How do spammers get my email address?
- asniadach
- Carlos E. McKinney
- Andrea Mocko
There are lots of ways for spammers to obtain your address.
Any public source of information will do - they look everywhere and anywhere. This includes social media sites such as Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. Web pages are the most common source.
Some email lists, news groups, etc. can make your addresses visible and open to being harvested.
Website breaches may expose mass amounts of email lists.
Dumb luck. Specifically for users who have a common name as an email address, a hacker may just guess it.
Addresses are sold as often as possible, especially those that are known to be affiliated with a person.
If you receive an email from someone you don't know, do not click on any of the links. This is a good way for the spammers to validate the address, send you more messages, and sell it as a known good address to other spammers. If you are unsure of the validity of a suspicious message, report it to security@umbc.edu.
