When a person creates an email account they do so in order to exchange messages with their acquaintances or friends. But, you should know that when you have it it is common to receive dozens of messages that were never requested and that are not of our interest.
These emails constitute the very famous “Spam” that we have all heard about as Internet surfers. This phenomenon increases day after day, and as new solutions and technologies emerge to counteract it, spammers dedicated to their work become increasingly sophisticated and modify their skills, in order to avoid user counter-measures.
In order to inform you on this topic, in the article below we will give you some details about junk mail and the types that exist. In addition we will explain you better the purpose for which many practice this phenomenon and how to recognize it.
Index:
What is SPAM or spam and what is its purpose?
SPAM is called the form of supersaturating the Internet with many copies of the same message, with the aim that they reach people who would never otherwise agree to receive them.
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Originally this word cataloged those spam or junk emails that arrived without being requested, however, the concept has been extended by the many forms of online communication that exist today.
Usually, this propaganda is sent in large numbers to millions of accounts at the same time, and the majority of publicists instead of investing in campaigns and advertisements on popular websites, take advantage of this medium and collect email addresses from public or private sources, to which they will later send promotional emails in a matter of minutes.
Obtaining a considerable profit if only a small part of these receivers end up buying the product. It should be noted that Spain with 0.7% occupies the nineteenth position of the top 20 of the main countries that send spam.
As a curious fact we mention that the terminology “Spam” has its origin in World War II, when the American company Hormel Foods launched its canned meat called “Hormel’s Spiced Ham”, which means ham with spices From whose contraction the word in question arises.
This meal was very popular among American and British troops, since it saved the use of the can opener. But, it is in 1970 when the kings of British humor, The Monty Python’s in their sketch, describe it as annoying, repetitive and inevitable.
This is because when trying to order food in a cafeteria, all the dishes on the menu contained the food, which became somewhat invasive.
It is then, when almost half a century later, this description is not funny at all and fits perfectly with those emails or advertising shipments that are received on the Internet.
What are the main forms of SPAM that exist?
As we have already said, You can consider spam to all the ads, images or links that we often find on the websites. But what ways are there to find it?
Here we mention them:
Adult advertising
Normally, it includes offers of products designed to increase or improve sexual potency, erotic or pornographic ads that direct the user to paid sites or with subscriptions.
Phishing
It is an illegal data collection technique that consists of duplicating web pages making the user believe that it is in the original. This is commonly done with bank pages where notices are sent to access them. In this case, what hackers do is update data such as passwords, expiration dates, account numbers, etc.
Propaganda about health and medicine
They are carried out by miraculous products, magic therapies or shamans that they say surpass the medicine and nutrition specialists. These are usually published in magazines that use “before and after” montages.
Computers and Internet
Includes offers of hardware and software, as well as services aimed at website owners, such as hosting, web optimization, domain registration and many more.
Advertising about finance and economic opportunities
They generally offer all types of insurance, debt reduction services, loans with low interest rates and investments that seem advantageous. The desire to have a stable economic life causes many to fall into this type of propaganda.
Messages about educational and professional content
They usually arise in economic crises and when unemployment increases in a population. Offers are made for seminars, trainings and online degrees that will allow them to access insured jobs in exchange for apparently nothing.
On what platforms can we find unwanted messages?
As there are no perfect anti-spam measures that completely protect a means of communication, no platform is exempt from suffering from this problem that not only spreads in the most popular, but also reaches the least frequented and more private than there are.
In what follows, we will show you the most bombarded by the subject in question:
Forums
It is also considered junk mail when a user posts something that has nothing to do with the group’s topic of conversation. Likewise, when a person repeatedly sends messages solely for the purpose of increasing their rank or number of messages in the forum.
Social Networks
These consist of sending invitations, job offers, among other unsolicited advertisements. Adding to this comments on social networks, blogs or videos of YouTube that do not contribute anything to the content and only look for a promotion, new subscribers or a link.
SMS
This is known as the one that is done by telephone through the operators through text messages. That is, it is all advertising communication in which there is no prior consent. In the same way this is considered unsolicited commercial communications.
Chats
Generally this is reflected in social media chats, and consists of repeatedly putting the same thing so that messages from other members cannot be read. They are chains where instructions or promotions of a product are given.
Calls
Calls made by telephone companies at any time, or from organizations seeking your participation in certain competitions, are also called spam.
Unsolicited communications in the fax
Although at first it was not considered as spam, they are currently also punished by the Spanish Agency for Data Protection, since the sending of such messages goes against the General Law of Telecommunications and the rules of protection of data.
Street ads
Although it is not a platform, we can mention it as one of the ways to find this, especially in cities, as it is very common to find while we walk ads on walls, posts, cars, among other structures. In the same way, we can witness this when they make us take a piece of paper almost by obligation describing something that we may not care about.
SPAM risks on the Internet Why is it so bad?
This pile of junk mail is not only annoying because the mailbox is filled with unwanted messages, but can also become very dangerous.
While it is true that this does not belong to the group of virtual attacks and is used more frequently for marketing purposes, many cybercriminals can also use it as a means to distribute malware to the devices and steal access data to user accounts. In particular to online banking services through techniques of phishing or phishing.
More than 40% of spam aims to steal personal information for illegal purposes, which can lead to significant economic damage to the user. For this reason it is clear that it does not always have commercial purposes.
We can classify online criminals basically into two groups. Scammers who send deceptive advertising or sell “miracle products”, and hackers who use emails as a means of virus distribution that can give you full access to the receiver’s device.
How can I protect myself from messages and spam?
The sending of this is considered worldwide as one of good customs, but as we have already mentioned there is no measure that provides perfect protection against it. Therefore you must decide which of the Possibilities outlined below is the most applicable to not receive unwanted messages:
- Use alias accounts: Do not use your primary email account in newsgroups, guestbooks or forums; If not, use alias accounts that you can delete after using them. You just have to spread your private account to people you really want to communicate with.
- Implement anti-spam software on your computers: You have the possibility to configure your account so that all incoming messages are rejected through anti-spam software. These have built-in intelligent software filters to recognize these messages and move them from the inbox to the junk mail folder.
