What can one do about Spam in one's account?

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Of course, Spam is the destroyer of worlds, or at least email inboxes. In general, I've been pretty lucky; no more than a few spam messages each day in my mailboxes, and some of the mailboxes get none at all.

However, recently, I've noticed my mail Gmail account racking up a LOT of spam (at least, a lot for me). Something like 40 spam messages a day. Now, all of these go to the Spam Inbox, so that's all right, but I wonder, should I be worried? Is it normal? I've never seen this much spam in my life of computing, and it's only the one account. Has that account been compromised somehow?

So, I don't know if this is a Mac question specifically, but it is a vexing one. What to do? I almost want to close the account, it's so annoying.

P.S. - While typing this message, four more messages appeared! That means this is surpassing 40 messages a day now of spam...
 

pigoo3

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Has that account been compromised somehow?

Depends on how you define compromised...or define the level of importance of compromise.

I get spam on all of my accounts...and that's just the way it is. Consider yourself lucky if you're only getting hammered with spam now (if you've been relatively spam free for years). It doesn't take much. If you innocently sign up for something new (membership to something, membership to a rewards progam, respond to a free offer)...or even legitimate things. If your email info gets shared with just one spam list...that one spammer may be sending out 10's or hundreds of things each day. And if that spammer shares your info with other spammer's...you can see how this can multiply exponentially.

All via one innocent sign up a user may do. And BELIEVE ME...we all sign up for stuff!;) Memberships, free offers, online bill pay, music, videos, gaming, Cloud accounts, accounts to online stores, etc.

So, I don't know if this is a Mac question specifically, but it is a vexing one. What to do? I almost want to close the account, it's so annoying.

To be very honest...I have not found a REAL solution...other than closing the account...and opening another. But eventually...that account will get spam as well. Every now & then I research the internet to see if anyone has come up with any new solutions to spam...and I still haven't found anything.

- Some folks say use the "Unsubscribe" link at the bottom of most spam messages...and other's say never use that link.
- Others will say report the spammer to the anti-spam authorities. Of course this doesn't really work. For every spammer that is shut down. 10 more fill the void so to speak.
- Some folks set up mailbox rules...this doesn't actually stop the spam.
- Some folks say ignore the spam. And as long as you don't reply or don't click on the unsubscribe button...it will go away due to the spammer thinking it's a dead email address. Nope. I've tried this for well over a year...and the spam keeps coming.
- It has been said that gmail has pretty good spam control. Actually it's only better by controlling where the spam goes. Into the spam folder instead of the "In Box". It doesn't actually stop the spam.

And of course you need to look in the spam folder of every email account every now & then...just to make sure legitimate messages weren't sent there by mistake.

The only true way to eliminate spam that I know of is...closing old accounts & opening new accounts. But then the new accounts get spam eventually as well.

Sorry for such a dreary reply. Spam is one nasty thing to lick!

- Nick

p.s. I would be a million times grateful if someone REALLY has a way of eliminating spam from existing email accounts. And I mean "e-lim-in-ate". Not just hide it in a spam or junk folder!;)
 
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Just ignore it and get on with life. Surely you don't really believe this is a Mac problem only? Forty a day means they are just getting on to you. Some 'job opportunities' send me forty a day of their one spam.

You could write rules in Mail to prevent certain senders' mail being received, but these critters simply change sender details each time. Modern day curse is all.
 

Raz0rEdge

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When a SPAM messages shows up in your inbox, mark it as SPAM and Google will learn to detect it in the future. The number of SPAM message ebb and flow based on who is getting access to the list of email addresses. As long as they are all ending up in the SPAM folder, you can ignore them and they will go away after 30 days. You should periodically check on the folder to make sure that legitimate emails aren't ending up there.

A valid (working) email address that spammers can use is quite valuable so it get sold a lot..

None of this means that your account was hacked, just that your email address was found and shared.

One of the techniques I've used to find the people who share my email address is to do the following with my GMail email address..

<mygmailname>+<website/unique tag>@gmail.com

Gmail will continue to deliver these emails to you and once you start seeing spam directed at these unique variations, you know which website/person was to blame..:)
 
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MacInWin

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I use pobox.com to forward my email to my real email address. I have an account at pobox.com that I've had for about 10 years or so. They have a fabulous spam filter that blocks the crapola from getting into my inbox for the most part. Nothing's perfect, so some slips through, but it's a lot better. Basically, I have an address at <myaccount>@pobox.com that then gets forwarded to my real inbox after they cut out the spam. I never give out my real address to anyone for anything, ever. And when I moved from one ISP to another about 5 years ago, all I had to do was tell Pobox to stop forwarding to the old and start forwarding to the new. I seem to recall that it's about US$20/year for the service, and worth every penny. I don't have any financial interest in the site, so I can recommend it to you as a satisfied user.
 
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Well, was sort of hoping my google-fu was weak and I didn't find anything concrete because I just didn't know, and the crowd here is always so awesome, so, I thought, maybe...

But alas, we have the monster we have.
 

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