What are Spam Emails and How do I Stop Them?

Email is great, quite simply its an easy and very cheap way to get in touch with family and friends around the world and quickly share videos and photos. But it comes with some rather less fun and useful elements. One of the major annoyances being spam.

Spam is digital junk mail. Think of them as emails that you didn’t want or ask to receive, such as adverts for online chemists and dating sites.

Why am I receiving spam emails?

Sometimes details are added to a mailing list that might then be sold to scammers, although most reputable companies don’t sell their marketing lists.

Scammers sometimes guess email address and will send a blanket email to similar address, for example: JamesA@XXX, JamesB@XXX and so on.

A marketing email you get from a reputable company – like a retailer – isn’t spam. It’s legitimate marketing info, so your email spam filters usually won’t mark it as spam. If you don’t want to receive it look for an ‘unsubscribe’ option.

How to protect yourself from spam

1. Don’t reply to spam emails, most of the time spammers will guess your email address, if you reply your are letting them know that you are real and so, they will most likely keep spamming your email address. Instead, the better option is to block the email address.
2. If you receive a suspicious email, don’t click any links as they could be scams to try and get hold of your personal data. If you accidentally click one of the links, make sure to change your password as soon as possible.
3. You could create an alternative email that you use only for signing up to websites and services.
4. Regularly change your password and use security software.

What to do if I get spam emails

Most email providers have spam filters, which detects spam email, blocks it and sends it to a special folder so that you can see it if you wish. Although most spam filters are very effective, if one sneaks though you can simply hit the ‘Spam’ or ‘Junk’ button, depending on your email client, to send it to your spam folder. If you get regularly spammed you can block specific email addresses, so everything sent from that address will go to your spam folder.

You can also set up a filter so that unwanted email is automatically directed to a separate folder. It’s worth regularly checking your spam folder to ensure emails you want to receive haven’t accidentally been sent there.