According to various studies, between 30 and 50 percent of all recipients click on links in spam emails. Experts strongly advise against doing so. (Photo: © rawpixel/123RF.com)
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February 1, 2020
Crafts 4.0: Unsolicited advertising emails are annoying and cost real money. Despite spam filters, employees in many craft businesses have to invest more and more time sorting through and deleting these digital messages.
According to recent statistics from Statista.de , more than 55 percent of all emails received by businesses in October 2019 were spam . This results in significant time and money losses for tradespeople, as the effort required to sort through spam messages continues to increase. Spam filters alone are often ineffective, as spammers are constantly developing new methods to circumvent automated protection measures.
Assuming that every working person receives 21 "desired" emails per day, according to a 2018 Bitkom study, at least that many more would be spam. If an employee spends just one minute per workday deleting advertising emails , this adds up to more than four hours per year . For ten employees, this already results in 40 unproductive hours per year – equivalent to an entire work week. Even greater damage occurs when employees open attachments from spam emails and unknowingly spread viruses within the company network . Experts estimate the annual damage caused by spam worldwide to be in the high tens of billions of dollars.
For spammers, unsolicited emails are a huge business: Sending digital messages costs virtually nothing and has been successful for decades. According to various studies, between 30 and 50 percent of all recipients click on links in spam emails. This increases the risk of falling victim to spammers: These are often so-called " phishing emails " that target personal information – for example, login details for bank accounts or online shops.
Another common form of spam is hoax emails , which deliberately spread false information and urge recipients to forward them. But even with so-called scam emails , which promise large sums of money in a very short time, recipients often don't suspect anything – even if they are initially asked to pay small amounts to reach the supposed destination. And anyone who orders goods online that are offered at low prices via spam can be sure that they will never arrive. The senders are only after credit card numbers , which are supposedly needed for payment. These are then misused or resold.
But how do spammers get your email address ? There are several ways: Often, automated search programs are used that systematically scour the internet for addresses – for example, social media, forum posts, guestbooks , or the legal notices of websites. Experts call these search robots " harvesters ." Other spam programs randomly combine common word combinations and link them to the domains of well-known email providers, such as T-Online or Gmail. As soon as an address is confirmed as "existing," it ends up in databases or is sold. Users also often give out their addresses themselves unintentionally, for example, when entering contests.
Legal measures against spammers are often unenforceable : According to the German Telemedia Act, spammers can be fined up to €50.000 – but most advertising emails originate abroad, making legal prosecution difficult. So-called " Robinson Lists " are also often ineffective: Those who register on these lists to reduce advertising messages often achieve the exact opposite. Spammers ignore these lists and try everything to obtain valuable email addresses. However, there are ways to curb the flood of spam : Those who follow the most important rules of conduct regarding their email address and spam ( see checklist below ) usually receive significantly fewer unwanted messages.
Spammers often use programs that automatically and randomly generate email addresses. The longer and more unusual your email address is (e.g., "firstnameXYZ123lastnameZYX987@address.de"), the fewer spam emails you will receive. Completely random strings of numbers and characters are even more effective.
Never provide your professional or private email address on unknown websites , including for contests, surveys, newsletter subscriptions, registrations, guestbooks, or discussion groups. Use a secondary address for these purposes, such as GMX / Web.de , muellmail.com , or tempr.email.
You should set up a separate email address for the legal notice (Impressum) of your website . This address will very likely receive advertising messages, as spammers use robots to crawl the internet for addresses. You can confuse search robots with unusual formats , such as "name [(at)] address (/dot/) de".
Many internet and email providers offer spam filters, which can usually be activated free of charge. You should also use your own protective measures, such as features in email programs or external spam protection software.
Avoid sending automatic out-of-office replies via email whenever possible. These signal to spammers that your address is active, and you will subsequently receive even more spam.
If you recognize spam emails from the subject line, you should delete them immediately without opening them.
Most modern email programs are set by default to prevent images or external content from being loaded into emails. This makes sense, because otherwise, so-called " web bugs " would automatically verify addresses as soon as an email is opened or an image is loaded.
Never open attachments or click on links or images in spam emails. Viruses, Trojan horses, or phishing sites may lurk there.
Products advertised in spam emails are often counterfeits, pirated copies, or stolen goods. Ordered products often never arrive.
Never respond to spam emails – not even by clicking on links like " Unsubscribe " or by writing to be removed from the mailing list. A response tells spammers that your email address is actively used.
If the provider from which the spam email was sent is identifiable (e.g., GMX/web.de, T-Online, etc.), you should file a written complaint. This allows spammers to be warned or even permanently blocked. Companies can also contact the Center for Combating Unfair Competition (Zentrale zur Bekämpfung unlauteren Wettbewerbs e. V.) , eco – Association of the German Internet Industry (eco – Verband der deutschen Internetwirtschaft) , or internet-beschwerdestelle.de in cases of unfair competition.
E-mail : Abbreviation for "Electronic Mail", refers to the exchange of messages via the Internet or a network.
IMAP: The "Internet Message Access Protocol Version" refers to a protocol for retrieving emails. The difference to the far more commonly used POP3 protocol is that all electronic messages remain on the mail server and are read or deleted there directly.
Mail account: A mail account is the place where incoming emails are stored until they are retrieved by the user.
POP3: The "Post Office Protocol" regulates the transport of emails from a mail server to a PC, tablet or smartphone.
Spam: Originally the American term for canned meat (short for "Spiced Pork And Meat"). Today, this term refers to mass-distributed advertising emails.
Webmail providers: Services such as Web.de, GMX or Gmail, which offer email mailboxes free of charge or on a rental basis.
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