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Home > Web Smart > SPAM

Why there's Spam and how to reduce it.

It is easy to assume that with the advancement of anti-spam software, user education and new legislation, “the problem is in hand”.  However, research indicates that at the end of 2007, spam made up to 63% of all e-mails received globally.

With so many new barriers, why do spammers continue to clutter our inboxes?  The answer is simple.  Statistics. 

For virtually no investment, spammers achieve 992,000,000 sales per day.

Of the 12.4 billion spam e-mails sent each day in 2006 (costing the sender less than $0.001 cents per e-mail), 28% of users replied to the communications and a staggering 8% purchased from spam e-mails.  For virtually no investment, spammers achieve 992,000,000 sales per day.  With those odds, it is no wonder that spam continues to grow.

Spammers rely heavily on their contact databases to achieve success.  You would be forgiven for thinking that staying off those lists would be easy, but it is likely that every email address ever conceived is currently on a spam database somewhere in the world. 

Spammers are not selective about whom they add to their databases. 

Here's some of the ways you may have ended up on a spam database:

1. Most spam databases are comprised of users who have willingly filled out a competition or inquiry form online.  These details are then sold or otherwise acquired by spammers. 
2. Spammers often target specific domain names (e.g. xplore.net) and make up the e-mail addresses using this domain, with the hope that they will actually find one that is real.  This is why people with the e-mail address “sales@”, “info@” and “support@” often have high levels of spam. 
3. Website harvesting is also another favoured method of the spammer.  Computer programs designed by spammers to read the text content on websites “harvest” any e-mail addresses found and add these to spam databases.

So, once you're on these lists, how do you get off?  

In short, you can’t.  But there are ways to reduce your spam load:

1. Spam messages often include instructions on how to “unsubscribe”, but these instructions are usually fake or a way to collect more addresses. Do not be tricked into replying to complain!  Your message will either bounce back (because the return address has been forged and doesn't actually exist) OR, if it does manage to get through to the spammer's site, they will often not only NOT remove you from their mailing list, they'll see your complaint as evidence that your address is valid and spam it all the more!
2. It is advisable to remove all e-mail addresses from your website.  Instead, use online forms to enable website users to contact you.  However, be warned.  Some spammers have even created programs that will automatically fill in online forms with spam and submit these to you.  These are clever, highly motivated people.
3. If you do endure more than 80 spam communications per day, I would recommend doing away with your e-mail address (along with heavily spammed e-mail variations such as sales@), as you are obviously a “validated” target and will never be able to completely stop the spam.

Spam is here to stay. 

It is annoying and time consuming, but e-mail is still a valid and cost-effective form of communication.  With the right anti-spam software and user education (ensuring staff do not use their work e-mail accounts to sign up to anything online), we can minimise the impact of spam on the work place.

Author:  Wendy Schollum

For further information on reducing spam...

please contact the friendly Xplore.net team...