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Why Am I Suddenly Getting A Lot Of Spam Emails?
Spammers usually buy email addresses from special providers in bulk to add them to their mailing lists. If you’ve noted a sudden increase in the number of spam emails landing in your account, there’s a high chance that your address was part of a list recently sold to one or more scammers. This usually happens when you enter your email in a field that looks safe but is actually a tool used by scammers to harvest email addresses.
Spammers usually buy email addresses from special providers in bulk to add them to their mailing lists. If you’ve noted a sudden increase in the number of spam emails landing in your account, there’s a high chance that your address was part of a list recently sold to one or more scammers. This usually happens when you enter your email in a field that looks safe but is actually a tool used by scammers to harvest email addresses.
TYPES OF SPAM EMAILS
While some types of spam emails are mostly just a nuisance, some can put your personal information or finances at risk. Certain types of spam emails can contain viruses, malware and other threats designed to either compromise your device or compromise your finances (or both). Here are some of the most common types of spam emails to look out for.
Phishing Emails
Phishing refers to emails that appear to come from a trusted source like a government agency, bank or a reputable company or brand, but are actually intended to trick the recipient into revealing confidential information or sending a payment.
A phishing email may ask you to follow a link to a fraudulent or spoofed website where you’ll be prompted to enter your credit card number or verify your password. Regardless of the specific details in a phishing email, they all have the same goal: capturing sensitive information to exploit you financially or otherwise.
Trojan Horses
A Trojan horse or Trojan is a type of malware disguised as a legitimate software program. They may be hidden inside free software downloads or come in the form of an email attachment, potentially from someone you know.
Once activated, the trojan installs malicious code, typically in the form of spyware or viruses, designed to create issues with your computer. It may allow the attacker to remotely control your device, lock you out of your accounts or gain access to personal information.
Zombies
Zombies are a type of malware that is hidden in email attachments. When scammers take over an email account, they’ll proceed to send replies to email conversations that already took place in your inbox—making victims far more susceptible to falling for this type of attack. These messages typically contain a phishing link or a malicious attachment intended to steal victims’ personal data and credentials.
Scam
Sometimes, cyber thieves use old-school scams that might seem legitimate but are fake offers. These play on your desires or good nature: You've won a lot of money or someone urgently needs your help.
In reality, you haven’t won a lottery or a cruise around the world. And you haven’t been selected by a foreign prince to receive $10 million, in exchange for the use of your bank account number.
Look for phrases of urgency like, “Immediate,” and “Act Now” in the email’s title to avoid lottery scams and fake offers.
5 SIMPLE WAYS TO FIGHT SPAM AND PROTECT YOURSELF
We all know the frustration of spam emails. It creates an endless cycle of sorting through your inbox, deleting one, then another, then another just so you can find that one email from a colleague or friend you haven’t heard from in a while. It can be time-consuming and rob you of your privacy.
You’ll be pleased to learn that there are certain steps you can take to protect your inbox from a barrage of junk mail. It’s time to deal with them once and for all and you have the power to do it. Let’s get down to it.
1. MARK SPAM
Most email services, such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Microsoft Outlook, and Apple Mail have algorithms that filter out spam and junk mail by tucking them away in a folder.
But if you find a spam email in your regular inbox, don't delete the message — mark it as spam. Marking a suspicious email as spam will send it to the spam folder. Moving forward, if you receive any more emails from this address, the spam filter will know not to let it go into your inbox.
When you block spam messages, they're sent to a spam folder. Over time, this folder grows with the flagged messages. So, you’ll want to occasionally empty.
While not completely fool- proof, here are five key factors to look for in a suspicious email.
- Requesting personal information
The sender requests your personal information like address, Social Security number, or banking information.
- Irregular email address
The email has a suspicious domain name or uses uncommon characters in the address.
- Unknown and unfamiliar senders
Fake emails from people posing as influencers, high-ranking officials or legitimate companies. These companies may claim you’ve made purchases when you haven’t.
- Messages that require immediate action
These emails contain action words like, "Immediate," “Limited Time,” and “Urgent" in the title box or subject line.
- Email contains typos
Many fake emails will contain basic typos and errors like misspelling your name or have poor grammar usage.
2. NEVER GIVE OUT OR POST YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS PUBLICLY
You should remember that everyone can easily access the Internet. That means, spammers are also lurking on the Internet and are constantly seeking available email addresses which they will send spam emails to. Posting your email address publicly allows others to send spam emails to you, or worse, hack your account if you are using a weak password.
Keep Your Email Address Hidden
You should think of your email address as a valuable piece of personal information—because it is. You don’t want to hand it out to just anyone, and it’s best to keep your primary email address as private as you can.
This is important for public pages like social media profiles or a personal website, which are easy targets for scammers or bots to find your email address. Check the account settings on platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and make sure your email address is only visible to yourself and your friends.
If you have a job that requires your contact information to be visible online, a workaround to maintain your security is to write your address in longhand. For example, instead of “[email protected]”, the longhand could be “John Doe at Google’s Email Service”. This format is still readable to humans, but prevents automated bots from recognizing it as an email address.
3. DON'T INTERACT WITH SPAM EMAILS
If you’ve ever thought about responding to a spam email, don’t—even if it’s a request to permanently remove yourself from their mailing list. This signals to whoever is on the other end of the email that your account is active, and could lead to receiving even more spam as a result.
Additionally, it’s important to never click on anything in an email from an unknown sender. Even if they seem like a legitimate company, it’s crucial to avoid clicking links or opening attachments from anyone you’re not 100% sure is who they say they are.
Do Not Reply To Spam Messages
Almost all spam messages are malicious emails sent by unknown sources. These sources could be hackers who aim to hack into the computers of their victims. Never respond to spam messages because through this, the spammer will know that the email address is active and thus, it increases the chance of your email to be constantly targeted by the spammer.
Think Before You Click
There might be instances where your email service providers’ automated email filter mistakenly mark legitimate emails as spam email due to its content (e.g. the email contains a hyperlink). However, in most cases, emails marked as “SPAM” or redirected to the spam folder of your mailbox are sent by spammers. Subject of spam messages usually include offer of cheap prescription drugs, advertisements on new medicines, and status of packages from shipping companies. Make sure that you scrutinize the content of spam emails before opening any attachments (even if it looks like an innocent text or image file) or clicking on hyperlinks. Refrain from downloading contents blocked by your email service providers in such emails too.
4. USE OF SECONDARY EMAIL ADDRESS
If you really want to take advantage of online sales, you might want to create a second email address. Then you can use that email address as a place where you will receive all the spam emails. This way, spammers won’t invade your primary inbox anymore.
Hide Your Personal or Business Email Address
If your email address is out in the open, spammers will use this opportunity to send you stuff. To stop this, be sure to hide your email address from the public, especially on your social media accounts. Explore the settings on your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok and LinkedIn accounts to keep your email address to yourself or your friends only.
Avoid Using Your Personal or Business Email Address
Do not use your personal or business email address when registering in any online contest or service such as applications, deal updates, etc. Many spammers watch these groups or emailing lists to harvest new email addresses.
5. IF ALL ELSE FAILS, CONSIDER SIGNING UP FOR A NEW EMAIL ADDRESS
Consider Signing Up New Email
If the spam keeps on rolling in, it could mean your email address was exposed in a data breach. It can be hard to prevent spam when cybercriminals have your information. One option in this case is to change your email address.
If you find that the number of spam mail messages is getting out of control and following the above steps hasn't helped, it may be time to consider getting a new email address.
Regain Control Of Your Inbox
With automated technology advancing every day, learning how to stop spam emails is crucial to protect your online identity—it only takes a few steps. Once you make it a point to prevent spam emails, email hosts and service providers can filter your inbox. For an additional level of security, use complicated passwords that don’t follow an obvious sequence, and use additional password protection to keep hackers at bay.
Spam emails are a nuisance and can affect receiving critical information, such as online banking details. You could end up losing your money or exposing your organization to fraud. If you’re tired of your inbox being bogged down by unwanted messages, it’s time to take a stand. Follow some of the steps we’ve outlined for the most effective ways to stem the flow of spam and regain control of your inbox.
With automated technology advancing every day, learning how to stop spam emails is crucial to protect your online identity—it only takes a few steps. Once you make it a point to prevent spam emails, email hosts and service providers can filter your inbox. For an additional level of security, use complicated passwords that don’t follow an obvious sequence, and use additional password protection to keep hackers at bay.
Spam emails are a nuisance and can affect receiving critical information, such as online banking details. You could end up losing your money or exposing your organization to fraud. If you’re tired of your inbox being bogged down by unwanted messages, it’s time to take a stand. Follow some of the steps we’ve outlined for the most effective ways to stem the flow of spam and regain control of your inbox.
