What is unsolicited junk e-mail?

This is e-mail sent to many recipients who did not ask to receive it. There are automated e-mail sending programs that can send millions of messages a day. Most unsolicited junk e-mail, also known as SPAM, is used to advertise:

• chain letters
• pyramid schemes (including multi-level marketing)
• Inheritence scams
• other get-rich-quick or Make Money Fast (MMF) schemes
• offers of phone sex lines and ads for web sites with indecent images of people
• offers of software for collecting e-mail addresses and sending unsolicited junk e-mail
• offers of bulk e-mailing services for sending unsolicited junk e-mail
• stock offerings for unknown start-up corporations
• quack health products and remedies
• iIlegally pirated software

How did the people who sent these e-mails get my address?

• They run programs which collect e-mail addresses out of newsgroup postings.
• They get them from subscriber lists.
• They use web-crawling programs that look for e-mail addresses on websites.
• They rip them out of on-line "white page" directories.
• They buy a list from someone who already has one.
• They take them from you without your knowledge when you visit their web site.
• They collect member names from on-line "chat rooms".

So how can I stop these people getting my address?

If you do a lot of web browsing, be careful about filling out forms; some "organisations" see this as an opportunity to flood your e-mail inbox with "junk" e-mail. There are also those who sell addresses collected in this manner. Don't assume that because you are visiting the site of a "reputable company" that this will not happen to you.

Some people have taken to forging their own "From:" and "Reply-to:" lines in their e-mails. They might add an easily recognised "spam-block" to their address, or they might use those header lines to tell people where to look for their real address (usually in the signature). Information and software that can be used to stop junk e-mails can be found by searching the Internet.

I am receiving lots of junk e-mail, what can I do?

Under no circumstances reply to these messages. Some junk e-mail messages urge you to send an "unsubscribe" reply to their service if you want to get off their list. This is a common ploy for harvesting e-mail addresses; instead of getting off their lists, you'll be added to others (your e-mail address may even be sold to other direct marketers), and you'll find yourself getting more junk e-mail than before.

Do not pass it on to your friends. This is especially true of chain letters.

There are a number of tools available on the Internet that can help reduce the number of junk e-mails you receive. There are also a number of websites that offer advice on how to stop unsolicited e-mails, some of which offer 'anti-spam' software that can be used to prevent the problem.