Here's how and why you should stop spam emails and safeguard your personal data

Every day, inboxes around the world are flooded with unsolicited emails that range from pushy marketing to malicious scams, and according to cybersecurity experts, spam costs businesses and individuals billions annually, not to mention the wasted time, productivity, and increased risks of fraud.

In order to prevent this annoyance from occurring, or worse, fraud from happening to you, users should know how to stop these spam emails from hitting their inboxes. Notably, since the COVID-19 pandemic, spam emails have skyrocketed in frequency, and while many email services already filter many types of spam emails into a spam folder, there are still hundreds, and even thousands in some cases, that manage to slip through into the main inbox.

Before we get into how to stop these spam emails from happening, we should outline the different types of spam emails so you can easily identify them.

Phishing Attacks

• Many spam emails contain links that lead to fake websites designed to steal your login credentials, bank details, or personal information. Falling for one of these can mean instant identity theft.

Malicious Attachments

• Spam often carries attachments disguised as invoices, job offers, or official documents. Opening them can trigger the download of malware, spyware, or ransomware, potentially locking you out of your own files.

5

Proof of Activity

• Even if you don't interact with spam, the fact that you're receiving it suggests your email address is circulating on data broker lists, being bought, sold, or traded online.

Increased Targeting

• Once scammers know your email is active, you're more likely to be targeted again, sometimes with more tailored and convincing scams.

How to Block Spam Emails

Train Your Spam Filter: One of the best ways to stop spam from hitting your inbox is to train your email service's built-in algorithm to be better at detecting spam emails. Many email services, such as Gmail, already have spam filters, but you, as a user, can improve the algorithm by identifying spam emails and flagging or marking them as spam. This will "teach" the system to be better at identifying unwanted messages in the future, and over time, your filter will be much better at removing any unwanted emails.

Marking Phishing Attempts: Most email platforms have a specific feature that enables a user to report a phishing attempt when they discover it. The same premise applies to the previous suggestion of training your spam filter, as marking phishing attempts, while much more serious, will further improve the built-in algorithm filtering out any unwanted emails.

Block Specific Senders: One very quick way of stopping spam emails from hitting your inbox is simply blocking the email address that is sending you the mail. By blocking an email address, you will be sending all the sender's emails directly to the trash. However, this tactic doesn't stop scammers who are continuously using multiple email addresses.

Unsubscribe: Unsubscribing from any unwanted marketing materials from brands means you will no longer receive those marketing emails that can sometimes flood an email inbox. However, make sure you are unsubscribing from the brand's official website, and avoid clicking unsubscribe from within emails, as scammers sometimes disguise malware links this way.

Remove Yourself from Data Broker Lists Entirely: Spam is sent to email addresses that are on data broker lists, which are constantly circulating online. For those who don't know, data brokers collect, package, and sell details like your name, address, phone number, and email address to paying marketers and scammers. Users can manually opt out of data broker websites, but the process can be quite time-consuming, estimated to take 300+ hours per year and requiring repeat submissions every few months.

That is where automated services such as Incogni can come in very handy, as the service sends opt-out requests to hundreds of data brokers on your behalf, saving you time and energy that can be better spent elsewhere. Incogni also ensures your information is regularly removed and not simply re-added at a later date.

5

How Incogni Can Help You

Data Broker Removal: Incogni identifies data brokers that are the most likely to hold your details, such as Social Security number, physical address, phone number, or email address, and sends removal requests on your behalf. Incogni then follows up with additional removal requests with the brokers to keep your details off the market.

Family & Friends Protection: As many of you already know, the elderly are particularly susceptible to scams and phishing attempts, which is why Incogni offers a Family & Friends plan that enables subscribers to protect up to three email addresses, phone numbers, and physical addresses.

Dashboard Monitoring: Users interested in seeing what brokers have been targeted by Incogni can visit their dashboard, where they will see which brokers have received requests, the completed removals, and which requests are still pending.

Affordable Protection: Incogni offers affordable protection with subscriptions, and with code TWEAK buyers get 55% off annual plans that will immediately start removing your personal data.

5

Delete Your Data Now: Incogni enables buyers to start removing their data from unwanted databases that are constantly shopping around user data that can lead to scams. To start deleting your data from these data brokers, check out this link here.