Number of Spam Emails on the Rise

Spam Emails Have Tripled Since June and Now Account for 90% of Emails!

Postini, a US email security company, said that the number of spam emails has tripled since June and is accounting for approximately 9 out of 10 emails that are sent worldwide. There are about 200 criminal gangs that produce 80 percent of these spam emails, and the main cause is the use of computer programs that hijack peoples' home computers to send the emails. However, unlike in recent years, the computer programs used for these spam emails are written by professionals, not by teenagers looking for a little fun.

These computer programs, called "zombie networks", have the ability to link up to 100,000 home computers without the owner knowing. These networks are then leased to gangs whom use the hijacked computers to send millions of emails with relative ambiguity. There is computer software to help with spam, but due to the increasing sophistication used in these computer programs, it will be difficult for the spam software to determine exactly which emails are spam and which ones are not. They are even starting to use pictures to bypass the filters used to help determine whether or not an email is spam because it is hard for software to scan through images.

Emails are now asking people for their bank account number, phone number, address, etc. which is a term called "phishing". Some even disguise themselves as major companies and ask you to confirm your account, order, subscription, etc. by providing your credit card number, bank account number or any other form of personal information. This makes it difficult to determine if it is a spam email or if it is legit, so the best thing to do is call and contact the company directly before giving out any personal information over the internet through one of these emails.