The meaning of spam, also known as junk information, refers to messages not requested or desired by the user, with an unknown sender, which are generally sent en masse to a large number of people.
The definition of spam should also include that these unwanted emails spread advertising content information. For them, spammers take care of acquiring databases with thousands of email addresses to get mass emails sent. They tend to hide and falsify the true origin of the messages, so that the sender is not known and because in many cases the basic objective of spam is deception and fraud.
Advertising messages that reach our email inbox are not always classified as spam. To be considered spam, it must meet the following conditions:
- Mass sending of messages to users who have not sued and who have not given their authorization.
- Inability to cancel subscription.
- Information that does not warn of the contents, that does not have a legal sender address or that violates morality.
Among the most frequent examples of spam are those messages that request false solidarity donations, economic scams, chain letters with attachments that imply the installation of a program that is harmful to the system.
Types of spam
Junk content is not transmitted solely through email. There are also other conducive platforms:
- Spam in forums: when a person posts the same content repeatedly to increase their presence in the forum, or when they write about topics that are not related to the discussion thread or do not add value to the discussion.
- Spam on blogs: the comments are not related to the information published and also include links to pages that advertise something.
- Spam in chat networks: reception of messages in real time with content that links to other sites.
- Spam on social networks: consists of sending advertising or job offers to users who have profiles on social networks when they have not sued.