More And More Spam

[tearinghair]

In the last few days I've started getting loads more in my Spam box in btYahoo. I used to have at most two or three a day, but yesterday it was 25. Also more are going into my Junk folder in Windows mail (btinternet address) , though these are checked by Norton. Is there any reason for this, and is there a way to stop them, please?
I have recently upgraded to BT Infinity.

[Buenchico]

Firstly, consider whether you're using a reasonably 'spam-proof' email address. Spammers set up their computers to send mail to millions of addresses which might possibly exist. For example, they'll send mail to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], etc, etc, in the knowledge that at least some of those addresses will actually exist, But they almost certainly won't send spam to addresses like [email protected] or [email protected]. So it makes sense to use an 'non-guessable' email address.

Then consider how many different email addresses you use. As well as guessing at email addresses, spammers obtain real email addresses by hacking the servers of websites such as this one. (NB: I'm not suggested that AB has actually been hacked, or that it's actually vulnerable to any such attacks!). You should never use your 'main' email address to sign up to web forums or to order goods or services online; you should always use a 'disposable' address (which you can simply stop using if it starts attracting spam). An excellent email service for getting new email accounts (which can either be accessed through the web or with an email client) is GMX:
http://www.gmx.co.uk/

Lastly, to deal with your current problem more directly, you have to accept that spam addressed to you will arrive on the servers of your email provider. (There's no way it can be stopped). Some email providers have quite aggressive filters in place which will see spam dumped into a 'Bulk' (or 'Junk') folder on their servers, so that you'll never know that it existed unless you access your account using webmail (rather than an email client) and inspect that folder. (The only downside is that there are occasionally 'false positives', meaning that genuine mail might get blocked).

For people who only use webmail there are no further measures that can be taken (as accessing a webmail account is directly inspecting the contents of the email provider's servers). But those who use email clients can take a further step, which will prevent spam from being forwarded to the inbox on their computer. That step is to install software which 'learns' what is, and isn't spam, and which allows users to inspect what's on the provider's servers before choosing whether to download it or not. Fortunately such software is free:
http://www.mailwasher.net/

Chris

[tearinghair]

Thanks for that very full information. My email address hasn't changed, though I can see that it might be guessable; I have another one, but I never use it and there is nothing in its Inbox or anywhere else. The thought of changing the main one and then going through the process of letting everyone know about it is a bit off-putting. Do you think something in particular might have triggered the additional wave of spam?

[Buenchico]

>>>Do you think something in particular might have triggered the additional wave of spam?

It's impossible to say. Spammers would much rather send mail to addresses that they know exist, rather to ones which simply might exist, so if (for example) you've clicked on an 'unsubscribe' link in a dodgy email, you'll have confirmed that your address is real. Similarly you might have signed up to a compromised site or, just as likely, one of your friends hasn't got adequate security measures in place, resulting in all of the addresses in their 'contacts' list being copied by a spammer.

Spam tends to come in waves. The chances are that the amount you get will soon die down (as long as you don't respond in any way, such as by clicking 'unsubscribe').

[tearinghair]

Ooh...I do seem to remember clicking on 'unsubscribe' a few days ago, though I can't remember now which site it was. I was so fed up with getting the same messages over and over again that I thought that would stop it. So I'm the silly s*d who brought it all on myself. I'll know better next time.
Many thanks for your advice, Chris.