Email spam, also known as junk email, is unsolicited bulk messages sent through email. Spammers use spambots to create email distribution lists. A spammer typically sends an email to millions of email addresses, with the expectation that only a small number will respond or interact with the message.

What happens when you spam an email?

When you mark a message as spam or phishing, its moved from your Inbox to your Spam folder. Messages from the same sender might be sent to Spam in the future.

How does spam email work?

How Spam Works. Spam is rarely sent directly by a company advertising itself. Its usually sent by a spammer, a company in the business of distributing unsolicited email. An advertiser enters into an agreement with a spammer, who generates email advertisements to a group of unsuspecting recipients.

How spammers get your email?

There are several common ways that spammers can get your email address: Crawling the web for the @ sign. Spammers and cybercriminals use sophisticated tools to scan the web and harvest email addresses. If you publicly post your email address online, a spammer will find it.

Is it illegal to spam email?

Whether a message is spam does not answer whether it is illegal. In fact, SPAM IS LEGAL in the United States. That is, whether your email is solicited or unsolicited, and whether it is highly targeted or not, have nothing to do with legality under U.S. law.

Can you go to jail for spamming someone?

That may be why you might wonder if sending spam is a crime -- or if there are anti-spam laws out there to protect you. There are. But most of the time, sending spam itself isnt a crime punishable by jail time.