out 10,000 emails and they get even 10 responses these are the odds they
are looking for. Unfortunately, they do not take into consideration your privacy
concerns in the process. So the real
question is this:
How Do Spammers Get My Email Address?
The most popular question we hear about spam: “How did my email address
become public knowledge?” The companies and persons responsible for spam are
very determined, technically savvy internet users.
By innocently signing up for a subscription, adding yourself to an interest
group or a multitude of other methods, you may be added to a spammers mailing
list whether you want to or not. Email addresses are becoming a commodity on the
internet and bought and sold freely between companies. Read the fine print
whenever you sign up for that book club or placing an order online with your
email address. Chances are in the fine print you will find something relating to
distributing your email address and the option to be excluded from the mailing
list. Look for it next time.
Once spam starts it is very difficult to stop. By installing a “spam or
pop-up blocker” it will greatly reduce the amount of annoying junk mail or
pop-up advertising. Without some form of defense it will only get worse. Keep
scrolling for a long list of FREE utilities to help you fight the battle. Also
see Spyware.
The Reality:
You may be aware of one or more of the following “tactics” of getting your
email address and abusing that information to bombard you with trash. Below is a
list of the more popular methods of getting your address:
- They buy your name from a list:
These junk mail & targeted email lists have been around almost as long
as the internet itself. For as cheap as $100.00 anyone can buy a list of
over 11 million addresses. These lists we’re created by numerous
unscrupulous website owners, and online stores that would “share” their
customer’s information for some money. As you can imagine it is impossible
for spammers to identify your likes, or interests, when sending mails to
such a large group. So a “shotgun” mailing is sent out, product offers,
get rich quick schemes, adult porn sites, Korean & Chinese mailings, are
all sent out to all 11 million names.
- Opt-in Lists:
These two little words (or one hyphenated one however you look at it) are
quickly becoming infuriating. These lists are developed by partnering with
legitimate websites which make you check “Don’t send me offers”, well
sooner or later you’ll forget to check one of the boxes, and you’re
added to an opt-in list. Although many opt-in lists are legitimate and will
honor your removal requests, for every one there are three that are not
truly “opt-in” lists. You ask to be removed from an email from
“MarkertingPartners Ltd”, and tomorrow you get two messages saying you
opted-in at one of the partner sites of “SuperOptIn Ltd”.
- Email Extractors:
These software tools are very skilled at scouring the internet for email
addresses. Websites, Forums, Alumni sites, news posts, etc. These robots can
locate thousands of email addresses an hour. And spammers run them day and
night.
- MX Server Extractors:
These programs exploit internet mail server protocols. When an email is sent
to you it is handed over to your Mail Provider’s server, which starts
“communication” with the sender. The sender’s server asks to deliver a
message to a user on your server, but before the message is actually
accepted by your server it wants to know who it the mail is addressed to. So
your address is sent over, and your server replies whether the name is OK,
or the address does not exist on the server (what happens when a message is
“bounced” back to you). Basically the MX server extractors mimic the
communication without actually trying to send the message. Think of it as
someone ringing your doorbell and asking if “Joe” is home, no one named
Joe may live at your house, however if the person at your door tries enough
names sooner or later the may stumble upon yours, and you will say
“Yes”. (You are smart enough to stop answering after the first or second
name guess however most email servers are not). Programs exist that can mine
over 5000 email addresses per minute, and believe it or not they sell for
less than $100.00.
- Viruses, Spyware, and Mailicous Code:
Viruses & spyware transparently load themselves or are sent via email to
your mail client. As soon as you open books, contact lists, and distribution
lists, and “report” their findings back them, the read you address to
home base.
How to Stop Spammers and SpamWe are
all plagued with this irritating epidemic, and the best offense is a good
defense. Although you may not completely stop spammers, you can certainly slow
them down quite a bit. There are many anti spam programs that work pretty well at eliminating and
blocking spammers. You will use a different program depending on the type of ISP
you use, and sometimes your ISP offers this software for free. AOL (worlds #1
spam magnet) will use something different than Outlook users for example.
Antivirus programs such as Nortons, AVG, McAfee etc now all have
spam protection built in so chances are may already be protected. The biggest
thing to watch for is your inbox. Get good at reading between the lines and
figuring out tricky subject lines. There is a great psychological art in forming
just the right phrase in a subject line to entice us to open it. Take a moment
before opening any email and train yourself to learn the difference. After a
while you can spot a spoof a mile away.
Also see Outlook for
additional defenses against Spam and What is Spyware
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