Where does e-mail spam come from?

Ever wondered where do the spam e-mails come from? I mean nobody can avoid them. It’s like an insane plague that you just can’t be immunized from. The moment you create an e-mail address, it’s only a matter of time before you get flooded with spam messages. While it’s a blessing that e-mail software providers give us security with spam folders, it’s still can be frustrating because sometimes normal messages go into the spam folder. I’ve missed important e-mails from clients and my previous colleagues because of that. Anyway, here are three reasons how “evil” internet marketers get your e-mail address.

Corrupt Database Managers
Think of all the times that you gave your e-mail address to a website, someone, or an organization. These groups build databases and these databases are valuable. Sometimes the people who guard these databases get tempted with bribes and eventually decide to sell the database to the highest bidder. While this may sound weird and far-fetched, I can say that this happens a lot not just in the Philippines, but all over the world.

Here in the Philippines it also doesn’t just happen with e-mail, it happens a lot with SMS too. I’ve been getting several black propaganda political messages lately and it’s getting really annoying. Makes me want to vote for the candidate who’s the victim of the black propaganda just out of spite.

Website Crawlers
There are automated robots that crawl websites and get data from them. If you list your e-mail address in your site or blog, then there’s a big chance that it will be stored in some database which will eventually get sold to someone who wants to spam your inbox.

I think everyone knows already that crawlers check out Facebook a lot. I’ve seen a lot of people who just display their e-mail address on their profiles. Some even display their mobile numbers. This is a big NO-NO especially if you’re displaying your personal contact information. Check your social network accounts ASAP and make sure that you’re not serving your inbox in a silver platter for spammers.

Easy Domain Names
Almost every company has a marketing@yourdomain.com, sales@yourdomain.com, or support@yourdomain.com. There are programs that just ping domains with these variations and eventually something will get through. I don’t think we can really avoid this if this is for work but you shouldn’t make the mistake of doing this for your personal websites and e-mail addresses.

So how to avoid SPAM? We can’t. Ultimately it boils down to prevention and making sure that you have a healthy spam protection system (which is usually built-in Google and Yahoo). This is a bane for all legit internet marketers. It’s a good thing there are e-mail and newsletter services that allow us to get through this if our subscribers opt-in. To those who are exploring e-mail marketing, let me recommend AWEBER (aff). I’ve been using it for my clients and for this site and it’s proven to be one of the most effective, affordable, and easy-to-use e-mail services I’ve come across.

Hope this article helps! Cheers.