What are spam messages and how can you avoid them?

Spam emails are unwanted and often mass-sent emails that fre­quent­ly contain ad­ver­tis­ing, fraud attempts, or malware. They are often sent au­to­mat­i­cal­ly and target randomly selected or purchased email addresses. The main goal is usually to generate clicks, steal personal data, or infect systems.

What is a spam message?

Spam (often called “junk”) refers to the un­so­licit­ed and unwanted dis­tri­b­u­tion of messages via elec­tron­ic channels. The term orig­i­nates from the American canned meat brand “Spiced Ham,” which featured in the famous Monty Python Spam sketch. In the sketch, the word “spam” is repeated so fre­quent­ly that normal con­ver­sa­tion becomes im­pos­si­ble. Applied to digital com­mu­ni­ca­tion, spam emails similarly force their way in as unwanted content among le­git­i­mate messages.

Spam messages, usually sent in bulk, often contain ad­ver­tis­ing, phishing attempts, or malware. They reach re­cip­i­ents without consent and con­tin­u­al­ly clutter inboxes worldwide. Most fall into the category of un­so­licit­ed bulk emails, such as chain letters or unwanted com­mer­cial pro­mo­tions. Their aim is typically to push re­cip­i­ents into buying a product, revealing personal in­for­ma­tion, clicking a link, or opening an at­tach­ment.

What types of spam emails are there?

While spam does not only occur in email traffic, it is primarily spread this way. The creators are referred to as spammers. Most use spe­cial­ized computer programs called spambots or email har­vesters. Many junk emails contain ad­ver­tise­ments for (often ques­tion­able) products, false reports, links to phishing websites, or malware.

The most common types of spam emails can be cat­e­go­rized into the following four groups:

• Ad­ver­tis­ing: Providers of cheap wrist­watch­es (which imitate well-known luxury brands), un­li­censed med­ica­tions (often Viagra), or illegal online content fre­quent­ly use spam to promote their products. Typical content in ad­ver­tis­ing spam emails also includes links to allegedly free offers, which lead to sub­scrip­tion traps, or ref­er­ences to sup­pos­ed­ly lucrative business models. The latter must be down­loaded for a fee and only make the spammer rich.
• False reports: Many spam emails contain calls to action, warnings, or stories that seem un­trust­wor­thy i.e. hoaxes. The content of such emails is often com­plete­ly fab­ri­cat­ed or has little basis in fact and is ex­ag­ger­at­ed sen­sa­tion­al­ly. If re­cip­i­ents take them seriously and forward them, these false reports can rapidly spread via a chain reaction.
• Phishing: This type of spam pretends that the sender of the message is from a specific company, usually a bank. The victim is asked to provide personal in­for­ma­tion such as account and credit card details along with the cor­re­spond­ing passwords. To achieve this, phishing scammers often create websites that are linked in the spam emails and closely resemble official bank websites. If you enter your private data there, it falls into the hands of cy­ber­crim­i­nals.
• Malware: Spam emails often deliver malicious programs (also known as malware, evilware, or junkware) to a computer. This includes, for example, computer viruses and worms, trojans or spyware. By opening programs, links, or email at­tach­ments, they in­fil­trate the system. They can usually only be removed with antivirus programs or other spe­cial­ized software.

Why do you receive spam emails?

Many users wonder why so much spam is sent specif­i­cal­ly to their email address. In most cases, it’s hardly their fault. Spambots and har­vesters sys­tem­at­i­cal­ly crawl the internet for email addresses. Once they find an address, it is stored and later used for junk mail. Hacked email accounts from friends or ac­quain­tances can also result in your own address ending up in the hands of spammers. In such cases, the address book of the hacked account is added to the recipient list for spam emails.

However, many users also con­tribute through their own neg­li­gence to becoming targets of spammers and spambots. For example, when reg­is­ter­ing for sweep­stakes, or­ga­niz­ers are often allowed by the terms and con­di­tions to use the provided email for ad­ver­tis­ing purposes. Many prize draws exist solely to collect addresses for sending spam. Similarly, pub­lish­ing your email address on websites, social networks, forums, chats, or comment sections makes it an easy target for email har­vesters.

How can you protect yourself from spam?

You can’t com­plete­ly prevent spam emails—too many spammers and spambots send out messages every day. Still, there are several practical methods to reduce the amount of spam you receive:

• Share your primary email address only when ab­solute­ly necessary. Avoid using it for ques­tion­able sweep­stakes or un­fa­mil­iar websites.
• Create a secondary email address for less important online services. This helps keep your main inbox protected from spam.
• Don’t publish your primary email address on public websites. If you need to provide it, do so only in secure online portals or trusted com­mu­ni­ties.
• Modify the spelling of your email to make it harder for bots to detect—for example, write (at) instead of @ or dot instead of .. Al­ter­na­tive­ly, display your email address as a text image.

Use a spam filter

A spam filter is software designed to detect and sort out unwanted messages. Every pro­fes­sion­al email provider and email program uses such filters. Many of these programs work by au­to­mat­i­cal­ly checking email content using the blacklist method. This approach relies on a list of words and phrases typically as­so­ci­at­ed with spam.

In addition to black­lists, there are other methods of iden­ti­fy­ing spam emails. However, no method can guarantee 100 percent accuracy. Sometimes, spam filters may classify le­git­i­mate messages as ad­ver­tis­ing, while in other cases, spam emails slip through into the regular inbox. Still, it’s essential to ensure that your emails are always checked by a spam filter.

IONOS anti-spam filter

IONOS provides in­te­grat­ed anti-spam features that ef­fec­tive­ly filter out unwanted emails. The spam filter au­to­mat­i­cal­ly analyzes incoming messages based on various criteria such as the subject line and technical header data. This way, sus­pi­cious emails are detected before delivery and, depending on the settings, marked, moved, or directly blocked.

IONOS customers can activate and customize the anti-spam filter. Those who use Webmail can also activate the anti-spam directly in the browser.

How to identify and eliminate spam

If spam isn’t filtered au­to­mat­i­cal­ly, you’ll need to recognize it yourself—only careful handling of sus­pi­cious emails offers reliable pro­tec­tion in such cases.

Tip 1: Mark received spam as spam

Many spam emails can be spotted right from the subject line—whether it’s a fake prize no­ti­fi­ca­tion, sug­ges­tive content, or an ad­ver­tised “special offer.” If one of these messages slips past your spam filter, mark it as spam im­me­di­ate­ly. Doing so trains the filter to recognize similar emails and block them au­to­mat­i­cal­ly in the future.

Tip 2: Do not open unknown links

Never open links or file at­tach­ments from sus­pi­cious emails. Spammers often hide harmful content behind un­fa­mil­iar sender addresses and strangely worded subject lines.

Tip 3: Use antivirus software

If malware does get opened, antivirus software is often the only line of defense. These programs are designed to detect and block known threats such as viruses, trojans, worms, and spyware. When a malicious program attempts to access the system, the antivirus in­ter­venes and stops it. Still, because detection relies on known patterns, no antivirus solution can guarantee complete pro­tec­tion. Even so, having antivirus software in place remains one of the most essential security measures for any computer.

Tip 4: Keep your operating system up to date

Always keep your operating system up to date to close known security gaps and maintain stability. Many attacks exploit vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties that have already been patched in newer versions. Regular updates—ideally via automatic updates—ensure security fixes are applied quickly, reducing the risk of spam, malware, and other threats.

Tip 5: Create a backup

It’s also wise to back up your most important data on a separate medium. That way, if the system is damaged by malware, you’ll still have a secure copy. For com­pre­hen­sive pro­tec­tion against spam and its con­se­quences, combine multiple measures: use a spam filter, install anti-malware software, and maintain regular backups. On top of that, be cautious when sharing your email address and avoid opening sus­pi­cious messages—the simplest and most effective form of pro­tec­tion.