What Does Your E-mail Address Mean to a Spammer?

E-mail is the main reason people go online. It offers a simple and direct method of communication, enabling you to conduct business and keep in touch with your friends and family. If you are like most people, you treasure your e-mail account. However, spammers see your e-mail account as something much different.

To a spammer, your e-mail account is a direct asset. Its worth is valued between 1 and 5 cents as is, but this quickly increases if I, as a spammer, know your habits and can predict what interests you have or what products you like to buy; then, your e-mail account is worth up to 20 cents. Would you sell me your e-mail address for 20 cents? You d probably say no to protect your e-mail privacy and reduce the amount of spam you receive. Often, however, it s not a choice that people are allowed to make. Anyone who has your e-mail address would probably sell it to me for 10 cents. If they refuse the sale I am, are fully capable of hacking our way into most companies to steal your e-mail address and previous sales history. E-mail addresses have become another piece in the virtual economy of spam; they can be highly profitable for those who are able to obtain very large amounts of them. Even with each address fetching only 1 cent, a list of 20 million e-mails could bring up to $2,000.00...