SPAM Emails and tips on reducing it (email privacy)

Name: stevepeto

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Product:	email privacy
Date:	06/10/06 (293 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Real World tip, for ordinary (non technical) users of email and the web

Disadvantages: None that i can think of

Spam emails! We have all been victims of this. It can range from the fairly harmless email drop from a legitimate company trying to sell its wares all the way through to people trying to get money from you and to take your identity, and everything in between.

Before I get into this I just want to let you know of a few facts so that you can see the actual scale of this issue.

Stats
The statistics below are current as of 2006, but Spam statistics are quickly outdated. These statistics were derived from a number of different reputable sources including: Google, Brightmail, Jupiter Research, eMarketer, Gartner, MailShell, Harris Interactive, and Ferris Research.

Spam Statistics

Email considered Spam: 40% of all email
Daily Spam emails sent: 12.4 billion
Daily Spam received per person: 6
Annual Spam received per person: 2,200
Email address changes due to Spam 16%
Estimated Spam increase by 2007 63%
Users who reply to Spam email 28%

So now that is in perspective take a look at number 2, that is 2 items of spam on average for every man, woman and child on the planet every single day, 365 days a year. So this is a major problem and I don’t think this problem is going to go away, all we can do is try and protect ourselves as best we can, and that is why I wanted to write this piece, mainly for the people out there that maybe not fully knowledgeable or technical and give them options and knowledge of what to do when they receive them.

A little about me first. I don’t proclaim to be an expert on this, all I know is what I do ensures that I may get a max of 6 or 7 SPAM emails a month over the 4 or 5 email addresses that I use. I do work in IT on a corporate helpdesk and I see this problem rear its ugly head every day and whilst I will provide some hints and tip where I can on office use, this is mainly for home use.

Also there are a number of software packages out there that can help, ive not used them I don’t know how effective they are, feel free to check them out. If you have Broadband you need an Internet Firewall (Zone Alarm is free and pretty good) and a good anti virus program (as a minimum), if you have dial up then Anti Virus us a minimum. Remember to keep it all updated too, no point buying it and never updating it to catch new viruses.

** What is SPAM? **
Spam email is essentially unsolicited email; just as you get junk mail through your door you get junk mail in your inbox it is just called Spam, with the people sending it out known as spammers.

Remember ALL unsolicited email is known as SPAM, so if you start suddenly start getting emails from a supermarket for example it is the same (in terms of the email being Spam) as someone trying to get your bank details.

** Why do I get spam email’s I never used to? **
This is simply because spammers have obtained your email address, it has been added to a “virtual list” and that list has been sold or given away to others, and so on.

** How have spammers got my email address **
There are a million ways that spammers can get your email address, here are some methods, this list is not a definitive list, but if you are getting hit with lots of spam then this maybe why. Also note that generally spammers use software to scan the web to harvest email address, they look for the format of an email address name@ntlworld.com for example.
 You signed up for a newsletter, forum, or website with your MAIN email address and that org/company has sold the list to a third party
 You posted you emailed address up somewhere yourself.
 You have a personal website and you email address appears on it.
 You have spoken to someone on a chat room, IRC, MSN, Forum and given them your email address.

** Can you stop it **
I personally don’t think you can stop SPAM, you can however limit the amount you get and I will advise you what I do in order to achieve this.

** What I Do (in no particular order) **
1. When you sign up with your ISP (internet Service Provider) they normally give you more than 1 email address. I am with NTL, I can have up to 15 email addresses. I never ever use my main email address; I create another one so if it starts getting inundated with SPAM I simply delete it and create another.
2. I never give out my email address to anyone I do not trust.
3. Where possible use an alternative throw away email address, a hotmail, or yahoo for example especially for newsgroups, forums, websites.
4. NEVER EVER respond to an email that you are not expecting or looks suspicious. For example you get an email asking about something and you know its not meant for you, you reply politely informing them of their mistake, bam expect lots of spam shortly afterwards, never respond, just delete it
5. If possible turn the pictures off in an email outlook and hotmail do this, I think outlook express can although I don’t use it. Pictures can contain code, and that code can inform the sender of if the email was opened, there fore telling them that they have a valid email address, so read up on your software and find out how to turn off the images. This code can also harbour viruses and Trojans and worms (you don’t need to know the differences, just know that they are all bad)
6. NEVER EVER open an attachment, I don’t even open attachments from my friends unless I have spoken to them on the phone and ask them if they sent me an email with an attachment.
7. If you do write down your throw away email address on a public site/forum write it as name at ntlworld dot com so that harvesting software doesn’t recognise it as an email address.
8. FOR OFFICE USERS – if possible do not put an out of office on, if you get spam, you out of office will reply with you message and you email address has been confirmed.

On top of this are the people that trying to con you out of money, you may have received the Nigerian guy with buckets of cash who is in a dilemma and needs you to help him get the cash out. SCAM never ever reply, these people are just after your money so whilst this kind of thing may not generate spam per se, its still wise to leave it be.

Another big one at the moment is called Phishing, (ive no idea where they get these names from) Phishing is where you get an email from your (or another) bank or ebay etc saying something along the lines of you have an account, due to something happening you need to verify all your details or your account will be suspended/closed. If you reply not only do you risk the SPAM but expect your bank account to be hit, they normally take small amounts hoping you don’t notice so they can do it again and again.

If you get an email like this it is 100% fake, your bank or ebay etc will never send you an email asking for those details, if in doubt though log onto those sites (NEVER CLICK THE LINK IN THE EMAIL THOUGH) by opening up a browser window and entering the web address yourself, or where possible call your bank etc. Also (as in the link description below) this could all lead to identity theft.

By doing this I have limited the amount of spam I get, I never use my mail email address, forums and the like are signed up with using a throw away email address so if it does start getting lots of spam I deleted it/leave it and create another. It is just a case of using common sense and thinking that everything that your not expecting is potentially suspicious, never ever give a person via email or phone any details about you, or any passwords.

A good site for further reading I found is http://www.wittydirectory.com/Society/Crime/Theft/ Identity_Theft/Phishing.aspx

If I think of anything else or if you guys are aware of anything ive missed, let me know ill add it in.

Summary: advise for reducing SPAM email and or risk of identity theft