7 Spam

7.2 Should I unsubscribe from mailing lists?

Many spam messages have a line at the bottom offering to unsubscribe you from a mailing list, but you should be very wary of doing this. Quite often the senders of the spam will use the ‘unsubscribe’ option to verify that your email address is live. They may then sell your address to other people for use in spamming. So using the unsubscribe option can increase your spam rather than reduce it. Our advice is never to use the unsubscribe option unless the mail you receive is from a well-known, reputable organisation.