I had no idea “unsubscribe” buttons posed such a risk
 

I have been diligently trying to keep my emails clear of clutter by unsubscribing to the many many advertisements that find their way into my inbox. Only recently did I notice many of the advertisements are coming from suspicious links. Ug. And now I have learned that there is a scam strategy that is precisely designed to get us to click the unsubscribe. Having done a little digging, I learned it is never a good idea to click the unsubscribe - and it’s likely to be a link that attaches a virus or malware to your computer.

This clip from an internet post explains it better than I can.

Attachment 89988

I am now using care when clearing all the trash from my email. And because of my naivete on the subject, I have a lot of trash.

My intention in this post is to help others. If it's not helpful, I will be able to tell by the responses and will take it down.

If anyone finds it helpful, or has other advice, I am grateful.

I found it helpful. Thanks.

Never ever ever click a link in an Email. Even an unsubscribe link.

Go to the website yourself by typing in the URL in your web browser and find the unsubscribe button there.

If you can not find the Unsubscribe option on the web site, then identify the email as "Junk" and let your email client move it into the trash (or junk folder) for you automatically, so you never see it again. I know gmail and apple mail have this option, I don't know if windows mail does.

In my email I can hover the mouse over the email subject and the full sender email will display - If/when I do not recognize that address I block it and my email client sends it to the junk file.

Absolutely true and NEVER post your "PRIMARY" email online in Forums ESPECIALLY as your user name. I see so many users using their email as a username here. I cringe whenever I see that. SpamBots harvest every email they see and find. I have 5 different emails other than my "primary" for various uses. Easy enough with GMAIL accounts. If you have a GMAIL account you can even turn 1 account into unlimited different ones. jiohnsmith, john.smith, jo.hnsmith and every other combinationcan all be used with your existing email to help "track" where a lot spam starts from.

Sad part is that with every company that gets hacked (and there are a lot more than one might imagine), your email gets out as well. Not much can be done to stop it completely.

When you get an email you are no longer interested in receiving from the sender(s), just hit spam button on your email and it will go directly for any more sent from that sender.

true and not true. I have successfully unsubscribed to many, many emails from companies. If you put your cursor on the senders name you can find out if it's from the said company. the scammers/spammers will usually have some weird or non-associated address that pops up when you do this.

many of you are getting these emails because you click on ads when you visit websites(yes even ones you trust). Only go to websites that you know are legit. you also can google/bing any supposed website and find out if it's legit.

That can be "spoofed", so not trust it.

Great in theory but rarely in practice. Most junk spammers change their email on an hourly basis and nothing you can do to stop it. Just like the spam cell calls from spoofed phone numbers, You can block them all you want but every call you get will be from a new number (unless it is a family member !!!!).

thanks for posting

Hopefully when some sites sending me junk do not get a response they will move on and bother others.

I am far from an expert but, I have a second e-mail that I use when I need to receive stuff like an order confirmation. I know to look there for the confirmation. All these people CLAIM they do not sell your e-mail. It is amusing to see that they do. I clean that e-mail out every few months.

Years ago, I received e-mails from god. I would figure god would contact me direct oh and wouldn't be requesting a check.

You can block senders.

Thanks for the info.

You can block senders only if they always use the same address. They don't. "Professional" spam companies who send millions of emails a DAY (yes, DAY) use fake or spoofed addresses so blocking them is as meaningless as blocking spam cell phone calls because they spoof their addresses and rarely ever use the same one twice ..... although not sure I'd ever want to block GOD because I'm sure s/he could get even with you. ;)

Unsubscribe brings additional issues
 

Thank you for the warning. Either way, it appears, subscribe or unsubscribe can bring additional issues.

Thanks