Email Habits That Can Reduce Spam

Worried About Spam?  Stop Forwarding Emails!

Do you get a lot of emails asking you to sign a petition for a good cause? Are you constantly being asked to send a message along to 10 of your closest friends under threat of a lifetime of bad luck? No matter how good the cause or how dire the threat, there’s pretty much never a good reason to forward emails to large groups of people. Almost all of those messages are from telemarketers and spammers looking for a way to validate active email accounts so that they can keep sending you more spam.

When you see an email that asks you to forward it along, chances are it’s doing one of two things. It’s either tracking the cookies and addresses of the people to whom you forward the email, or the host sender is getting a copy each time it gets forwarded so they can keep a list of active addresses to sell to other spammers and use in future emails.

 

If you have been forwarding these types of email, now you know why you get so much spam! And you can reduce your spam by resisting the urge to forward or add your name to email petitions. Email petitions are not accepted by Congress or other legitimate organizations, which require a handwritten signature and the full address of the person signing the petition.  

 

You might even tell your friends about it, too…in person!