Facts About Spam
The number of unsolicited e-mail messages - commonly referred to as "spam" - has grown dramatically over the last few years. According to industry sources, 56% of all e-mail messages sent in November 2003 were spam - up from 41% one year prior. Unfortunately, governmental regulation has yet to catch up to the use of e-mail for criminal and commercial purposes, and we are all being bombarded with free mortgage quotes, little blue pills, free Lotto prizes, gibberish subject lines, and the lost treasures of dead dictators. Since e-mail has become commonplace, marketers and criminals alike have realized that they can reach you via e-mail at far less expense than regular mail. Whereas abuse of regular mail is prohibited by law, the absence of any regulatory laws governing e-mail use has also lowered the bar on the content of advertisement - messages that you wouldn’t normally see in an envelope sent to your home now show up in your e-mail, including offensive materials.
How did these people sending the spam - these spammers - find you? For the most part, an e-mail address first ends up on a spammer’s list because someone manually typed your e-mail address into a Web page. You may have done this yourself by subscribing to an e-mail list or “listserv”, or by submitting your e-mail address when making a purchase at an Internet store (e.g. to obtain an e-mailed receipt), or even by subscribing to a general Internet service that “requires” an e-mail address - ostensibly so that it can e-mail you your password or future information such as weather or Internet auction information. It is also possible that an acquaintance of yours has inadvertently subjected you to the barrage of spam by typing your e-mail address in the “Send a link to this Web page to your friends” field at their favorite Web site. Your e-mail address could also end up on a spam list if it is being published on a Web site. The spammers run computer programs that scavenge e-mail addresses from sites such as listserv archives, or Web directories.
Once you are on a Spammer’s list, you can never get off. Spam e-mail lists are constantly bought, sold, traded, copied, compiled, and redistributed. In a matter of time you aren’t on just one spammer’s list - you are on hundreds of lists, and are receiving dozens of spam messages a day. Replying to a message, or following the links in the e-mail that supposedly allow you to “Unsubscribe” or “Opt - Out” only makes matters worse. These actions only notify the spammer that you are actually reading the e-mail they send to you. This enables the spammer to distinguish valid e-mail addresses from inactive or abandoned addresses. Rather than removing you from the list, the spammer places you on a special premium list, that can be sold by the spammer at a higher price. Even opening a spam message may have the same effect, since many of the messages sent as Web pages direct you to Web sites that track when you opened the message.
In addition to the mass - marketing application of spam e-mail address lists, many criminals obtain and use spam e-mail lists in order to defraud. E-mail scams typically promise something - usually large sums of money - in return for the recipient’s involvement, assistance, or release of personal information. These scams are often long and involved, and may even transcend the e-mail medium. Many e-mail scams ask the recipient to forward personal data, bank account numbers, and other information. Criminals use the information in various ways to either steal directly from the individual, or to commit identity theft. In September 2003, The Federal Trade Commission released a survey showing that “27.3 million Americans have been victims of identity theft in the last five years, including 9.9 million people in the last year alone." According to the survey, last year’s identity theft losses to businesses and financial institutions totaled nearly $48 billion and consumer victims reported $5 billion in out-of-pocket expenses. The Federal Trade Commission Web site offers more information on identity theft at http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/ and e-mail scams at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/doznalrt.htm.
The Campus Community is reminded that one should never respond to any type of communication with personal or professional information unless they are one hundred percent sure that the request for information is legitimate. Remember: if an offer is too good to be true, then it probably is. E-mail users are further reminded that e-mail is not a secure medium, and any transmission of personal information such as Social Security number, bank account, or credit card number may be intercepted electronically. Personal and financial information should only be transmitted to a legitimate business or institution on the Web via a direct secure connection, usually evident by the presence of a small locked padlock icon on the bottom right of the Web browser window, when viewing the business’ Web site. Personal and financial information should never be transmitted via e-mail, even if you have a secure connection to your e-mail service.
Please keep in mind that the most effective method to fight off spam and e-mail scams is for you to observe the sender and subject of each message you receive before clicking on the message. Once you have identified a message to be spam, you should immediately delete the message. Do not view or preview a message unless you have determined it is not spam. Viewing a spam message in any way often triggers a visit to the spammers Web site - the spammer identifies your address as a valid e-mail address, and also may get paid for drawing visitors to the site as a result.