According to many reports, email spam on the increase. This comes as no surprise to anyone who uses email much. What, if anything, can you do to at least reduce the load?

• Use unsubscribe carefully. Legitimate emailers provide an unsubscribe link of some sort and will honor your request. On the other hand, scammers not only ignore a request to unsubscribe, but often count such a request as an indication the email address is live. When you suspect a scam or don’t recognize the source of the email it’s probably best to just delete it.
  
• Delete, delete, delete. The only reason spam is on the increase is because it works. Enough people, in spite of all advice, respond to make it profitable. You don’t have to be one of those.
  
• You can forward spam to the Federal Trade Commission. In theory, at least, they are in the best position to crack down on spammers. The email to use is: spam@uce.gov and you can get more information at their Spam page.
  

Remember, you actually control your email box and can choose NOT to open any email sent to you.

Labels: seniors, seniors and comptuers, spam