Does it really do any good to report spam anymore and what is the best organization to report spam to?

Question

How come the spam wars seem to mirror our terror wars. Lots of promises and effort, but no real signs of victory.

Answer 1

Most spammers are paid for the number of times the email is delivered. So it doesn't even have to reach you for them to get returns. Meaning, as long as it gets to your email server it's okay. If you have junk filters running, this does nothing to curb future bombardments, only to prevent you from seeing the current ones.

Reporting them can be effective, but it requires time and effort to do properly and then many other people have to report the same person before any real action is taken.

The ISPs and other organizations are fighting this problem hard, so I'd say your best bet is to contact them, ask what you can do (if anything) and just get the best junk filter you can find.

Answer 2

I have found that in the last three months or so, spam has become much worse for me. I don't seem to get many on my yahoo mail but my other e-mail gets 5 or more per day and my work e-mail gets 10 - 20 per day and that is on a system with an entire computer tech department! When I send e-jokes to friends, I have a little spiel at the beginning of the joke telling them to please remove my address before they forward the joke, in order to cut down on the spam mail that is generated from those who mine e-mail addresses. I also only use bcc when I forward jokes to people so the addresses of the people I send to does not show. I hate spam and wish there was a way to stop it, too.

Answer 3

Good Morning,

I am responding to your question in the strictest way. No, it usually does no good to report spam in fact it usually does more harm. An exception to that is your ISP; Hotmail for example asks you to identify a unknown writer as junk or good. That is a good idea might not help on the amount of mail you get but will automatically sort your mail. I don't meant to insinuate that the ISP's aren't doing something about spam as they are but there is only so much they can do. But if you get mail asking if you want to have your name removed do not respond. Some of the major companies will remove your name but you cannot be sure what you are dealing with. Many companies send out emails and when you respond to buy they win; if you don't buy but ask then to remove your name they win they know that address is good. many times when you write a company they capture your information. Another favorite tricks is a group mailing say a joke they pick up all the names and add them to their rosters. I have two addresses one at Hotmail for free , when I order something, send out a joke, misc; the other is at my ISP and it is personal emails (friends & family). God Bless You and the Southern People.

Answer 4

Well, there are a number of ways you can protect yourself from spam. Most online e-mail service (e.g. Yahoo! Mail) and desktop e-mail clients (Microsoft's Outlook) offer some spam filtering. But, on a more global scale, there is very little you or any other individual can do about the scam crisis. There is fast and easy money to make by sending spam. In these last 3 months, there have been a number of very high profile trials of suspected spammers. Many of them were convicted and ordered to reimburse parties who had been victimized by them and received prison sentences. Hopefully, spammers will be dissuaded from continuing sending spam out of fear of incarceration. As long as there is money to be made, spam is here to stay. You can read about CAN-SPAM, a federal law to punish those who send spam. The article also gives instructions for anyone to report spam (http://www.ftc.gov/spam/).

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Answer 5

The only place you can report spam to is the host of the spam (internet host of site originating the spam). The internet host can shut the site down. Though, these sites are shut down constantly and reappear as another name within hours. And 10 new spammers join them. That is if the internet host even cares that it's servers are hosting a spammer, some don't.

Answer 6

There is a HUGE difference between the two wars: no one has EVER died from a spam war, so quit whining and just delete the spam. Everyone else has to do the same, so save the pity party for someone who is ignorant enough to feel sorry for you.

Answer 7

Because the people who seek to make life worse are on the offensive all of the time, and they are quite clever. Make sure that you are using all of the various safeguards that Yahoo and other email providers allow, because I don't get much spam, and it has been some time since my identity was stolen. If you run across something illegal:
http://www.ic3.gov is the FBI, internet crime reporting.
It is still possible to have a good internet experience, but, as in other parts of life, you must be vigilant!
Take Care!

Answer 8

Reporting spam does nothing. Especially if you email back the spammer's, that only makes it worse. They only go around and sell your email address and sell it so you will get more spam. There will never be any true sign of real victory, which makes us all furious.

Answer 9

Report it to your internet supplier and if this does not work download spybot it is a free download as it cleans up all unwanted spyware that we do not know that has latched on to other programmes.I have Norton anti virus and it misses a lot of spyware that I wouldn't know that were there.I run the spybot about three times a week but the more times you run it the more chance of having your computer clean of spam and spyware.I have been using it for more than one year and highly recommend it.Also clean up your diskdrive at least twice a week as it will make your computer run a lot smoothly and faster.I hope this answers your question.

Answer 10

No, it doesn't seem to work for reporting spam. They just use a different address. Reporting just blocks that one particular address. The best thing is not to open an spam email. Just report as spam so that address is blocked.