Are you tired of Nigerian bank scams, slick-sounding invites to the ‘latest, greatest money-making schemes,’ or shocking images and videos that lead you to malware? Yeah, us too, which is why we decided to share some crucial information about these scams with you.
Unless you’re willing to completely separate from the digital age, meaning that you’re ready to close out all of your email addresses and not deal with that anymore, then there’s no way to block all spam completely. There are some great filters and other strategies that you can employ, but all of them require some diligence on your part to avoid falling prey to these unscrupulous (and often anonymous) senders.
Let’s Get Down to the Nitty-Gritty
Alright, without further adieu, let’s talk about the five things you can do right now that will minimize the amount of spam clogging up your inbox.
1. Train your spam filter
Every email service will likely have some filter, but you must keep training to make it as efficient as possible. You do this by finding spam and reporting it.
Remember, though, that you’re unfair to them if you subscribe for an email newsletter or other service and report them for sending you spam. If you no longer wish to receive these legitimate emails, take a couple of seconds to ‘unsubscribe.’ It should be quick and painless.
2. Don’t EVER respond to spam
Please do NOT click on a link or reply to it. Whatever you do, the moment you notice it’s spam, close it, report it as such, and delete it. Sure, it can feel good spotting spam, but if you reply to tell the sender how perverted and sick they are, they’ll know they have a legitimate address, and you can probably expect a mountain more spam emails coming through.
If you spot spam before you open it, don’t open it. Some emails can send info on which ones were opened, which is why they want to hit even more problematic.
3. Don’t disclose your email address
Don’t do it if you don’t have to publish your email address on any site (social media or otherwise). The fewer people who have access to it, the better.
4. Consider a new address
If you’re inundated with spam and can’t keep up with it, this drastic measure might be your best option. Some people keep an email address as their ‘public’ presence and a separate one for more trustworthy resources. While we don’t advocate these drastic measures, it might be just the ticket to save you from endless junk emails.
5. Rely on third-party spam filters
The spam filter that comes with your primary email account might be okay, but it’s never going to match the positive results you’ll find with a quality third-party one. It’s an investment, but when you can save a lot of time not having to sift through spam and avoid malware, it’s worth it.