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Who
Sends Spam email?
Most of us receive spam at one time or another. A spammer
is someone who sends unsolicited e-mails in bulk to people
who have not requested the product or information. Most
of those who send spam do so for marketing purposes; although
backing a certain candidate or joining a religion may
involve tactics that include unsolicited mailing, something
is considered spam only if it is used for comtmercial
purposes.
Given
the fact that spam is unpopular and its legal status is
shaky, spam usually originates from people who are on
the other side of the law. Many of those who spam are
doing so to spread illegal pornography or unlicensed computer
software. Many of those who claim to sell Viagra, to offer
credit card accounts or tout a certain remedy as a miracle
cure turn out to be false sales people.
They
may describe dramatic and incredible effects of a certain
remedy, but will refuse to identify themselves properly
or to give the customer an idea of who they are and where
they are located. With such little information, Many feel
that they are definitely in the hands of scammers who
refuse to answer basic questions about themselves.
Those
who spam include people who are involved in a wide array
of scams and con games. One popular scheme is the Nigerian
money transfer fraud, promising the unwitting victims
a fortune if only he or she would donate a very small
amount of money into his or her bank account.
Spammers
also may be involved in diploma mills, which reward degrees
and certificates to those who study very little. This
is an especially pernicious use of spam. Pyramid schemes,
which encourage the customer to pay a fee for a work at
home job, only to find that the job is to find others
to do the work and on and on, is not everyone, and spammers
might actually be someone who is innocent of spamming,
but whose e-mail might be used by spammers.
Pump
and dump schemes are illegal, but many spammers are not
deterred from them. The spammers tout a certain stock
through e-mail and chat groups. Once the price of the
stock becomes inflated, the owners sell bringing the process
again. This pump and dump scheme is illegal, but many
spammers are not deterred.
A
spammer might look like someone you trust, like your bank,
but actually may turn out to be a fraudster who is trying
to get you to type in your password, credit card number
or account information. When you get a request from your
bank to enter personal information, don't click on the
link, but go to the site to see if you have a similar
warning there. If not, it is likely that the e-mail was
unwelcome spam.
Many
spammers get a hold of other people's e-mail addresses,
and use their addresses or computers to forward their
spam. This is done to avoid legal problems, but unwitting
victims become labelled as spammers and may be blackballed.
If someone is using your PC as a "zombie" PC,
report the incident to the authorities immediately. This
practice is illegal, and spammers pirating computers and
other items may pay a fee or spend time in jail.
Spammers
are constantly coming up with news ways of grabbing email
addresses. The only effective way to stop the spam dropping
in to your inbox is with a good permission based Free
Spam Blocker.
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