The 4 Ws of Junk E-mail

Junk e-mail or spam has become the scourge of the modern computer world. It eats bandwidth. Spam is like a disease. It doesn't care about age, religion, wealth. It doesn't discriminate. Junk e-mail affects us all.

There are 4 keys to the junk mail question ? Who, What, Where and Why.

Who they are

The typical profile of a junk mail sender is as follows. Male, 18 ? 30 years of age, single, technically competent and with little regard for their status as a public nuisance. There are female junk mailers out there but, unfortunately, this is predominantly a male preserve.

What they use to send spam

There are many tools available to the spam merchant. The main ones are e-mail extractors, newsgroup harvesters and CD lists.

E-mail extractors are programs which wander around the Internet gathering e-mail addresses from websites and often from web based forums (unprotected forums). A "good" e-mail extractor can gather 15,000 e-mail addresses per hour.

Newsgroup harvesters are programs which search through newsgroups for valid e-mail addresses. Most newsgroups users are aware of this and take measures to counteract these harvesting programs. Despite these measures a newsgroup harvester application can gather 20,000 ? 30,000 e-mail addresses in an hour.

CD lists are one of the worst sources. 90 million e-mail addresses available on a single CD for as little as $20. A lot of the addresses on these CDs would be junk (many would no longer exist) but an equally large number of these addresses would be valid. A CD like this is a junk mailers dream.

Where they do it from

Those involved in sending out bulk e-mail are "entrepreneurs" or at least they think so. The vast majority of those involved in the spam business are self-employed and work from home. Sending spam is almost the ideal home based business. You name your hours and the business itself is almost automatic. Maximum gain from minimum effort.

Why they do it in the first place

Their motivation is money. Considerable amounts of cash actually. Each spammer who sends out 1,000,000 junk e-mails is certain of approximately 100 sales. Many of the products they sell are worth $50 - $100 dollars to them in commission. Yes. Shocking isn't it? The average bulk mailer earns in excess of $100,000 per year! Maximum return for minimum effort. Unless of course you get caught and get jail time.

This article was provided courtesy of Spam-site.com which reviews and tests spam blockers for the business and end user.

---

Spasms & Spamocidal Mania

Below is a letter I wrote to the following organizations:S.H.U.... Read More

Spamicide: Man Spammed to Death While Checking His E-mail

Death by spam is now possible with a new device... Read More

What to Do to Avoid Getting Banned

How would you feel if you found a link on... Read More

Phishing for an Identity

Phishing is rapidly becoming on the largest threats to your... Read More

The Fastest Delete Finger in the Midwest!

There are hundreds of thousands of people who are trying... Read More

The Anti Spam Challenge ? Minimizing False Positives

Email is the quintessential business communication tool, so when it... Read More

Do Not Spam

The temptation among internet marketers to SPAM is greater than... Read More

Internet Theft and Fraud

My friends in the web hosting business have recently informed... Read More

How Spammers Fool Bayesian Filters - And How to Stop Them

Effectively stopping spam over the long-term requires much more than... Read More

Internet Tip of the Week: Cease and Desist

While we all admit that unsolicited commercial email is a... Read More

How To Stop Spam

I imagine you have seen, heard about, or already know... Read More

Six Tips to Get Rid of Spam Email

1. Ignore Spam EmailDo not open an unsolicited email. Spammers... Read More

Why Is Spam Such a Problem?

Spam can be a lot more damaging than you might... Read More

Of Spam and Sandboxes

About a month ago I had the privilege of giving... Read More

I Love Spam!

What's the big deal? All you read on the internet... Read More

Are You A Spam Zombie?

Over the past few years you've all become familiar with... Read More

How to Avoid Spam Complaints in Your Emails

Spam filters are responsible for deleting a high percentage of... Read More

How to Protect Your Email ID from Spammers?

You must be one of them experiencing a lot of... Read More

Your Dolphin E-mail Caught In Spam Tuna Net?

Let me ask a couple of questions:If (potential) customers sends... Read More

Sick Of Wading Through Spam?

It's a nightmare isn't it? You fire up your email... Read More

How To Stop Unwanted Email Spam

You can stop unwanted email spam, you can choose to... Read More

Blackhole or Fail - Which One Is Better For Your Mail Server?

Very often SPAMMERS take advantage of catch-all email setup on... Read More

What SPAM Means: Stupid People Annoying Me

English, German, Italian - It's All SPAM To MeHas anyone... Read More

Junk Mail Works!

Junk mail works. Why does it work? How does it... Read More

A War on SPAM: Attacking The Evil

As most small, medium and large businesses in this country... Read More