Walks to the mailbox can often be marred by pulling out piles of unwanted mail. Letters from credit card companies and other envelopes carrying offers that can’t be refused seem to proliferate in the dark shadows of your mailbox. Fortunately, your ire against such junk mail can be easily resolved as you rip the letters to pieces or feed them to your paper shredder. Ah, the therapeutic benefits.

But where are those benefits when it comes to the electronic world? Everyday, you open your email inbox to discover a plethora of unwanted messages offering everything under the sun, from Viagra to Antivirus software and beyond. Unfortunately, the click of a button does little to relieve the agitation of receiving such mass emailings. What adds to the frustration is that we often receive the very same offer multiple times, filling up our inboxes, confiscating memory space, occupying bandwidth time, and wasting our time as we try—often vainly—to get the messages to stop.

So what can be done to stop the ever insidious spam?

What Is Spam?

There’s a difference between legitimate email and spam. At the core of the difference is this: one you want to receive, the other you don’t. When fighting the spam battle, this distinction is very important.

Chances are that some of the messages that clutter your inbox are messages you opted to receive—even if you don’t remember saying that you wanted them. Many legitimate businesses offer to send you promotions and updates when you register on their web sites. Such messages should not be reported as spam—you did, after all, ask for them to be sent to you. In such cases, legitimate businesses will have an opt-out procedure that will terminate the messages. These messages are also easily identified. The sender will be a familiar name, on that you recognize.

It’s the messages that come from senders that you don’t recognize that are the problem. These are the emails that you did not ask to receive; the ones that you would like to get rid of, but cannot.

Unfortunately, spam is a reality of online life. With the growth of technology and the spread of information, spamming is incredibly easy to perpetrate. Your email address can be gleaned from any number of sources, and can even be produced at random by some programs. No matter what you do, you will receive some spam. But there are things you can do to cut back on the amount that you are receiving.

Preventing Spam

When it comes to stopping the spread of spam, the key is to protect your information. If spammers cannot find your email address, they can’t send you spam. So how do you protect your information? Try these five preventative steps.

1. Never post your email address on the web. Try this activity: search Google for your email address. If you find it in a search, then so can a spammer. Even if you don’t, be aware that posting your email address on the web—in chatrooms, usenets, newsgroups, discussion or bulletin boards, or on web pages—makes that email address available to anyone, anywhere.
2. Read the privacy policies when registering with a website. Check to see if the privacy policy states whether they do or do not sell your contact information to list subscribers. Most companies do not sell your information, but some do. Watch carefully and consider the risks. Even if the policy states that lists are only available to subscribers doesn’t mean that a spammer isn’t subscribed. If you are on a legitimate email publisher list, check to see if you can gain access to that list. If you can, so can a spammer.
3. Be extremely careful when forwarding messages. If you forward a message, then someone else might as well—and then the next person, and the next, and the next.…Eventually, that message could end up in a spammer’s inbox, and, lucky day, look at all those legitimate email addresses in the message. If you are going to forward a message, delete the email addresses that are already displayed there and make sure that those you are forwarding to do the same. Don’t make a spammer’s job easier.
4. Never click on anything in a spam message. This includes any unsubscribe or opt-out buttons. More often than not, clickable options in spam are just a means of verifying email addresses. Certain programs used by spammers create random email addresses and then send out messages to those addresses, whether they are real or not. By clicking on a link in the message, you are effectively telling the spammer that not only is this a legitimate email address, but you also read your messages—a prime candidate for spam. Even if the spammer does remove you from their lists, they now know that your email address is valid, and thus worth much more when they decide to sell their emailing lists.
5. Turn off the “fetch” option. Many email programs have a “fetch” option that tells the computer to go out and fetch any images that appear in the message. These images are often a means of once again verifying legitimate email addresses. When your computer goes out in search of the images, it tells the sender to send the messages to your address—giving the spammer a valid email address. While it may not be visually appealing to not have images retrieved automatically into email messages, it will hamper the efforts of spammers. A simple right-click will retrieve the images from legitimate messages if you want them.

Stopping Spam

Great strides are being made in creating programs that can stop spam from reaching you. At the same time, spammers are taking great strides to circumvent these programs. Again, you’ll probably never be free of spam, but there are a few things you can do to stem the rush.

Create Two Email Addresses

One of the simplest actions you can take to prevent spam is to create two email addresses—one for personal email and the other for junk. Use your junk email address for anything that might result in receiving spam, such as websites that require your email to register but don’t state that they won’t sell your contact information in their privacy policy. Limit the use of your private email address for friends and family—just the people you trust. And protect that address. Ask people that receive email from your private address to protect that information as well (such as deleting it when forwarding messages you sent).

Spam Filters

Spam filters rely on keywords to determine if a message is spam or not. These filters can be reliable and effective. Check with your email provider to see if they have a built-in filter. If they don’t, you can purchase one.

Keyword filters, however, have their drawbacks. Because they rely on keywords to identify spam, they can erroneously mark a legitimate message as spam. Take, for instance, the word “breast.” Many keyword filters will mark this word as a keyword for spam offering pornography. But what if that message was a newsletter from the National Breast Cancer Society? Keyword filters can be a two-edged sword in this regard.

Additionally, spammers can work around keyword filters by not including keywords in the text of their messages. The next time you get a message about Viagra, look to see if “Viagra” is actually in the text of the message. Remember, the text of the message does not include the gif or jpeg that is downloaded with the message. Keyword filters only “read” the text of a message, not the image. Often times, spammers use incoherent text, or horribly misspelled text, in their spam all with the hopes of fooling a keyword filter.

So, while spam filters can stop some spam, it won’t catch all of it. Or it may catch things you don’t want caught. If you have signed up to receive an internet publication, find out what your service provider is doing to block spam. If their efforts would block the emails you want to receive, fill out a request that they be allowed to pass through the blocks.

Never Purchase Spam-Made Offers

More often than not, offers made through spam messages are not legitimate. They are really just an attempt to get your information—especially your purchasing information. Before you decide to purchase something from any message, consider the source and the offer. Would Norton Antivirus actually offer their product at drastically reduced prices through 3edcid39r@ghurmeno.com?

Even if the offer is legitimate, purchasing the product through spammers only encourages more spamming. That’s why people still send out spam—somewhere, someone is buying what they’re selling. If no one ever bought anything offered in spam, spam would soon die out.

If You’re Going to Complain, Make Sure the Complaint Is Heard

If you think about it, sending a complaint to the source of a spam message really does little good. First, the sender address is probably completely fabricated. Most likely your message will bounce back with an error message. Second, think about who you’re sending your complaint to in the first place. Spammers don’t care how much they may be bothering you; if they did, they wouldn’t have sent the message without your permission in the first place. Sending a complaint only tells the spammer that your email is a valid one. Additionally, many spammers hide their tracks so well that the originator of the message cannot be found. Or, worse, they don someone else’s identity to send out the message, thus directing your wrath on an innocent bystander.

Rather than sending complaints to the spammer, send them to their service providers. Many service providers take complaints of this nature very seriously—especially if they receive large quantities of them. Once you have the ISP (Internet Service Provider), forward the spam to them with a message stating that you no longer wish to receive mass emailings like the one you’re reporting. Most ISP’s use a ABUSE@[domain name] email address for such complaints. You may have to go to the individual ISP pages to find the specific email if this doesn’t work.

Many ISPs also offer an automated complaint program. You can use these, but it is advisable to send a manually entered complaint. Manually entering a complaint makes it harder to ignore, and shows how adamantly you feel about not receiving mass emailings anymore.

To find out who the ISP is, you’ll need to learn how to “reveal full headers” on your email. Just because a message says that it came from joeschmoe@AOL.com doesn’t mean that it actually came from AOL. Revealing full or extended headers will show which servers a message was routed through. Pick the first servers on the list and send the message to them.

If revealing the full headers doesn’t work, and if the spam prompts you to go to a webpage, you can always try complaining to the webpage host. Hosts, even free ones like Geocities, will shut down web pages if enough complaints are registered against them. This is something akin to the paper shredder with paper letters. Having a spammer’s web page shut down gives you a nice feeling of retribution.

Getting Off Spam Lists

Unfortunately, once your email is on a spammer’s email list, there’s no real way to get it off. Even with legislation being passed, there’s no real legal recourse available. Your best option is to start over and guard your email address like you would a family heirloom.

Legality Issues of Spam

While current legislation may not be able to stop spam, there are some messages that can and should be reported to government officials.

• Fraud. If you receive a spam that is proffering obviously fraudulent offers, you can report them to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The FTC has gone after spammers in the past. But a word of caution, the FTC has enough to do without having to investigate spurious or spiteful claims. If you truly feel that you have a legitimate example of fraud, forward the message to uce@ftc.gov. The FBI also has an Internet Fraud Center (www.ifccfbi.gov).

Stock fraud is another reportable offense. Spam messages that laud the qualities of certain stocks in the hopes of driving up the price are forms of the Pump and Dump scam. Spammers will drive up the price of stocks, and, when the prices rise, they will sell—or “dump”—their shares, leaving you with stock that you lose money on. You can report such incidences to enforcement@sec.gov.

• The Nigerian Scam. You’ve probably received the message before. A politician or his family in Nigeria, or some other unstable foreign country, needs your help to bring his millions to the States after being ousted from his country. If you give him your bank account numbers he’ll be able to transfer the money and, as a way to thank you for your help, he’ll cut you in. Whatever the variation, the story is basically the same, and so is the purpose behind it: someone needs your bank account numbers.

If you think it through, you’ll surely see how foolish it would be to send anyone your bank account numbers. Why would someone contact John Doe living in North Dakota instead of a reputable international currency trader? Forward these spams with the subject “NO LOSS” to 419.fcd@usss.treas.gov. If you have been taken in by such a scam, you can contact the U.S. Secret Service and they may be able to help.

Not Spam, but Still Pesky

It may not be spam, but some messages are just as bothersome. And some may inadvertently contribute to the spread of spam.

• Pass This On. Many emails prompt you to pass this message on to other people. Superstition set aside, doing so can provide spammers with long lists of real email addresses. If you have to pass on a message, do everyone the courtesy of deleting their email addresses from the message.

Additionally, some of these messages are just hoaxes. Over 10 years ago, a message was circulated that a young boy, Craig Shergold, was dying of terminal brain cancer. His dying wish was to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for receiving the most cards. In 1990, the first year of the effort, Craig received some 16 million cards. Craig has since went through a successful operation to remove the tumor and is now a grown man. Unfortunately, he’s still being inundated by cards. Even worse, somewhere along the line the Make-A-Wish foundation was roped into the story, despite having nothing to do with the effort. They have lost countless man hours to this effort and have even set up a special 800 number and a website to try and stop these cards.

While you may have altruistic intentions, always greet these messages with skepticism. Research them first, and, once you’ve verified their validity, act as you see fit. There are many efforts that are worthwhile and need help. There are some that should be ignored. Here are a few web sites that can help you determine the validity of these messages:

• http://www.nonprofit.net/hoax/
• http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org.
• http://thefolklorist.com

• Phishing. Pronounced “fishing”, these emails are blatant attempts to get your bank account information. Clicking on the links proves that the email address the message was sent to—yours—is real and will cause you to receive more spam. But that’s not all. If you do go to their website and provide the requested information, you’re setting yourself up for identity theft. Your bank or Credit Card Company will never ask you to “verify” your account numbers. They already know what they are! If you do receive a message like this, delete it. If you’re concerned that it may have actually come from your bank or Credit Card Company-who will usually rely on registered mail for important correspondence-call the bank first. Before you provide any verification, verify that the message is legitimate.

Die, Spam, Die!

In a perfect world, we would be able to get rid of spam—in an even more perfect world, we would never have seen spam to begin with! But, the facts are that spam is here and likely to stay. You’ll have to grit your teeth and tolerate some spam, but that doesn’t mean you have to suffer through an inundation of mass e-mailings. Use these tips and you’ll be able to cut back on the amount of spam you receive. Good luck!