is it safe to unsubscribe to a spam?

Question

I was told if you unsubscribe to a spam, they would know the email is valid and they would send more spam. Is this true??

Answer 1

Never unsubscribe to spam mail. Just put it in your trash without opening it. If you open it and unsubscribe to it, you'll be hit with more junk mail. Spammers will know that you are a live person and therefore will sell your email address to anyone or company wanting to send crap.

Answer 2

Both answers are correct. It depends on your relationship with the company.

I would say it is safe to unsubscribe to spam IF you know the company. A lot of people agree to get email and unsolicited items when they accept the EULAs (End User License Agreement). This is often the case when you agree to get stuff for free or enter contests. Within the agreement can be language that amounts to adding you to their mailing list in which case the company is in compliance. There are other ways companies can legitimately add you to their database and send you email. Sometimes, the agreement extends these rights to "marketing partners", subsidiaries or indicates all bets are off if the company is sold.

Most companies that are above board will honor your request and provide some sort of confirmation page or email indicating how long it will take to get off their list. I save these messages and if a company crosses over that line, I report them to the FTC. (Link below)

If you don't recognize the company, I would NOT unsubscribe even if they indicate they got your email from a marketing partner etc. I've seen this terminology used by people to make you think it's OK they have your address. My concern here is that the company has already used deceptive means so I don't want to go to one of their other sites and be subject to other deceptions such as spyware, phishing or whatever.

As far as companies confirming valid emails, they can based upon you hitting an unsubscribe link. They can also tell from other means such as using web bugs or graphics which go back to their server to display the image and confirm your email address is good. A web bug or beacon is simply a tiny graphic maybe a pixel in size and usually blends in with the background so you never know it exists.

My suggestion is to use disposable email addresses when signing up for promos, special offers, newsgroups and the like. Don't give out your primary email address.

Answer 3

It is an old topic but let me add some more information.... Actually users don't care about the clinical definition of spam, there is just too much unsolicited emails. In fact, there is spam and graymail.

The "real spam", which is an unsolicited email and can be dangerous (virus, phishing...). NEVER unsubscribe from a spam. As said it will confirm your email adress to spammers and then they will send you more spam !

The graymail is not a spam (but can be considered as is), they are low priority emails. There is 2 kind of graymail : the professional one, from major senders which respects good practices of email and the bad senders which can be classified as spam. You can unsubscribe from any graymail safely, because they are legal and supposed to respect your request.

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
is it safe to unsubscribe to a spam?
I was told if you unsubscribe to a spam, they would know the email is valid and they would send more spam. Is this true??

Answer 5

If it is legit spam that you somehow subscribed to, like a special offer that because you put your e-mail address down on, then it is safe to click unsubscribe.

But if it is random spam that has somehow appeared in your inbox then it isn't always safe. Then they might spam u more knowing that they have found another legit address.

Answer 6

Yes it is safe to unsubscribe to a spam, but im not really sure how true it is when they knew that your mail is active..anyway, just mark that mail as spam and set your spam settings to never recieved mail to this email address.

Answer 7

Generally, yes.

If the spam comes froma legitimate company -- your bank, your phone company, your credit cards, any merchant you've purchased from online -- it's prefectly safe to unsubscribe to their annoying ads. They will honor your request.

Unsolicited spam -- ads for viagra, pornography, stock tips, money transfers from Nigeria -- is another matter. These spamers get address in two ways. One, by scouring the web and harvesting them from web pages, blogs, usenet groups, etc. Two, by using a computer program to generate random names for popular domains like @aol.com, @comcast.net. When you unsubscribe to one of these messages, you've just let the spammer know they've found a real, working address. And after that they can be relentless.

Your best bet is to simply ignore them. And, get an email client witha decent spam and junk mail filter.

Answer 8

Yes, it's ABSOLUTELY true. I've tested this using my own mail server at home. I made up e-mail addresses and used them to "unsubscribe" from a number of spamvertized sites -- one unique address per site. Within about 2 weeks, I was getting hits on those e-mail boxes. Since those e-mail addresses had never been revealed to anyone, the only way that they could catch any e-mail was from the unscubscribe lists.

Answer 9

when ever i've unsubscribed from spam using the link at the bottom of the e-mail they stopped sending me e-mail after a few days with anti-spam laws now in effect any trustworthy and legal company will stop sending you spam
if the company still sends you spam a while after you told them not to report the company and/or sue them you can get a lot of money from a spam e-mail lawsuit

Answer 10

I heard that when they give you that unsubscribe link at the bottom of the e-mail, they just sign you up for more SPAM. I have tried to use that link and didn't work for me. I usually end up blocking the e-mail address if it is a real nuisance.