Get the fast facts about Junk Mail, and learn why you should take it seriously.
Legislation passed by Congress in 2000, and signed into law by
the President, permits banks and other financial institutions to share and sell your financial data, including your Social Security number, to marketing companies.
In the same year a Federal law, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act5,
was passed that allows consumers and customers to have the right to opt out of - or say no to - having their information shared with certain third parties. But in many
cases, the notice (required by law) that customers can "opt-out” of allowing their bank or institution to share their Social Security number and other financial data with
mailing list companies and marketing firms is often tucked away amongst the junk ads that often accompany bank statement mailings.6
- Theft, including lost or stolen wallet or pocket book or theft of a victims mail, was the most commonly mentioned way of obtaining a Identity Theft Victims personal Information. Approximately 25 percent of ID Theft victims reported that their information was obtained through such theft.1
- 4% of all Identity Theft Victims cited stolen mail as the source of the information – 3% of those who suffered the “Misuse of Existing Credit Cards or Card Numbers,” 7% of those who suffered “New Accounts & Other Frauds".1
- Among the different types of unsolicited credit products that you receive in your mail box that pose a threat of getting your Identity stolen, convenience checks and activated cards pose great potential opportunities for thieves.
- Convenience Checks pose a threatening opportunity to Identity Thieves because:2
- They come unsolicited.
- They do not come at predictable cycles so that consumers can watch for checks in the mail and take action if the check does not arrive.
- They do not require activation.
- They give consumers no opportunity to opt-out of receiving the checks as with pre-approved credit card offers.
- They include information necessary to not only cash a single check but, when combined with their personal information, to establish still other accounts in the victim's name.
- 100,000,000,000 pieces of mail account for 30% of all the mail delivered in the U.S. each year.3
- The Do Not Call Registry has put a stop to telemarketing, a
Do Not Mail Registry
desperately needs to be created:
- In the Zogby International poll, 93% of respondents were aware of the Do Not Call Registry and 89% of them supported a Do Not Mail Registry to make it easier to opt out of unsolicited ad mail.4
- For more information on the Do Not Mail Campaign,
please visit
http://forestethics.org and sign the
petition.
Eliminate Junk Mail - A Opt Out Guide
EliminateIDTheft has put together a Opt Out Guide to assist you in Eliminating Junk Mail, and most importantly, Eliminating the threat of Identity Theft from stolen mail.
- Sign up for the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) Mail Preference System - DMA is the largest mailing list in the country and a majority of the marketing companies use them. There are currently three ways to opt out from the DMA.
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- Send your name and address to:
Mail Preference Service
PO Box 643
Carmel, NY 10512
*The DMA charges one dollar for the the mail in service, so make sure to include a check or money order in the amount of one dollar.
- You can call the DMA at:
1-888-690-2252
- You can fill in a online form on their website: DMA Mail Preference System - Opt Out Form
- Opting Out using the online DMA form is free of charge
- The online form does require the submission of a credit card, though they do not make any charges on the card. For them, this is a way to confirm who you say you are, but more than likely it is a
deterrent to keep you from opting out from the mailing list. Never the less, they are a legit company, and the process is legit, but if you fee more comfortable, you can use the other two
methods of opting out.
- If you do not wish to be removed from all mailing lists, using the online form, you can choose which lists you want to be removed from and which ones you would like to stay part of.
- Opt Out from Credit Card offers and other Bank or Broker institutions mailing lists.
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- To opt out from Credit Card Offers, just call:
1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688)
- The number connects you to a 24 hour recorded message. You will need to provide your full name, address, telephone number and social security number.
- When given the option, you can have your name removed permanently, or for five years.
- To request a opt out from credit card, mortgage, and insurance companies, you can try using their online form at
www.optoutprescreen.com
- Most transactions with mail order catalogs are compiled by Abacus Direct Corporation.
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To opt out of the Abacus Direct database, use one of the following methods:
- Email abacusoptout@epsilon.com and include the following information:
- Full name (including middle initial)
- Current Address
- Previous address if you have been at your current address fewer than six months.
- Mail the previous information to:
Epsilon Data Services
P.O. Box 1478
Broomfield, CO 80038
- You can call them at:
1-888-780-3869
- Reduce the number of Occupant or Current Resident addressed items by opting out from Valassis formerly known as Advo.
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- The most effective way to do this is to call their toll-free number 1-888-241-6760.
- You can also fill in their online form at: http://www.advo.com
- You can also fill in the above online form and instead of
submitting it online, you have the option to mail the form in.
- Donnelley Marketing (owned by InfoUSA), a very large Mailing List, Direct Mail, and Email Campaign marketing group that derives most of their consumer lists from government records, phone books, membership rosters and other sources.
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Call them at:
1-800-321-0869
- To opt out of other types of unsolicited junk mail
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- Valpak coupon system (the blue envelope full of third sheet advertisements):
- Call the Houston office at:
1-713-849-4477
- Fill in the online form: http://www.coxtarget.com
- Publisher's Clearinghouse:
- Call them at:
1-800-645-9242
- Email them at:
service@pchmail.com
- American Family Sweepstakes:
Call them at:
1-800-237-2400
- Pennysaver or Potpurri:
Call them at:
1-800-422-4116
*Leave a detailed message with the full address, including ZIP code, as it appears on the mailer.
- Additional Tips
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- It may feel good to send back junk mail in prepaid envelopes and even right delete or something else stating that you want to be removed from their mailing list. It is far more effective to use the opt out procedures. Plus there is a good chance
that the sender either rented or bought a one time mailing list under the condition that if they receive ANY response, that the listing becomes theirs, and they will not remove you from their marketing campaigns because the request did not come from the correct opt out procedures.
- When you opt out from any mailing list or organization, you may be told that it will take a couple of mailing cycles for you to be removed. Just be patient, it usually takes what ever time you are told for you to stop receiving the junk mail.
- If you move, do not fill in the Postal Change of Address Permanent Form, rather, fill in the temporary 10 month form. This should give you plenty of time to contact everyone that needs to know your address, and addresses that are on the temporary form are not given to marketing companies.
- When you order new checks, instead of having them delivered to your home, pick them up from your bank.
- In most cases, Warranty Cards are a ploy a company uses to gather additional information about. Almost all products are under warranty whether you fill in the card or not.
But if you don't fill them out, you may not get any recall notice that may be sent out for your item. So when you fill in the card, only fill in the bare essentials (they do not need to know how much money you make, or how many kids you have!)
Then somewhere on the card, write that you no not want to be placed on any type of mailing list, and you do not want your information to sold or given to any other company. If there is any type of opt out box, make sure that you mark it.
- Contact your phone company and have your address removed from the listing, most phone companies do this free of charge.
Eliminate Spam
Unsolicited commercial email - also known as "spam" - can be very annoying and time consuming and can pose a threat with malicious activity. The United States has done little to help with the ongoing issues we have with spam,
so we are left to handle it on our own. Because of this, there are
numerous companies out there that are willing to take our money but can do very little with the ever changing
tactics of the spamming society. EliminateIDTheft has put together a Best Practice Guide to help educate you about spam, and assist you in taking back your inbox.
The United States "attempt" to help control Spam
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The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) establishes requirements for those who send commercial email, spells out penalties for spammers and companies whose products are advertised in spam if they violate the law, and gives consumers the right to ask emailers
to stop spamming them.7 This law went into effect Jan. 1st, 2004. Though the intentions of the United States Government was to help with
the issue of spam, they had inadvertently made spam legal and even made it easier for spammers that do not abide by the Can-Spam Act.
One of the many components of the Can-Spam Act is the opt out link to be contained in commercial email. The major problem with
the opt out link is that almost all unsolicited email are from spammers that do not abide by the Can-Spam Act.
If the spam you received did come from a commercial source that abided by the Can-Spam Act, you would have to have opted in.
Unsolicited spammers send out anywhere from one million to ten million emails a day, and they are unsure of whether or not the email they sent to is an actual live email. When a person clicks on the opt out link in the email,
they are actually sending back a message to the sender that they hit a live email.
The Unsolicited spammer usually respond with an onslaught of
unsolicited email, and to add to injury, will take your
email address and sell it as a premium, verified address, to
other unsolicited spammers.
One of the positives of the Can-Spam Act, is that there is venue for consumers to turn in spammers that do not abide by the rules and regulations set
fourth by the law. You can contact the FTC by:
Fill in an online form:
http://www.ftc.gov
Or call them at: 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357)
You can also forward the unsolicited email to:
spam@uce.gov
Spam Unsubscribe Services do not work
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Of the very few opt out programs out there, the main one is the eMPS (electronic mail preference system), placed into existence by the DMA (Direct Mail
Association). SpamHaus, the leading anti spam origination out there states this about the eMPS,
"[We know] of no U.S. firm using the DMA's eMPS service that isn't
automatically by definition a firm sending spam, since the sole reason for users to need to opt-out of bulk email advertising they did not opt-in to is because the sender is sending without consent,
i.e.: any DMA member that is using eMPS is using it because he is sending Unsolicited Bulk Email,
i.e.: Spam."8
Other facts about Unsubscribe Services8
- For-a-fee Unsubscribe Lists are operated by con men. Any system that charges money for 'removing' your address from spammers' lists, is a scam.
- No legitimate company will use a third party unsubscribe list, because no legitimate company will send unsolicited email.
Preventive Action
Here are some suggestions that you can use to keep your name off of the unsolicited spammers mailing lists:
- Maintain three email addresses, Personal, Business, and a Disposable free one. | Read | Close |
- Personal: Use this email address for friends, family, banking, and paying your bills. Never use for purchasing online, or filling in any kind of form, unless you are very confidant that the company will not sell your email address.
- Business: Use this email for business purposes only. Do not have any email sent to this mailbox that may contain personal data (i.e. for paying utilities and other bills). Never use for purchasing online, or filling in any kind of form, unless you are very confidant that the company will not sell your email address.
- Disposable: Sign up for a free email address, and have it forwarded to your Personal, Business or both. This way if you do start receiving a ton of spam, you can always disable the email address and create a new one. Use this email address for everything that does not include your direct personal or business life.
Here is a list of free email addresses that you can sign up for:
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What ever you do, do not publish your Personal and Business email address online. There are a slew of spiders and bots that scour the internet for email addresses. If you find the need to place your email address online, try one these simple steps:
- Use your Disposable email address.
- Encode your email address so that human eyes and distinguish it, but computers will have a hard time knowing that it is a email address. For example: "yourname*AT*domainname*DOT*COM"
- Spam that you are currently receiving.
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What you do with the spam that you already receive can make a huge difference in the potential spam you receive in the future. Most unsolicited spammers do not know whether or not they are emailing to an actual email account,
and one they get any indication that the email address is real your email address will be sold as a "confirmed email address" on mailing lists around the world. Following the basic guidelines below will help
alleviate the potential spam you will receive in the future.
- Do not open unsolicited spam!
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One form a unsolicited spammer utilizes is the pixel method. They place a picture the size of a pixel (so small you cant see it) in the email.
Once the email is opened, the email client will download this pixel picture from the spammers server and this will confirm to the spammer that the email address is real.
- Ignore BackScatter - Delivery failures of emails that you did not author.
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BackScatter is the result of unsolicited spammers and viruses masking their "sent from" address as yours. If you are only receiving a few BackScatter here and there, ignore them, delete them. There is very little that can be done when your email address has been used in this fashion.
But sometimes BackScatter can get very annoying if you start receiving tens of thousands of delivery failure notices. If this starts happening to you, run a thorough Virus scan to ensure the emails are not originating from your computer, and if this result shows that you are clean, you may want to follow the steps created by
www.spamcops.net.
- Buyer Beware!
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Never buy anything from a link in an email. Not only do you have the potential of falling into a scam, but you are also letting unsolicited spammers know they located an active email address.
if you feel that the email is legitimate and you wish to
pursue the offer, directly visit their website. Almost all offers that come from legitimate companies are also
available on their website.
- Masked Scams
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You probably receive on occasion emails that appear to be from your bank, a bank that you do not use, PayPal,
EBay, Microsoft, and the list goes on and on. Pay real close attention to these emails, especially if you are asked to
perform any tasks. And if you are asked to perform a task, odds are this is a spam or a scam. Follow the guidelines below to assist you in knowing what is real and what is not.
- Legitimate companies will always use your name or username in the subject line and body of the email.
If the email does not contain your name or username, but contains something like "Dear PayPal User", the email is a scam and should be deleted right away.
- Ignore emails form banks and institutions that you are not affiliated with.
The unsolicited spammer is targeting and trying to trick anyone that is affiliated with the company the spam is trying to imitate. Since you are not affiliated with these banks or institutions, you already know that this is a fake email and delete it right away.
- Be aware of emails asking you to perform tasks.
Legitimate companies have long learned to not instruct their clients to perform tasks in emails, but rather post the information on their website. Here are a few tips to remember when an email asks you to perform a task:
- Legitimate companies will never request your username and especially your password in an email.
- Microsoft or Anti Virus companies will never ask you to perform changes to your computer through an email.
- Legitimate companies will never ask you to update your personal information in an email. If an update is needed, this will be asked from you as you log into the their website.
- Legitimate companies will never include an attachment for you to look at. A big example of this, is fake messages from shipping companies like the USPS or UPS that state the package you mailed was not delivered, and the email asks you to open the attachment for the tracking number.
- Emails that fit the profile listed above, a lot of times instruct you to click on a link within the email. The link looks like a link to the legitimate company that the email is trying to mask, but instead, it redirects you to an internet page that more than likely contains some type of trojan or virus.
If you believe that the email you received is a real email, you best option is to not click on the link, but
rather go to their website, login, and perform the task asked of you.
A good rule of thumb when receiving emails that ask you to perform tasks, is to ignore the email, and login to their website, any instructions that are contained in the email, are usually listed on the website itself. If you can find no information on the
website that resembles the task asked of you, contact the companies support team to further investigate.
- No one will ever give you money for performing tasks asked of you through an email!
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One of the biggest scams performed through email is offering money for your assistance. Do not fall for this scam, no one will ever send you money for your assistance. The scam usually includes elements of a foreign diplomat or royalty trying to move money from
one country to another, and needs someone in the US to proxy the money for them. You are usually asked to send personal information or some kind of check to show that you are trust worthy to perform the task.
The scam can very, a lot, just keep in mind that no legitimate person will ever hand over money to someone that they do not know. Simply delete the email and forget about it.
- There are no "to good to be true" software prices sent through email.
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Ignore emails that give you opportunity to buy software at a drastically lower price than retail. They are not legitimate vendors and are selling illegally licensed software, like OEM software that was created by the manufacturer to sell with hardware.
Most major software companies have vendors that sell their software for them, and they have a list of these vendors on their website. Smaller software companies that sell their own software will have the same advertised deal on their website that you read in an email, so if the offer is a real valid offer
you are able to purchase the software from their website. The dangers in buying pirated or unlicensed OEM version of the software is that the software manufacturer will not uphold the activation of software that was purchased
illegitimately, even if the buyer was unaware, and you are stuck paying for software that you are unable to use.
- Do not "unsubscribe" from unsolicited spam.
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Unsolicited Spammers will often portray themselves as following the laws and regulations of the Can-Spam Act. The spam that you receive usually contains a
unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email, but they do not use it for its intended purpose. For one, you would have never received the unsolicited spam, if the spammer was actually following the laws and
regulations. Instead, the spammer prays on the unsuspecting user that follows the rules like they are suppose to. The unsolicited spammer places
the link as a way to "confirm" they have reached a actual live email address. By "unsubscribing" from the unsolicited spam, you are in putting yourself at great risk of receiving more spam than you would like to have.
- Avoid Chain Letters
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Avoid chain letters all together, especially if they involve the exchange of money or valuables. Whether a chain letter that involves exchange of money is conducted through postal mail or email, it is illegal. If you have been victimized by a
chain letter, you can forward the email and the specifics of your transaction to:
spam@uce.gov.
For more information on chain letters:
http://www.ftc.gov
- Do not open, respond, or click on links pertaining to "Adult Entertainment"!
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You may receive email from an Adult Entertainment site from time to time claiming free content with no credit card needed. In most cases, when you get to the
site, you have to download a "special" viewer or dialer to see the content. The "special" viewers contain programs that can
immediately disconnect your internet connections and dial a long distance phone charging you a couple of dollars a minute and up for the connection. There is also a
good chance that the program installs trojans, viruses, and malware, that can be very difficult to remove.
