Spam has been a problem for over a decade and plagues literally everyone who uses the Internet these days. From free email accounts to highly protected corporate servers, spam finds it way into our everyday lives. Spam has gotten so bad that even free email accounts offer some form of spam protection.
An industry was born when this stubborn form of unsolicited advertising started it's ruthless assault on the world's inboxes. Anti-spam software went off the shelves upon it's first arrival as savvy surfers realized that they couldn't take the intrusive emailings any longer.
While anti-spam software is still utilized today spam still finds it's way into your inbox unless you decide to be a complete hermit and ban email altogether. With anti-spam software you may also find that many awaited emails may get trapped in the spam box, and even worse, accidentally deleted.
Software may help your situation, but a majority of the problem actually lies within you. If you have signed up for newsletters, more information on a money making opportunity, or signed up for a paid to survey site you more than likely have already set you inbox up for a total ambush.
When signing up for anything online, make sure you read all the terms and conditions in regards to releasing your information. Many companies make money by selling or renting a list of emails to companies and sometimes crooks. The more your email is put into forms, the more chances you have at having your email attacked. If you frequently sign up for offers and deals, you are probably setting yourself up.
When signing up for offers online one step is to uncheck any boxes that state an offer to receive third party emails. Third party emails will be considered permission based and legal however you may find you get more than you bargained for, so be forewarned.
Always read the fine print that lets you know the legal details of your submitted email address. Most sites will state they will not resell your email to anyone and while it may be true, it may also be false. Examine the site requesting your information, if it seems shady and your unsure of the integrity of the site, leave it alone.
Beware of money making and work at home sites that are vague in their descriptions of the opportunity. Many of times these sites will ask you to give your email to them before sending you your money making information. What happens with many of these sites is that they are in the business of selling leads, in this case, your information.
I am not saying these sites necessarily sell your information to criminals, but they do offer the leads as MLM leads for other work at home people needing to recruit new members. When they mention you will be contacted shortly by a representative, they mean several people with MLM opportunities.
Many of times these kinds of leads get funneled down as buyers loose interest and are resold to less savory characters at a far lesser price. It is when this happens the quality of emails will really deteriorate and begin to become annoying and possibly harmful.
There are other methods of creating email databases to spam. Some spammers will use randomizing software that randomly creates emails and many of us win the lucky lottery on this method regardless of how we guard our addresses.
All in all spam is nothing that will be disappearing tomorrow. It is up to you ultimately however to protect your address as best you can to not become a victim of 100+ daily spam emails that some are victim to already. |
