How to Get Rid of Email Spam

This morning I received a very odd piece of email. It would appear that a couple of years ago, a person signed up to receive emails from me for home listings in the outskirts of Sacramento metro. He did it through my company website, which is not my professional business website. You are at my professional business website for Elizabeth Weintraub if you are at elizabethweintraub.com. Apparently, this person grew tired of receiving emails or maybe decided not to buy a home, I have no idea, but whatever the deal, he complained to his internet service provider that he was receiving spam.

Spam that he signed up for and asked to get. That’s the part that blows me away. Not only that, but like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, he has always had the ability to unsubscribe by clicking his heels together and tapping the mouse on the unsubscribe link. Automatic unsubscribe. That’s all there is to it.

Major corporations do not entrap people or send them to virus-ridden websites or use the unsubscribe link to send out more spam, because there are laws against it. Reputable companies unsubscribe you, that’s why they send you the link. Because they are required to give you the ability to opt yourself out.

It’s bad enough if you’re the person who asked for the information and then you refuse to unsubscribe your own dumb self, but what if you never specifically asked for any information? Here’s how that happens. I should point out that when you buy things online, be very careful about giving out your email address as you’re not always required to provide it. Moreover, companies often design order forms that automatically check boxes to send you newsletters and more information (i.e. spam), and if you don’t uncheck those boxes, you will get crap from the company whether or not you think you asked for it.

But those companies can also send you unwanted emails even if you didn’t ask for anything because they will say they had a pre-existing relationship with you. Because you ordered something from them. So, if you give them your email address and, after you receive the product you ordered, emails are still arriving, then click the unsubscribe button.

Better yet, consider using a throwaway email such as yahoo or gmail for your online purchases.