Email: Spamming and Spoofing

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About Spamming:

Spamming is the act of sending huge numbers of emails at once. Spammers buy lists of millions of e-mail addresses and instant messaging screen names. Many of the addresses they get are old and don’t work, so they're looking for the ones that do. If you reply to a spammed message, you have now let them know that your address is a good one and will receive many more messages - and they'll even sell your address for more money, since they now know you read spam! So don’t reply to spam, even if it's to ask to be removed from the mailing list!

About Spoofing:

Spoofing is the term for fake e-mail addresses. A spoofed email looks like it was send from the email address visible to you, yet was sent from another. Phishing emails (emails that try to trick you into giving out personal or credit card information) and virus-containing emails typically use spoofed addresses to trick readers into believing that an email has come from someone you know.

What Not To Do:

• Don’t share your email password with anyone and change it often.
• Don't read emails from people you don’t know, just delete them.
• Don’t open any attachments from anyone unless they are run through an anti-virus program.
• Don’t reply to spam, harassing, or offensive email or forward chain email letters.
• Don’t be caught by the spammers’ favorite trick, “Remember me?”  

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