Why Am I Getting All This Spam?
Who are the people sending spam and why do they keep doing it? The answer to the \’why\’ part of the question comes down to one word: money. Very few sane people would send out millions of spam e-mail per day for the fun of it. It\’s about profit. The \’who\’ part of the question is a bit more complicated.
In 2003 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) created the Can-Spam Act. Legitimate businesses are the source of a small portion of spam. They either don\’t understand or don\’t follow the rules laid out by the FTC. However criminals are responsible for the vast majority of spam. These e-mails can be grouped into four basic categories.
Attempted Infection — the mission of criminals is to lure you into clicking on a link or opening an attachment. Their goal is to inspect your computer with malware. The links usually lead to an infected website. Attachments download malware directly into your computer. The bad guys have dozens of ways to fool you. The minute you fall for their tricks you\’ll be in fact it and risk your identity, your bank account, and even control of your computer.
Sales Attempts -the products offered for sale are usually pharmaceuticals, counterfeit jewelry, or some body enhancement product. The prices are too good to be true – for good reason. These e-mails often provide no product at all. At best any product you do receive will be poor quality or a complete fake.
Phishing – these e-mails attempt to fool you into divulging sensitive information. They appear to come from legitimate organizations. If the criminals can trick you into giving up this information they can steal usernames, passwords, and often your money.
Attempted Scams – scam e-mails try to trick unsuspecting victims into a conversation. They do this by appealing to any motion by curiosity or compassion. If successful they will further twist your emotions with lies, promises and even threats to convince you to send money, and then more money.
So, what\’s the point of billions of spam per day? Money. It all comes down to money. If the criminals can get a response, and make a profit, from 1/10th of 1% of 1 billion spam e-mails sent, then they can double their profit if they send 2 billion spam per day. Since these criminals often use our own computers to send this e-mail, the increased cost is negligible.
