Why am I getting all this spam? In a word - money. It all comes down to money. Why would anyone go to the trouble of sending out millions of spam e-mail for any other reason? It's about the money. Who exactly is sending out all the spam? The answer to that is a bit more complicated.
In 2003 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) created the Can-Spam Act. Legitimate businesses are the source of a small portion of spam. They either don't understand or don't follow the rules laid out by the FTC. However criminals are responsible for the vast majority of spam. These e-mails can be grouped into four basic categories.
Infection Attempts - the idea here is to provide links and attachments in the e-mails. Clicking on the attachment will get you infected. Likewise the links will lead you to a website that will also infect your computer. The bad guys have thousands of clever ways to fool you or entice you to click on a link - any link. And the minute you do you're infected. Then your sensitive information is up for grabs. They may even attempt to control your computer remotely - to send out more spam.
Sales Attempts -the products offered for sale are usually pharmaceuticals, counterfeit jewelry, or some body enhancement product. The prices are too good to be true - for good reason. These e-mails often provide no product at all. At best any product you do receive will be poor quality or a complete fake.
Phishing Attempts - phishing is an effort to convince you to give up sensitive information by pretending to be a legitimate organization or business such as a bank. If you are fooled into responding to these requests, your identity and money will often be stolen.
Scams - e-mail scams are an attempt by criminals to lure you into a conversation. They do this with a story that appeals to some emotion such as greed or compassion. When the conversation begins they will use more stories, promises, even threats to convince you to send money.
In the end, the billions of spam sent daily are all about money. Often the criminals are using our own computers against us to send spam, and then more spam. If 2 billion spam costs little more than 1 billion spam, the spammer says "Why not?
About the Author:
Is there a solution? Is there anything you can do to reduce the spam in your inbox? Is it possible to stop spam altogether? For more information about how to stop spam, how to block spam, and how to take back control of your inbox, visit http://techteachtoo.com/tag/spam/.
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