Every second person spends several hours on the Internet every day. However, scammers use this fact to their advantage – many users often encounter spam and even hacked personal accounts. In this article, we will talk about what spam is and how you can get rid of it. And if you use entertainment online – carefully check the site on which you are sitting. Choose reliable companies and sites, for example, https://20bet.com/ca/prematch.
What is Spam
Spam is the sending of information without the consent of the recipients. Usually, spam is understood as intrusive advertising or “letters of happiness” with an offer to follow a dubious link. But even regular email will be spam if the recipients have not given their consent to receive it.
Here are Some Examples of Spam:
- leaflet advertising a sushi bar in the mailbox;
- SMS from a “friend” who asks to transfer 50 thousand rubles;
- an email in which they announce the win and ask to follow the link.
Also, messages published in the public domain are considered spam if they are not related to the topic of discussion. For example, spam will be a comment with a link to a cleaning service website under a post about a concert.
The term “spam” is a compound word. Presumably, it comes from the English spiced ham, or “ham with spices.”
Here is the history of the term. In 1936, the American firm Hormel Foods gave one of their products, canned pork, a new name – SPAM. Canned food was actively advertised, many times mentioning their name. During World War II, they were supplied to the American and allied armies.
In 1970, the British comedian group Monty Python released a sketch called Spam, in which they played with the ubiquitous canned food advertisement. In 1986, on the Usenet computer network, one of the users massively sent out an advertisement for a financial pyramid, and other users saw associations with the Spam sketch in the annoying advertisement. So the term “spam” began to be associated with annoying unwanted information.
What Types of Spam Exist
Spam can be conditionally divided into safe and dangerous for recipients. Safe spam is annoying but does not harm the user. Safe spam can be:
- Advertising of goods and services. Spammers may offer discounts or talk about the benefits of a product. Their goal is to sell a product or service to as many people as possible. Advertising is considered spam if it comes in private messages or emails, and the user did not give consent to this.
- “Letters of Happiness” These are messages in the spirit of “forward this letter to ten friends, and your wish will come true.” They are sent for fun or to expand the contact base.
- manipulative messages. They do not ask to perform some action but talk about a product, phenomenon, or company. The purpose of such spam is to form a public opinion about something or someone. For example, to compromise with competitors.
Dangerous spam harms the user – because of it, you can lose money. Dangerous spam can be:
- Phishing emails. Such messages are sent in order to take possession of the personal data of the recipient. For example, find out the bank card number and the code on the back to write off money. Messages are often disguised as mailing lists from banks and services.
- Messages with malicious links. Such messages can also be disguised as mailing services or messages from friends. The goal of spammers is to get the recipient to follow the link or download the file. Then a virus will enter the device, which can intercept the card data or provide the fraudster with remote access to the system.
- Emails from scammers. The goal of spammers is to enter into a dialogue with the recipient and get money from him. To do this, they can use messages about winning the lottery, receiving an inheritance, or an easy job with a large income. To everyone who is interested in the mailing, the scammers offer to pay a commission – and disappear with the money.
How to Fight Spam: Prevent and Stop
You can protect yourself from spam both in advance and if it is already coming.
To prevent spam from being sent to you, try not to post your contacts in the public domain and do not use them to register for dubious services. If you need to register on many sites, you can create a separate phone number and mail for this. Then, even if there is a data leak, spam will be sent to the mail that you do not use.
Methods of combating spam depend on the channels through which it comes and from whom. Here are the most popular protection methods:
- Complaints. If you receive a call from a large company, you can complain about spam to the FAS. Or tell the caller that they did not give consent to the processing of personal data and contact the FAS if they call you again. You can also complain about spam to the very platforms on which it is sent – social networks, instant messengers, and mail providers. And on the FAS website, there is a form for complaints to telecom operators about numbers from which unwanted calls and SMS are received.
- Spammer blocking. This method of struggle works if they call you, or write to you on social networks and instant messengers. In addition to blocking, you can set settings on social networks so that only friends can write to you. Spammers won’t waste time adding to you.
- Special services. There are services that check the number of incoming calls against databases. And block unwanted calls or mark them as suspicious. For example, “Caller ID” warns of an unwanted call, and Get contact blocks calls from numbers that are marked as spam by users.
In addition, to combat spam, it is advisable to ignore it and not respond to suspicious emails and messages. If you are active, spammers may start sending more messages.
