Ways to fight spam mail
If your inbox is like mine, you may often wonder how certain mails make their way in, despite firewalls and spam filters.
The Crimewatch inbox ironically receives its fair share of hoax email. Just yesterday we received one offering an investment with a 50% return in 1 Month.... The mail went on to say: "We are offering investors opportunity to invest with us, and get a 50% return in a month. This is 100% Guaranteed."
Ja right! Thanks but no thanks.
The offer itself is so preposterous, that's your first clue it's bogus. There will no doubt be a deposit fee required before the imaginary money can be released and this is where we're caught.
So, how do our email addresses come to be known by these con artists and how do we stop the spam.
According to the BBC, spammers use databases holding vast numbers of email addresses. You could get spammed because you:
Here are a few ways:
Ja right! Thanks but no thanks.
The offer itself is so preposterous, that's your first clue it's bogus. There will no doubt be a deposit fee required before the imaginary money can be released and this is where we're caught.
So, how do our email addresses come to be known by these con artists and how do we stop the spam.
According to the BBC, spammers use databases holding vast numbers of email addresses. You could get spammed because you:
- Give your address to an online retailer
- Post to a newsgroup
- Give out your email address on your own website - this is a biggie
- Sign up for an internet service that asks for an email address
Here are a few ways:
- Use a disposable email address. You could use this account when you need to buy online or get in touch with a newsgroup. If you find that you're receiving a lot of spam at this address, just delete it and set up another.
- Try not to openly display your email address on your website. This is easy fodder for a ‘spambot’ that is harvesting addresses. You could use a web contact form instead; ask your web company to hide your email address through CSS and JavaScript based techniques; convert the email address into a GIF graphic file or use Google’s reCAPTCHA service.
- Don’t be tempted to reply. The mailbox is probably unread.
- Avoid opening spam emails and clicking on links in spam messages. Often by doing this in a spam message, this tells the spammer that you received the message they sent. In other words, it confirms that you actually exist.
- Preview your messages before you open them.
- And finally, use a spam filter.
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