FTC Spam Email Report Explained

iEditorial Note: These blog posts represent the opinion of DoNotPay’s Writers, but each person’s situation and circumstances vary greatly. As a result, you should make sure to do your own independent research. Because everyone is unique, our self-help tools are never guaranteed to help with any specific situation. DoNotPay is not a law firm and is not licensed to practice law. DoNotPay provides a platform for legal information and self-help.

Get the Hang of How FTC Spam Email Report Works and Get Compensation

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is a Washington-based agency that ensures consumer rights protection. This administration, which is independent of the U.S. government, lets you file complaints on a variety of issues. If you’ve ever wondered how the FTC email spam reports work, you have come to the right place.

How Does the Federal Trade Commission Deal With Spam?

The Federal Trade Commission fights illegal business practices, including the sending of abusive emails. When you report spam emails to the FTC, they and their partners in law enforcement collect them in a database. The database, called Consumer Sentinel, serves as a basis for a larger-scale investigation into the fraudulent mails.

Countless criminal activities found their way into the FTC database—credit card frauds, pyramid schemes, chain letter hoaxes, and deceptive weight-loss plans, to name just a few—all initially reported as spam emails.

What You Might Not Like About the FTC Spam Email Report

While the work of the FTC and how the agency allows you to contribute to it is amazing, there are a few flaws in the system. If you try to stop spam emails from reaching you by reporting them to the FTC, you will NOT:

  • Be unsubscribed from the sender’s mailing list, making you vulnerable for future spam
  • Receive any responses from the FTC or be involved in the future investigation process
  • Get an adequate spam email revenge

Another discouraging aspect of the FTC spam email report is that the agency advises you to file a complaint only if you already fell victim to a fraudulent email. They would prefer it if you took a traditional approach to reporting spam and flagged it on the Email Service Provider (ESP) you’re using, which doesn’t improve the situation on a larger scale.

How to Report Spam to the Federal Trade Commission

If you do decide to report a bogus email you received to the FTC, you have three options to do so:

  • Sending the agency an email
  • Calling the agency on the phone
  • Filing an online complaint

The FTC Spam Email Address

Forwarding spam emails to the FTC is one way you can let the agency know about fraudulent emails. In order to do it, follow these steps:

  1. Open the bogus message
  2. Find the Forward option or drag the spam email into a new one
  3. Open the spam message in a new window
  4. Click on View Message Details (Gmail), or File > Info > Properties (Outlook)
  5. Copy and paste the full header information into the message for the FTC
  6. Send the email to spam@uce.gov

Depending on your ESP, these steps may vary. Check out , , , and .

The FTC Report Phone Number

If you feel that phoning the FTC instead of forwarding them spam emails fits your situation better, you can take these steps:

  1. Dial +1 (877) 382-4357
  2. Wait out the phone queue
  3. Explain your issue when the FTC representative reaches you

Since the FTC gets countless calls every day, you’ll be waiting longer than your patience allows until you reach an FTC representative. Take this method only if your complaint is urgent.

Better yet, let DoNotPay assist you with getting in touch with any customer service. We can contact any company for you and put you through when a real person picks up.

The FTC Online Complaint Form

If you have time and nerves to spare, you can report spam to the FTC by completing the agency’s online complaint form. You’ll need some time and patience because the details you’ll have to provide in the form are quite a few. Here’s how to file an online complaint on the FTC website:

  1. Go to the FTC homepage
  2. Choose the I Would Like To tab
  3. Click on Submit a Consumer Complaint to the FTC
  4. Find the link to the form under the Answer section
  5. Click on the issue that contains spam
  6. Go through all parts of the form following the prompts

There are seven parts of the FTC online complaint form. All of them ask you to provide every detail of the spam email you received, like how and when the problem started, where the sender got your address, whether you responded, and whether you lost money.

This is only a portion of the information you have to provide in the form. The FTC doesn’t make it an obligation to fill in all sections if you don’t have the answers to some questions.

Skip the Headache and Report Spam With DoNotPay

Now onto an alternative way to stop receiving emails—the one that takes only four steps and one minute to complete.

To fight spam with the help of DoNotPay, you need only:

  1. Log in to DoNotPay from any
  2. Select the Spam Collector option
  3. Enter your email address
  4. Forward the spam message to spam@donotpay.com

Seriously, this is all you need to do to stop receiving emails from the sender once and for all.

The simplicity of the process is not even the best part of it. If there is a class action lawsuit against the sender, DoNotPay will duly notify you about it. You can then join in the suit, and if the sender loses the case, you can get hundreds of dollars in compensation!

Now, that’s the way to get rid of spammers for good and profit out of their fraudulent actions!

Since you don’t only use email on your desktop computer, best learn how to block spam email on Android and too.

Can I Report a Spam Email Via

Yes/No

DoNotPay

Yes
Email

Yes

Phone

Yes
Letter

No

Website

Yes
In Person

No

That’s Not Where It Ends With Junk Mail

Cybercriminals and companies advertising their products send a bulk of junk mail daily—but they don’t only use your electronic inbox. If you’re plagued by spam at your physical address too, let DoNotPay help you.

Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Go to our app and find the DoNotMail section
  2. Click Enroll Now
  3. Enter your email address
  4. Upload a picture of postal spam you received

And that’s that! You won’t have to pick up or unpack the mail from the same sender ever again.

Wishing to Report Robocalls to the Federal Trade Commission Too?

Another problem the FTC and DoNotPay fight actively against are robocalls. If you’re struggling with automated calls yourself, go through the FTC guide to dealing with robocalls. Then, learn how to report unsolicited robocalls with the T-Mobile robocall blocker and get compensated.

Here are specific robocall pests and how to deal with them:

Don’t Miss Out on Other DoNotPay Services

Reporting email abuse is not all there is to DoNotPay. Make an account from your and see for yourself how DoNotPay takes care of administrative issues you might have with any company or service.

These are some nuisances we help you solve:

Want your issue solved now?