How To Stop Spam Emails?

Are you tired of getting hundreds of random emails a day that are overflowing and polluting your inbox? These emails are known as spam or junk mail where cybercriminals, random businesses, or spambots send out mass emails to a huge mailing list that unfortunately your email address has landed on. Everyone with an email address has received spam mail at some point, if they don’t already receive it regularly. It is extremely common which is problematic because some spam mail can be dangerous malware or phishing attempts.

According to the FBI crime report, phishing has the highest number of victims out of all crimes in the US and has been drastically increasing since 2017. The point of spam emails is to gain access to your personal information, devices, or steal money from you. There are many effective ways to limit the spam mail you receive and reduce the chances of your personal information being at risk. In the following article you will learn all about how to stop spam emails and protect yourself from cybercrime and scams!

Why are you receiving unwanted spam emails?

It is important to understand the various reasons why you get tens of hundreds of spam emails a day. Educating yourself on this is helpful in order to know how to stop junk emails.

Scammers unleash webbots to scan social media platforms and websites for email addresses that have been posted or linked to accounts. This is a common way your email address gets found and put on large spam mailing lists. When these webbots are scanning the web, they collect any email address they can find which is then added to a mass mailing list. This is why it is important to be private about your personal email address.

Another common reason you are getting spam mail is because you accidentally interacted with a spam email. Scammers can be notified that your email address is active simply by you opening the spam mail they sent you, clicking on any links in its contents, or by responding to it. If any of these are done, your email address can be flagged as an active account which will incite scammers to target you and perpetuate the spam mail they send you.

You could also be getting spam because your email address was unfortunately leaked in a data breach. This happens when cybercriminals target and hack into large companies databases and steal thousands of people’s personal information, including email addresses. The stolen information will either be then sold to other cybercriminals or used directly to spread spam emails.

These are the most common reasons as to why you are getting spam emails, but not to worry because there are many ways to reduce the spam you receive, remove yourself from mailing lists, and keep your email out of sight from scammers.

Is opening spam emails unsafe?

In short, yes – it can be unsafe. Some spam emails are harmless and are simply just random businesses trying to gain traction with new customers, but a huge majority of spam emails are unsolicited malware or phishing scams. The danger of opening spam emails is that your personal information or device can become exposed to a cyberattack. Clicking on junk emails could expose private information like your device location, device type, or internet service provider. Scammers are desperate to get their hands on any information they can so don’t give them the opportunity to take yours by opening their spam mail.

How to stop getting spam emails 

According to Dataprot, 85% of emails sent around the world are spam emails so it’s not odd that you may be receiving a lot. So here’s a quick rule of thumb when you are dealing with junk mail: when in doubt, treat it as spam. If you have any doubts about an email’s contents, the email address, or the formatting of the content, it is likely a spam email. Do not risk your safety and privacy. Practice the following steps below to keep you, your device, and your private information safe from spam emails. 

1. Do not interact with the spam mail

   Dataprot also noted how 99% of cyber attacks come from a human interacting with an email, attachment, or some form of malware they’ve come across online. Before you manually do anything to remove spam emails, make sure you do not interact with the email in any way.

   Firstly, common email services have tools that allow you to remove spam emails cautiously from their inbox without actually clicking on the email and becoming exposed to its contents. It is best to avoid opening spam mail because even one simple click on a message can notify the cybercriminal behind the email address. It is best to use the precautionary tools in place to remove the spam email from your inbox without clicking on the email.

   Secondly, if you do happen to click on the spam mail make sure to not click anywhere within the email because there can be hidden links in the contents that redirects you to dangerous websites and/or pages. More often than not spam emails won’t have an unsubscribe button, but in the case that you receive a spam mail that does, do not click unsubscribe. Cybercriminals can hide malware in the unsubscribe buttons and before you know it you have accidentally exposed your personal information or devices to a cybercriminal.

   Lastly, never respond to a spam email. Once you’ve identified or have suspicions of a spam email, simply follow the steps  below and do not send anything back to that email address.

2. Mark spam mail as spam

   A majority of the most popular email platforms already filter the spam mail out of your inbox and put them into the junk folder. In the case that your email service misses a spam mail here or there, make sure to mark it as spam as opposed to deleting it. This will stop any future emails by this address from entering your inbox because it will now be marked as spam and only appear in your junk folder.

3. Block the spam mail address

   Marking junk mail as spam only flags the email address as spam and redirects it into the junk folder. In order to stop receiving mail from the spam mail address, you have to manually block the address.

4. Delete the spam mail
   

   Once you have marked the spam mail as spam and blocked the email address, you now can delete the email from your inbox. Deleting the message is the best way to get rid of spam emails to remove any risks of you accidentally interacting with the email.

5. Make your email address private

   One way to get ahead of future spam mail is by making your email address private. You can do this under your email’s privacy settings and also by consciously being aware of which people and businesses you are giving your email address out to. There are very advanced webbots that scan the internet for people’s personal information such as email addresses.These webbots collect any addresses they can find and cybercriminals add them to their mass spam mailing list. To hide your email address from any webbots, limit posting it on any public platforms or websites online.

6. Use an external spam filter

   A common way to reduce spam mail is by downloading a third-party spam filter. Although many of the popular email platforms filter spam mail for you, they do not catch all spam mail so it doesn’t hurt to get a back up filter to further limit spam entering your inbox. Why have one filter if you can have two, right?

7. Use an alias email address

   A smart option to protect yourself and your personal information is by making an alias account. The sole purpose of an alias account is to have a secondary email address that you use for signing up or subscribing to anything online. When you give out your email to online sites and companies it increases the likelihood of your address being added to multiple mailing lists from spam accounts.By having two accounts, your important personal information is better protected because your personal email is only in contact with legitimate companies (like your bank) or close friends and family.

8. Disable “auto-load” for images

   
   “Auto-load” is a feature on email platforms that automatically downloads images sent in emails. When images automatically download in a scam email, scammers can access and collect information. To avoid this, disable the auto-load feature under your email services settings.

How to stop unwanted emails on Gmail

1. Mark spam mail as spam

   On the Gmail app or website, click the box on the far left of a spam email and then click the ‘report spam’ icon.

2. Block the spam mail address

   On the Gmail app or website, visit the spam email from the address you would like to block. At the top right, click the vertical three dots and a drop down menu will appear. Find and click on the “Block” button and you will no longer receive emails from this address.

3. Delete spam mail

   In your Gmail inbox, select the spam email of which you would like to delete, find and click the trash bin icon and that email will be deleted from your inbox.

4. Make your email address private

   On the Gmail app or website, click the account icon in the upper right corner. Find and click on “manage your google account”. You will find a security tab on the left-hand side, under this tab you will be able to manage third-party access to your account.

How to stop spam emails on Outlook

1. Mark as spam

   On the Outlook app or website, select the spam mail you would like to delete. From the toolbar at the top of the page select “report”. A drop down menu will appear, find and click “report junk”.

2. Block spam email address

   On the Outlook app or website, select the spam message or sender you would like to block. From the toolbar above your inbox select “block”. A drop down menu will appear, find and click “block sender”. A confirmation message will appear, select “OK” to confirm blocking the email address.Outlook also has a “block senders list” where you are able to add individuals or organizations email addresses to a block list. Visit “blocked senders and domains” and click on “add”. Enter the email address of a scammer you wish to block and click “add” then “save”.

3. Delete spam mail

   On the Outlook website, select the spam mail you would like to delete then click delete. If you wish to delete an entire folder of emails (such as the spam folder), visit the folder you wish to clear, click on the check box above the messages in the folder, and click “empty folder”.

4. Make your email address private

   On the Outlook website, find and click on “your account” in the top right corner. Click on the “My account” icon. Visit the Privacy and Security page to make your account private.

How to stop spam emails on Apple

1. 1. Mark as spam

      On Apple Mail, select the email you want to mark as spam and then click “junk” on the toolbar. You can also click on the spam email and drag it to the junk folder on the left hand side of the screen.

   2. Block the spam email address

      In your Apple Mail inbox, select the email from the sender you would like to block. Next to the sender’s name, click on the small arrow and a drop down menu will appear. Select “Block Contact”.

   3. Delete spam mail

      In your Apple Mailbox, select the email you would like to delete then click on the “trash” icon.

   4. Make your email address private

      Apple has a function called “hide my email” that enables you to have their email address stay private. Go to Settings and click on your name, find and click on the iCloud button. Near the bottom of the page you will see “hide my email”, click on this and follow the instructions.

Tips to stop spam emails with WOT’s tools

To stop receiving spam emails, download WOT to filter out unwanted spam and protect you from dangerous malware and phishing emails. You can download the WOT extension onto your computer for free.

WOT is an online security and privacy shield you download onto your devices to ensure your personal information and devices are protected from malware, scams, and identity theft. WOT’s email protection feature scans all the emails you receive in your inbox and searches for unsolicited dangerous links and messages. The email protection feature notifies you with a warning message if a suspicious email has entered your inbox. This feature is very helpful for identifying scam emails that your email service filter missed. It tells you which emails you should take the precautionary steps toward to stop getting spam emails.

WOT also has a leak monitoring feature that monitors the security of your email address and passwords. If you subscribe or sign up to businesses and websites using your email, the leak monitoring feature will alert you if your email password has been compromised and helps you take the appropriate action to resolve the issue. This premium feature is very helpful if you use your personal email to subscribe to businesses or create online accounts, thus using your email publicly.

Currently the email protection feature is available  on our Chrome extension as well as Android devices. Download WOT today and stop risking your personal information being leaked from spam emails. 

Spam emails can be irritating, irrelevant, or dangerous when they are overflowing your inbox. There are steps in place to help you manage and reduce the amount of spam you receive to protect your personal information, identity, and devices. Take control of your email account and stop receiving spam emails with WOT. 

FAQ

Why are you receiving unwanted spam emails?

You are getting spam emails for a number of reasons. Your email address could have been detected online by a webbot and entered into a mailing list, your email could have been leaked during a security breach, or you may have accidentally interacted with a spam email.

Is opening spam emails unsafe?

Yes, it can be unsafe to open spam emails. Spam emails can contain malware or phishing links that try to infect your device or steal your personal information, money, or identity.

How to stop spam emails

Here are some helpful ways to stop getting spam emails: report the email as junk, block the sender, delete the spam mail, make your email address private, use a third-party email filter (like WOT), and disable “”auto-images” in your email account settings.

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