Why am I not affected / affected by the amount of spamming from spammers?

Revised 2019-12-25

I am probably fortunate because, unlike many others, I have managed to get away from the Junk Mail River that has washed over the email world lately.

What can be the reason to many people being affected, some to a great extent while others being completely dry-shod?

This article contains a lot of questions and I only have possible answers to some of them. The intention is to create a basis for the reader’s own reflections.

Why is my account not affected? I think a minimal exposure of email address on the internet has a positive impact.

• I’m not on social media.
• I keep shopping on the Internet to a minimum.
• I avoid registering my account on different websites as far as possible.

After a long time, following threads regarding junk mail on both Microsoft Community SE and Microsoft Community UK, I ask the question: Why are there so many more cases on UK than on SE Community?

• Of course, the number of spam cases is related to the number of people who report / complain in each forum in total. Then I assume that UK includes members living in both UK and US.
• Are there cultural / geographical differences in the way of using services on the Internet where e-mail address is used to login?
• Do such differences make the UK / US more interesting than SE for spammers, saboteurs and other criminals to act in?

Why are there such large volumes of junk mail for those affected? Of the elements on the Community these are very large quantities especially in the UK / US. Nothing unusual with several hundred per day.

What types of Junk email are there, and which causes the biggest / most serious problems?

Junk email is the collective name for the types of emails below.

Spam is unwanted ads that are widely distributed to many recipients. Links in these emails mostly go to legitimate websites.

Scam / Fraud is targeted attacks and designed to trick people into revealing information that will lead to them being deceived or stolen from their identity.

Phishing is a scam that gives the feeling that it is in a hurry for the affected person to act. Phishing emails often contain malicious links.

Threatening emails are a scam designed to get a person to pay money to avoid problems. ”We have proof … so if you don’t pay … then …”

Computer viruses are sent out to be placed in a computer, mobile or other type of device to allow access to the device and its contents from within.

Why has the amount of Junk Mail increased significantly lately?

Do you, anyone at all, know the answer to all these questions?

A common theme at Community is that ”everything is Microsoft’s fault” because their email system has bad filters. In addition, it is alleged that Gmail accounts are not affected in the same way.

What, then, are the problems of those affected by these Junk Mail attacks?

If the mail ends up in the Junkmail folder, rules cannot be used to handle them. Legitimate emails that mistakenly fall into the Junkmail folder disappear in the crowd.

If the Junkmail ends up in the Inbox, the overview of that folder gets worse.

Regardless of where the email ends up, the main reason is that spammers’ latest technology causes the sender’s information to be distorted so that they cannot be blocked or handled with rules.

My overall opinion:

Caution in the use of your email address is important to keep the exposure down is recommended.

The biggest problem is the amount of spam that comes from spammers where they have found methods to enter sender information in a way that makes it impossible for a user to protect themselves with available tools.

The most serious problems are the scams where the affected person makes financial losses.

That the email filters provided by Microsoft are not enough is obvious. They simply do not keep up with spammers.

In addition, the tools used in Outlook are blunt. At least those used for private use. Within companies, IT departments can create better protection.

If there were grounds for Gmail accounts being more spared from attacks, it could very well be because that market is considered less interesting. Fewer accounts and different ways to use them. Therefore, there is a deliberate attack on MS accounts. It is unlikely that Google would have better protection than Microsoft.

Since the creators of Junkmail manage to stay away by being anonymous and difficult to track, it is difficult to access them and even worse to report and, if necessary, to prosecute.