How To Stop New Flood of Gmail Spam

[Michael Safrin]

Please help!

Spam in my gmail account has up until recently been kept well under control.  But earlier today I've noticed an overwhelming flood of spam in my inbox that is unprecedented and out of control. Even after using some gmail tricks on controlling spam such as using gmail's unsubscribing tool, the unsubscribe messages are being returned as undeliverable. I've tried tackling each spam message one by one but it has become much too overwhelming, time consuming to undertake. I realize part of the problem is that spam arrives daily from a source that has gotten hold of my email and continues to send spam. 

It seems the ability for gmail to filter spam as effectively as it had once had has been lessened to a considerable degree.

I've had my email address for nearly ten years and am loath to stop using it and create a new default email address. Bu that is only as last resort.

Can you offer any suggestions on re-enabling gmail to filter spam in the highly successful manner it once did.

Any help, assistance in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

[Andy]

On Thu, Nov 20, 2014 at 3:14 AM, Michael Safrin <topsa...@gmail.com> wrote:

Please help!

Spam in my gmail account has up until recently been kept well under control.  But earlier today I've noticed an overwhelming flood of spam in my inbox that is unprecedented and out of control. Even after using some gmail tricks on controlling spam such as using gmail's unsubscribing tool,

That was probably a mistake.  ​I would never use that on Spam.  You are asking Gmail to send an email reply back to the spammers, and that reply tells them that your account is still active and that you read their messages ... in other words, you are a prime target for even more spam!  Never respond to spam, not in any way, shape, or form.  Responding is how you end up on lots of spammer's lists.

the unsubscribe messages are being returned as undeliverable.

​Not surprising.

No spammer ever takes an unsubscribe request seriously anyway.

I've tried tackling each spam message one by one

​In what way are you tackling each of them?

The ONLY thing you should be doing with them, is marking them as Spam.

I realize part of the problem is that spam arrives daily from a source that has gotten hold of my email and continues to send spam. 

​That's a problem, and there isn't much you can do about it.

If you can somehow figure out who or what is sending them all, you might contact the authorities (how?) and have THEM deal with it and try to shut them down.  Most spam makes this impossible.​

It seems the ability for gmail to filter spam as effectively as it had once had has been lessened to a considerable degree.

There are a few reasons for that.  One, you may have responded to the emails, even if by asking to unsubscribe from them.  It may sound counter-intuitive, but this might tell Gmail that this sender is one you care about (any address you reply to must be important to you), and therefore they shouldn't go into Spam.  They may have ended up on your Contacts list because of that.  That's why it's important to keep marking those messages as Spam, and do only that.  Also, the spammers are clever about circumventing the filters, making their messages look more like "normal" messages (to the electronic scanners but not to the eye).

Can you offer any suggestions on re-enabling gmail to filter spam in the highly successful manner it once did.

​I'm sure your account's spam filter is still enabled.  What you should do is continue to re-train it​, by marking every message as Spam, and never do anything else with them.

Also check your Gmail Contacts to see who you may have inadvertently added to it.

If all else fails (and it can take a while to re-train your spam filter), and if all those messages are coming from the same source which is recognizable in every spam message, you could make a Filter to delete them as they arrive.  Then you won't see them, but it doesn't let Gmail's spam filter learn from you that they are really spam.  Consider that a last resort.  I don't think you are there yet.  Give Gmail's spam filter another month to learn from you.

It's also wise to not even open spam messages.  Graphics files in them can tell the sender that you opened them, hence that their spam was received and read.

Regards,

Andy

[stefan ketola]

I was going to reply tonight but Andy has said it all and lots I was going to say.

Just by extension also - don't always trust unsubscribe links.. if it's a reputable, known company you'll be OK - any other though and it MIGHT just be another trick to check your email is valid and current and will then instead of unsubing see you get even more spam.

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