The Consequences of Responding to Spam Emails

Nowadays, it’s not uncommon to get spam emails. You get them from services you have subscribed to or their third-parties. You also get them from scammers intent on tricking you out of your money and luring you into giving away your personal information.

It is so annoying that you may have even thought about responding to some of those, but intuitively knew it wasn’t a good idea.

Read on to learn why you were right.

Funny Replies to Spam Emails

There’s a guy who’s made himself famous by replying to spam emails.

Comedian and writer James Veitch decided to answer a spam email he got from an individual named “Solomon Odonkoh” about “an interesting business proposal.” Instead of deleting the email, he decided to troll the man and replied: “Solomon, your email intrigues me.”

The correspondence ensued, and James got an offer to distribute 25 kg of gold and earn a 10% commission. James wanted to go big and wouldn’t even consider accepting the offer unless they went as high as “a metric ton.” When asked what he would invest his money in, James replied, “hummus.” To hear the full story, watch this video.

In another video, James talks about getting an email from a person named “Kamanda Koroma” who needed to move some diamonds. James agreed, and when asked to provide his phone number, he gave the number of Goldman Sachs Bank.

When confronted about the bank not having anyone named “James Veitch” in their database and asked if he is real at all, James went into the questions of existential philosophy. The correspondence went on, and then “Koroma” instructed him to set up an account with “his bank” posing as Royal Bank of Scotland and provided the contact—info@royalbs.co.in.

James then decided to start trolling the fake bank, and he pushed them hard with his demand for a free toaster he had apparently seen in their add for newly opened accounts to the point of them emailing him “PLEASE STOP EMAILING US.”

Unfortunately, the reality of people who respond to spam emails is usually harrowing and nothing short of dreadful. Funny though it may be, refrain from responding to spam emails and educate yourself on what spam email is, how dangerous it can be, and how to report it.

Rid Yourself of Spam With DoNotPay

So, you have come to the point of having zero tolerance for spam emails taking over your inbox. You don’t need to bother with unsubscribing from emails and stopping spam from flooding your inbox manually because you can kill two birds with one stone.

Your DoNotPay virtual assistant has automated the whole process to make it easy and efficient.

All you have to do is access DoNotPay from any web browser and follow these steps:

1. Select the Spam Collector option
2. Enter your email address to connect it to DoNotPay
3. Next time you get a spam email, forward it to spam@donotpay.com

We will discontinue your subscription, but we will also keep you in the loop about any class-action lawsuit against the sender. Should the spam email be unlawful, you may join it and get compensated in the event of a successful settlement. Think of it as your small spam revenge.

The Dangers of Responding to Spam Emails

If you decide to reply to a spam email, you should be aware of what you are doing and the potential dangers it entails. You might divulge more information to scammers than you think you would. It puts you on a scammer’s radar directly and could render you vulnerable to the following:

1. A reply may leak your personal information
2. Your account could be hacked
3. They could sell your address to other scammers
4. Scammers could devise more sophisticated attacks

Your Account Could Be Hacked

Your account could be hacked if you respond to a spam email, even more so if your reply includes a couple of details about your personally identifiable information. Most people don’t even think about how the usual pieces of information contained in their email can be used against them.

Those include the full name and personal signature, mentions of their business or employer, and corporate URL. If they get a reply to the spam with such details, cyber-criminals know they have struck gold with that particular email address and can guess your password much easier.

A Reply May Leak Your Personal Information

You can find out a lot about an email sender just from the email header. If you can find it, rest assured a cyber-scammer most certainly will. The header contains information, such as the sender, the subject, and the route that an email takes.

An email can be traced to the point of origination across servers and reveal the server from which it derived. The recipient can then use geolocation to locate that server. Through various tools, they can get your:

• Age

• Marital status

• Phone number

• Home address

• The value of your home

They Could Sell Your Address to Other Scammers

Responding to a potentially harmful spam email informs the fraudster that your address is active, which puts you on the top of their priority list. They can also sell your address to other scammers, which results in even more spam emails directed to your address.

Scammers Could Devise More Sophisticated Attacks

Your response style and format can help scammers devise more sophisticated attacks and trick you into sharing more sensitive information, such as corporate data. By harvesting behavioral clues, cyber-attackers can use various psychological techniques to lure you into doing illicit wire transfers compromising both your employer and yourself and making you vulnerable to blackmail.

Should you like to learn how to report email abuse, click here.

DoNotMail Without Fail

Malicious spam emails may not be the only adversary you have to deal with! What about the junk and spam mail in your physical mailbox? Boy, how much-wasted paper is that! You don’t need it. You don’t want it! So, get rid of it once and for all. You can’t do it by simply throwing it away—they’ll keep streaming in.

What our DoNotPay robot can do, aside from helping you stop receiving emails or block spam email on Android or iOS, is to cut the flow of such mail to your physical mailbox. That is why we introduced a new feature—DoNotMail.

DoNotMail offers you multiple benefits:

• It contributes to environmental sustainability
• It guarantees you the removal of junk mail
• It notifies you about current class-action lawsuits you can join
• It protects you from scams
• It restores your full control over your mailbox

Should you decide to give it a go, send us a photo of your junk mail. To do it:

1. Scroll down to the DoNotMail option on the DoNotPay homepage and click it
2. Tap the Enroll Now button
3. Upload your photos

In case you join a class-action lawsuit against the sender and the settlement is successful, you may get compensation.

Say Yay to DoNotPay!

We know how frustrating it is to spend precious time waiting on the phone to make contact with customer service representatives, canceling subscriptions, or demanding refunds. Luckily, you do have an ace up your sleeve—DoNoyPay.

Your virtual assistant DoNotPay is here to make administrative procedures effortless and efficient. It is your strongest weapon in the fight for your customer rights.

Check out why DoNotPay is your way to go.

All you have to do is log on to your DoNotMail account from any web browser and check how we can help you:

• Fix credit card problems
• Secure refunds for delayed or canceled flights
• Challenge parking tickets
• Deal with bills you are unable to pay
• Discontinue subscriptions or memberships
• Dispute traffic tickets
• Make a DMV appointment fast and easy
• Protect yourself from stalking and harassment
• Get refunds from any company
• Free yourself from spam mail forever
• Skip the phone queue when calling customer service reps
• Contest speeding tickets
• Get revenge on robocalls
• Send demand letters to parties in small claims court