| They can get your address in more ways than I care
to list. Your email address is private like your social
security number. Don't give it to every site that asks for
it to log in. You should always look for and read the
site's privacy policy. If they don't have one or they say
they may release your address and info to a third party this
usually means they will sell your info to some other
companies so they can spam you. Some companies will buy a
list of email addresses (often on CD) that were harvested
via one of the following methods.
Spammers can get their lists from internet white and
yellow pages and your email services' member directory. The
best solution is to sign up for a new account and uncheck
the boxes allowing your address and name to appear in these
directories.
Some spammers guess email addresses. They will send
a test message (or a real spam) to a list which includes the
guessed addresses. You've likely sent an email to the wrong
address before so you know that you get an error message
sent back usually in a few minutes. They wait for either an
error message to return by email, indicating that the email
address is correct, or for a confirmation. A confirmation
could be solicited by inserting a non-standard but commonly
used "read-receipt" that the delivery system and/or mail
client sends in confirmation of delivery or reading. No news
is, of course, good news for the spammer. They may also use
an image or a link to a site on the internet with your
address attached. All you did was view the email or click
the link to go to their site but it confirmed your email
address was valid and in use. Another trick is an
unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email. It may look
like any other newsletters unsubscribe link, but it only
takes you to a fake unsubscribe page that only tells them
you are there and want more more more...
Your email address might have been owned by someone
else before you. Someone may have closed the account, to
escape the spam, right before you signed up for their old
user name. This will carry that spam right to you
regardless of the fact you are the new user of the address
and you don't want them either.
Spammers have programs which spider through web
pages, forums, and UseNet posts looking for email addresses. |
