Why SPAM? And why does SPAM Mail work?
For the first part of this question the answers can vary as it really depends on what type of SPAM we’re talking about, but for the second part of the question the answer is pretty much the same no matter what type it is. Why does it work? Well…we’ll tell you - it works because we let it work… to further explain, we’ll take a closer look at some examples of chain mail, why they work, and what you have to do to stop them for good.
Superstitious Malarkey
We expect there is a significant percentage of people reading this article that have passed this drivel on to their friends in order to avoid “10 years bad luck” or to “discover their true love within the week” – we all know the deal, pass it on, or forever be doomed. But do we stop to think of how this cyberspace gibberish actually began? We mean, someone must have started it, it didn’t’ just appear from the depths of Hell straight into our email inbox one Thursday morning…. The most logical explanation is more often than not the correct one, and in this case there is only one explanation – it’s made up hocus pocus! Really it is! The mere creation of someone far, far away. The creator has no inexplicable insight into the supernatural powers that hide in the shadows waiting for someone not to forward a chain email – it’s just a phoney potion of words with one aim – to make you hit the forward button. So back to our original question- why do it? Why persist? Answer; because it works!! People pass it straight on to all their unwitting friends and colleagues (who all at this point kind of wish they knew you a little less, believer or not) and there is no greater thrill for a 16 year old cyber buff than to see his creation passed the world over, from inbox to inbox across the globe. This is why it works, and this is why every time you log in to your email inbox, you see a slight variation of the concoction of superstitious nonsense that you forwarded last week! The solution: It is less thrilling to see your masterful creation not even get past the first set of people you send it to, so in case you are not getting the point, if you stop forwarding the superstitious malarkey, then there is little motivation for the hoaxers to create new ones.
To be honest, this actually just about sums up Charity Email Hoaxes and Email Media Hoaxes as well, which only circulate because someone wanted to see how far they could make their creation go. The solution is the same. Everyone ignore them and they will eventually go away. With any luck.
Fake Virus Hoaxes
One of the most foremost types of SPAM are emails warning Internet users of phantom viruses, or real viruses with all the details mixed up rendering the message pretty much useless. The reasons these emails begin is usually down to 2 different reasons – the first is the originator is trying to be genuinely useful in attempting to warn of an actual virus, but a mixture of hearsay combined with their lack of anything truly technical makes the message rather useless to anybody else. The most common reason these emails begin though is for exactly the same reason the superstitious emails (above) begin – because it is a thrill for the creator to see their email propagate exponentially across the Internet. These fake virus hoaxes usually have a better response as well, because the recipients duly forward them, no questions asked, thinking they in turn are being helpful, and because the recipient does not possess the computer savvy knowledge to realise its often a mixture of fabrication and pseudo-technical lingo that ultimately makes no sense, the emails get passed along, each time unaware they are just propagating a hoax. The solution: Because the reason this hoax exists is essentially the same as the reason superstitious emails exist, the solution is effectively the same. Don’t pass them on, and this erases the motivation of creating the hoaxes in the first place. Even if you believe the virus is real, there are other channels of getting news out (newsletters from bona fide Anti Virus companies, which is actually a good idea to sign up for) so forwarded warning emails can just be disregarded.
You Send We Track Emails
These are the ones that claim to track who you forward them to and promise money or freebies when you do. These emails exist primarily for the same reason as every other email hoax we have talked about thus far. They exist because someone wanted to get their email creation as far out there across cyberspace as possible. We’ll give this type of email its own section because the reason they’re so effective is slightly different. The reason why people persist in creating emails is because they are indeed very successful as they take advantage of a major technical misconception that almost every Internet user has – that it is possible to track email that has been forwarded, when in reality it is not, and if it is, then its being set aside as a well kept secret, a secret we doubt the Gap or Honda are in possession of! Seriously though, in order to track email you would need to include some sort of dynamic program embedded into the email that could take your IP address and/or MAC address and send it off to the originator – but since no program is allowed to activate automatically from opening an email – for security and privacy reasons – then this can’t really be done. Some variants of these emails say Microsoft has embedded code into the operating system that will look out for the email and act accordingly, though this makes no sense since there is a significant amount of email users that either don’t use a Microsoft operating system (e.g. Linux, MAC OS instead) or don’t use a Microsoft Email client (e.g. gmail or yahoo instead) – okay we’re digressing, so back to the point – can’t be done, but not many people know this – hence effective. The solution: You’ve heard it before – ignore the emails. No one wants to create an email that’s not going anywhere so if no one forwards them, then they will stop.
Product SPAM, Advanced Fee Fraud Scams and other Phishing scams
Okay, now lets move on past hoaxes to the outright scams! These are the money making scams that sell products via unsolicited mail, or pretend to sell products via unsolicited mail, or otherwise con you out of your hard worked money. We have all had them, dodgy emails selling pills or an email claiming to give you millions of dollars as soon as you pay the transfer fee. Now we would hope and imagine that the majority of you could smell a rat as soon as you open this type of mail, or otherwise avoid it like the plague. So you’re thinking, what is the point of sending all of these emails to people when it seems extremely unlikely that anyone is really going to take it seriously? Well the reason scammers employ this mass sending of emails is because it costs them next to nothing to get the enormous mailing lists, and the percentage of people that is needed to take the bait is so small it’s not hard to make a profit. For example, if Scam Company A buys a mailing list (by the way, a mailing list is just a list of emails) for $10, and sends it’s emails to a million people, for them to make profit, they usually only need a 0.1% success rate or thereabouts, and that’s all. That has put them in profit and because they usually meet this 0.1ish% quota, they’ll still push the emails out of their cyber door, by the millions. The solution: The solution is what most of you are doing already. Not giving the email the time of day. However, there are people that are, and it is these people we need to educate to stop this type of email for good. If the senders don’t get any success for the millions of emails they send out, they’ll soon get the idea and stop. (Hopefully not to then try something else!)
To summarise….
Lets break down the original question – Why SPAM? You can see from the sections above that there are two main reasons why people SPAM – to see how far they can get their fake email across the globe, sort of like a challenge. The originator has a need to fool as many people by getting their email in to as many inboxes as possible. The second reason is simply to make money. Honestly or not.
There are at times other reasons, for example political reasons, misguided attempts to be useful, publicity stunts gone awry, or maybe even just to tell a joke!
The second part of the question is why does it work? And this applies to all types of SPAM. Well we kind of answered this at the top of the page “We let it Work” – how? By not ignoring it. The reason all types of SPAM is continued is because it has a reasonable success rate. Whether its money scams or simply email hoaxes, the success rate is high enough to justify continuing.
So the solution? You notice that all the sections above had the same solution? Ignore the email and it will go away. Nobody, even scammers and hoaxers are going to waste their time doing something that does not work. If their emails are neither circulated or responded to, the incentive to persist has stopped, and so will eventually the emails.
To summarise further
Why SPAM? Money, publicity, curiosity, self satisfaction, political inspiration or a joke.
Why continue? Because it works.
Why does it work? We listen
The Solution? Stop listening
Remember, all it takes to stop the fraudsters is the education of everyone!
By Craig, thatsNonsense.com 06/08/09
