We sent and received around 320 billion emails in 2021 – every single day. According to Statista, almost half of those emails were spam, those irritating potentially-dangerous unsolicited messages

Most commonly, spam is distributed via email, but it can also be sent via text messages and phone calls. Spam takes up storage space, which can make our devices more sluggish. It aims to sell us things we couldn’t possibly want; it tries to sell us things that don’t exist; and it offends us with horrible spelling and grammar and poorly-used translation software. It tries to trick us into thinking that someone has “personally and individually” selected us.

Image by Muhammad Ribkhan from Pixabay

Whatever devices you use, spam isn’t only annoying. It’s harmful. Apply the following three techniques to protect yourself and those around you.

1.   Learn to spot spam

Understanding spam, what it looks like, and how it can harm you will help you protect yourself.

Some sources say someone first used “spam” to refer to mass, unsolicited emails in a USENET post in 1993 following a software bug causing 200 messages to go out indiscriminately to everyone on a list.

As the internet grew, so did spam communications: today they may contain everything from invitations to buy non-existent products to malware that can damage your device.

You can spot spam by:

  • Other recipients – Check whether you are one of many people receiving an email by looking at the CC section. In the most obvious spam cases, you will see variations of your name in the CC list.
  • The domain name – Spam emails often imitate established companies or institutions to trick people into revealing personal information. If you receive an email claiming to be from Orange or Facebook, for example, but the domain doesn’t begin with Orange or Facebook, chances are good that this is spam.
  • Generic greetings – Look out for anything like “Dear customer or Dear book lover.” If they do use your name, look out for a spelling error.
  • Spelling and grammar – Spam tends to have terrible spelling and grammar that may start in the subject line and continue throughout the text. Also, look out for odd use of punctuation and symbols.
  • Offers too good to be true – If it looks like you’ve won something, or you have some money to claim, or you’ve been selected for an award (classic), think twice, and then think again.
  • An urgent tone – Many spammers go for the very hard sell tactic of pressurizing people with a short time limit. They want people to act quickly without thinking or consulting others.
  • Requests for confidential information – Reputable companies are unlikely to request personal or confidential information by email or phone call. In a spam message, clicking a link may send you to a website where you will be asked to provide personal or confidential information, and/or it can also trigger the downloading of malware onto your device.

If you see one or more of these signs – and it wouldn’t be unusual to see all of them simultaneously – treat it as spam.

2.   Avoid spam

Now that you understand spam, here’s how to stop receiving so much of it.

  • Use a reverse phone lookup service – Spam phone calls and text messages are no less annoying or potentially dangerous than email spam. Cut down on the increasing amount of phone spam by screening unknown numbers. Use a reverse phone lookup service to find out who those callers and texters really are.
    Rather than allowing a marketer or scammer to intrude upon your day, punch their details into PhoneHistory to see their contact information, location, social media profiles, carrier, and, of course, phone history. You’ll soon know whether or not they are a reputable individual or firm.
  • Check your device privacy settings – Whatever device you use, go into settings and search for privacy, mail privacy, and internet privacy. Turn on any options for safe browsing and encryption.
    By ensuring privacy protection is on, you can make it harder for people to discover your browsing and messaging activity. This can help reduce unwanted emails, including spam, phishing attempts, and malware.
    Google’s email protection claims to block almost 10 million spam emails per minute.
  • Read privacy policies – Yes, really. If you check yes to get over the threshold of a new website as quickly as possible, you’re not alone. But if you read the privacy policy and learn to say no, you may receive less spam.
  • Beware of pre-checked boxes – Usually, you need to check a box to opt-in to emails. Unscrupulous sites, however, check the box and rely on you to uncheck it if you don’t want to be contacted and have your information sold.

3.   Know how to deal with spam

If you think you have received spam, several actions – or non-actions – will protect you and your device:

  • Don’t reply – Avoid giving a spammer a piece of your mind or requesting that they remove you from their list. Replying to a spammer generally tells the spammer and their associates that your contact is “active” and, thus, worth targeting.
    Don’t respond to chain emails, either. Forwarding or replying to those is not good luck; they make your email address visible to hundreds and thousands of people, opening you up to potential fraud and more spam.
  • Don’t click links – Clicking on a link can also signal you are worth targeting. Worse, it can cause malware, including spyware or ransomware, to be downloaded to your device.
  • Report spam – Most email services include a “report spam” function. Identify suspected spam emails to help filter out these emails more effectively. Additionally, you can report unsolicited telecommunication to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, as well as robocalls and telemarketing calls to the Do Not Call Registry.
  • Block spam – Blocking spam will help prevent the same spammer from contacting you again.

When you know how to spot spam, how to avoid it, and what to do when it lands on your PC or phone, you have a good chance of protecting yourself and those around you from these potentially harmful communications.

Whether it’s scam phone calls or indiscriminate email marketing, we can reclaim safe areas of cyberspace by looking before we leap and reading before we click.

This article was provided by Ana Meyer