While some consumers find unsolicited commercial email — also known as “spam” — informative, most of us find it annoying and time consuming. Still others find it expensive: They're among the people who have lost money to spam that contained bogus offers and fraudulent promotions.
Many Internet Service Providers and manufacturers offer filtering software to limit the spam in their users' email inboxes. The best way for computer users to fight spam is to report it using those tools, forward unwanted spam on to the appropriate enforcement authorities, and then hit delete.
Quick Facts: Some email users have lost money to bogus offers that arrived as spam in their in-box. Con artists are very cunning; they know how to make their claims seem legitimate. Some spam messages ask for your business, others invite you to a website with a detailed pitch. Either way, these tips can help you avoid spam scams:
If you have not already done so, it is highly recommended that you activate the spam filter for your email solution, whether online or not. Be sure to report spam as it comes in. If your software has a "this is spam" or "report spam" button, USE IT! This reports the message back to a central system that can then use that information to kill more spam from the same source.
If you get spam email that you think is deceptive, forward it to spam@uce.gov. The FTC uses the spam stored in this database to pursue law enforcement actions against people who send deceptive email.