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Information from Giant: Spam Removal Software.

Why do I get so much spam:

The answer to that question is simple. First, sending spam email is cheap! A spammer can send out a direct marketing email to hundreds even thousands of recipients for under one cent. Second, believe it or not people buy things and reply to junk email. NEVER EVER BUY ANY GOODS OR SERVICES ADVERTISED BY SPAM! It just encourages more spam, If there is something advertised by spam you are actually interested, find it somewhere else online, it is time users Banned Spam. So when you put the two reasons together you get the simple and basic answer that spamming is profitable. People are making a lot of money by swamping your inbox with all kinds of junk, scams, and offensive material.
So the real question is How Do Spammers Get My Email Address?

The question we hear more than any other is: How did my email address become public knowledge? The companies and persons responsible for flooding your inbox with junk email, advertisements, and offensive adult content, are very smart and determined technically savvy internet users.

This document is meant to not only inform you on why the problem is so pervasive, and why without some defense it will only get worse. And second, to dispel a few myths about spam and how not to get spammed.

MYTHS:
If I don’t give out my email address, spammers won’t get it. This is the I use my hotmail address for signing up for websites, and I only give out my real address to people I know. This is a fairly effective strategy, and in the short term it may actually work for you, however within a matter of time you address will be located, exploited, and shared.
Signing up for adult sites is why you get “those kind of emails sent to you”. The annoying question – “What kind of websites do you visit?” Contrary to uninformed belief, you do not have to visit or sign up for adult sites to get pounded with junk email advertising “XXX HOT fill in the blank”.
I complain to the spammers ISP, that way their account is deactivated. People have been complaining to ISPs since spam started, and spam has not slowed down. Email headers are forged, or originate from thousands of different servers, sometimes switching servers multiple times for the same message batch.

REALITY:
You may be aware of one or more of the following “tactics” of getting your email address and abusing that information to bombard you with trash. Below is a list of the more popular methods of getting your address:

They buy your name from a list: These junk mail & targeted email lists have been around almost as long as the internet itself. For as cheap as $100.00 anyone can buy a list of over 11 million addresses. These lists we’re created by numerous unscrupulous website owners, and online stores that would “share” their customer’s information for some money. As you can imagine it is impossible for spammers to identify your likes, or interests, when sending mails to such a large group. So a “shotgun” mailing is sent out, product offers, get rich quick schemes, adult porn sites, Korean & Chinese ??? mailings, are all sent out to all 11 million names.

Opt-in Lists:
These two little words (or one hyphenated one however you look at it) are quickly becoming infuriating. These lists are developed by partnering with legitimate websites which make you check “Don’t send me offers”, well sooner or later you’ll forget to check one of the boxes, and you’re added to an opt-in list. Although many opt-in lists are legitimate and will honor your removal requests, for every one there are three that are not truly “opt-in” lists. You ask to be removed from an email from “MarkertingPartners Ltd”, and tomorrow you get two messages saying you opted-in at one of the partner sites of “SuperOptIn Ltd”.

Email Extractors:
These software tools are very skilled at scouring the internet for email addresses. Websites, Forums, Alumni sites, news posts, etc. These robots can locate thousands of email addresses an hour. And spammers run them day and night.

MX Server Extractors:
These programs exploit internet mail server protocols. When an email is sent to you it is handed over to your Mail Provider’s server, which starts “communication” with the sender. The sender’s server asks to deliver a message to a user on your server, but before the message is actually accepted by your server it wants to know who it the mail is addressed to. So your address is sent over, and your server replies whether the name is OK, or the address does not exist on the server (what happens when a message is “bounced” back to you). Basically the MX server extractors mimic the communication without actually trying to send the message. Think of it as someone ringing your doorbell and asking if “Joe” is home, no one named Joe may live at your house, however if the person at your door tries enough names sooner or later the may stumble upon yours, and you will say “Yes”. (You are smart enough to stop answering after the first or second name guess however most email servers are not). Programs exist that can mine over 5000 email addresses per minute, and believe it or not they sell for less than $100.00

Viruses, Spyware, and Mailicous Code:
Not to long ago viruses & spyware started to appear that transparently load themselves or are sent via email to your mail client. As soon as you open books, contact lists, and distribution lists, and “report” their findings back them, the read you address to home base.