How are spammers getting all our email addresses?
And can we do anything to hide our email address from spammers?
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot you could do to prevent spammers from bombarding you with emails.
There are some tips that will help protect you, but spammers will probably find your email address eventually.
Thesepassword leakshappen with frightening regularity.
These leaked databases are normally considered a security threat because they often show account names and passwords.
However, they generally show email addresses, too.
Spammers can download these leaked databases and add the millions of email addresses to their email lists.
This is likely the way most spammers are currently finding email addresses to spam.
They’ll note your click and their systems will identify your email address as active.
They know you’re there, and you may see larger amounts of spam after you poke the link.
Related:The Many Ways Websites Track You Online
The same goes for loading images in spam emails.
This is why most email clients don’t automatically load images.
For example, someone may post a comment like “Email me at jon@example.com”.
The spammer would then add this address to their spam lists.
This technique is probably less common now that spammers have such large leaked account databases to feast on.
These records display an email address associated with the person or organization who registered the domain name.
Unscrupulous people will sell lists of email addresses to spammers for a low price.
Legitimate businesses won’t sell or buy lists of email addresses.
There’s not a lot you could do to avoid having your email address spammed.
Thankfully, we have better spam filters these days.
Image Credit:Arnold Gatilao on Flickr,John Liu on Flickr
