Suddenly Getting Large Amounts Of Spam Emails

[mrswitzend64]

Hi,

I don't log into my email account too often (maybe once every 3 days or so) and find I have dozens and dozens of emails to read, so about 2 weeks ago I decided to unsubscribe from the majority such as Argos, Curry's, AOL, Secret Escapes etc etc. Mainly ones I'd used in the past or others I don't recall using at all.
Anyway since then my "spam" inbox has gone up from about 10 a day to about 50 a day and they are mainly from companies I've never heard of eg.. Loan companies, PPI claim backs, Accidents I've never had , Gambling sites, Dating sites, Laser Eye Treatments etc etc the list is endless. The only one I know I've unsubscribed from recently is the Secret Escapes one that has now started popping up in the "spam" inbox.

Does anyone know what's happened or why I'm suddenly getting inundated with these emails ? I never open them, just usually delete the lot, but it's becoming more tiresome and worrying than before. I did try to unsubscribe from 1 of them earlier tonight telling me I had received that email as I'd registered on their Job site (I hadn't) but nothing happened when I clicked on "unsubscribe", so I deleted it too.

Has anyone else had this and do you know how I can stop it? No-one else uses my home computer by the way, just me.

Thanks in advance

[Tuvok]

Never click on unsubscribe on a spam email.

These emails may not be coming from where they appear to be - and by clicking unsubscribe you're confirming to the spammers that your email is live.

[Buenchico]

>>> . . . others I don't recall using at all

Those words might be the clue to why the amount of spam you're receiving has suddenly increased.

I get loads of emails from companies such as Ryanair, easyJet, Eurostar, Rakuten, Amazon, Tesco, Waitrose, etc. I'm confident that clicking the 'unsubscribe' button in any of those mails would simply have the desired effect (because they're all reputable companies).

However, as Tuvok suggests, clicking on the 'unsubscribe' button on a spam email is pure madness. Spammers send out millions of emails to 'guessed' addresses (such as [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], etc) in the hope that at least some of them will be delivered. However what they'd really like to find are email addresses where their spam will definitely be delivered. Clicking 'unsubscribe' on one of their emails effectively sends back this message "Hi. Yes, this address really exists. Please send me a few million other spam emails".

If you're using an email client (such as Outlook Express, Thunderbird or Window Live Mail) you could give Mailwasher a try. (It 'learns' what is, and isn't, spam and attempts to block it):
http://www.mailwasher.net/

If you're using webmail there's nothing you can do except (if the problem gets really bad) changing your email address. That can be less hassle than you might think. For example, you get a free email account here
http://www.gmx.co.uk/
and then use the 'mail collector' facility to get mail from your old account forwarded to it. (It goes to a separate inbox, so you can easily see which address the sender has used for each email). You'd still get the spam forwarded but once you were sure that all of your genuine contacts were using our new address you could then disable mail forwarding and get rid of the spam.

[VHG]

>>>effectively sends back this message "Hi. Yes, this address really exists.

And what is worse it also says "and there is a human at the end of it" as you have done an unsubscribe.

[mrswitzend64]

Oh blimey, I'm even more worried now ! I'm not brilliant with computers, so please bear with me ..... Buenchico, I'm with Sky. Can I still do the mailwasher thing ? Plus (this may seem like a stupid question ) can the Spammers get at my bank details (I do use internet banking on occasion) or do they just send unwanted emails?
Thank you

[Buenchico]

>>>I'm with Sky. Can I still do the mailwasher thing ?

Er, probably not. There's not enough information there for a definitive answer but I'll try to cover both possibilities anyway:

The program you're using to view this page is a web browser. (It might be Internet Explorer but it could also be something like Firefox or Chrome; it doesn't matter which one it is anyway). If you use the SAME program to access your email (i.e. if you go to Sky's website) then you're using webmail and you can't use Mailwasher. If you use a DIFFERENT program specifically to view your email (such as Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail or Thunderbird) then you're using an email client, which Mailwasher will work with.


>>>can the Spammers get at my bank details

Spamming is, in itself, purely a one-way process. The spammers send stuff to your computer but your computer doesn't send anything (such as your bank details) back. So the short answer to your question is 'No'.

However some apparent 'spam' might contain malicious code from hackers. For example you might get an email that says "Thank you for your Amazon order. We attach your invoice". If you open the attachment to see what it's all about, doing so will place malicious code onto your computer which could (for example) forward your banking transactions (such as your account details and passwords) to criminals. NEVER, EVER open an attachment from an unknown source!!!

To summarise:
Simply RECEIVING spam on your computer can never harm it.

OPENING an email from an unknown source (to read it) is probably unlikely to damage your computer. There's a theoretical risk but it's no greater than that posed by visiting a website with some 'dodgy' code on it, which is a risk even on reputable websites (because hackers might have attacked that website).

It's OPENING ATTACHMENTS which is 'electronic suicide'!!!

[mrswitzend64]

Thank you so much to you all, especially Buenchico and Methyl. You've given great advice. Have a good weekend and thanks again

[Davemano]

First class information(as usual) from BC together with sound advice from he and Methyl.. Thank you.

[Davemano]

I should also have said thanks to the other subscribers.

[henry1938]

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