Spam Guide

The term “spam” is Internet slang that refers to unsolicited commercial email (UCE) or unsolicited bulk email (UBE). This definition of spam essentially means if you didn't ask for the email and you don't have a "relationship" with the sender then it is spam.

Some people refer to this kind of communication as junk email to equate it with the paper junk mail that comes through the Mail. Unsolicited email is email that you did not request; it most often contains advertisements for services or products. There are very few reputable marketers using UCE to advertise goods and services. The most commonly seen spam includes the following:

1. Phishing scams, currently the most popular and thus dangerous form of email fraud
2. Foreign bank scams or advance fee fraud schemes
3. Pyramid schemes, including multilevel marketing (MLM)
4. Other “Get Rich Quick” or “Make Money Fast” (MMF) schemes
5. Quack health products and remedies
6. Ads for pornographic web sites
7. Offers of bulk emailing services for sending UCE

There are some steps you can take to reduce spam:

1. Use a software solution such as Spambully
2. Use the spam filtering service  offered by your  ISP  (Internet  Service  Provider)
3. Use  an  online  email service such  as  GMAIL or Hotmail
4. Do  not use  your  main  email  address  when  you sign up  for  newsletters  etc  on  the  Internet  -  An  interesting  idea is  to  use  "10  Minute Mail "  this service produces  a  short-lived email  address  for  sign-up  purposes.
   

Download the current version of  Spambully

This will give you an immediate reduction in the spam you receive and effectiveness will increase as the system resides in your email application and can be fine tuned over time to decrease spam in your email.

Read the rest of our Internet Security Guide