Considerable increase in spam on my Gmail account!

Rich-Allen1976 · Post by **Rich-Allen1976** » 04 Jul 2023, 18:27

Above.

Not all of it gets caught by my spam filters.

Can I do anything?

I am aware of Google, Gmail is a Google service and my main email account.

LilMissLarBear · Post by **LilMissLarBear** » 04 Jul 2023, 19:09

Probably not much other than flag the said email for spam if it isnt caught already then future emails of the same address should get caught. Pretty sure you can block email addresses too. If you signed up to anything by accident that you not supposed to then I would unsubscribe from the mailing list too. First two options are probably safer in case said email is a phishing one and wants you to click on something- im sure you are already aware, it could lead to malicious stuff etc etc. Sometimes I even just ignore it or delete it. I ignore them because (and you can thank my studies for this bit) the email addresses can become like inactive but say if after a while you leave it but then suddenly click unsubscribe from mailing list or whatever it can make the email address active again and it wont actually take you off which is why I say take caution about unsubscribing.

In summary: block, flag as spam or ignore- unsubscribe with caution, probably best to use the other options

LilMissLarBear · Post by **LilMissLarBear** » 04 Jul 2023, 19:10

Apologies

you could have read that last line but I literally had part of my studies cover this kind of stuff and Im really into anything internet security

Beex · Post by **Beex** » 04 Jul 2023, 19:21

You must have gotten into a list somewhere.

I get legit emails put in the spam folder.

Rich-Allen1976 · Post by **Rich-Allen1976** » 04 Jul 2023, 19:43

LilMissLarBear wrote: ↑
04 Jul 2023, 19:10
Apologies you could have read that last line but I literally had part of my studies cover this kind of stuff and Im really into anything internet security

My brother does Internet security for a living and has taught me stuff, in general I know not to click any links that look even remotely dodgy.

You see, I might never win Mastermind but contrary to popular belief I'm not daft.

LilMissLarBear · Post by **LilMissLarBear** » 04 Jul 2023, 19:48

richardallen1976 wrote: ↑
04 Jul 2023, 19:43

LilMissLarBear wrote: ↑
04 Jul 2023, 19:10
Apologies you could have read that last line but I literally had part of my studies cover this kind of stuff and Im really into anything internet security

My brother does Internet security for a living and has taught me stuff, in general I know not to click any links that look even remotely dodgy.

You see, I might never win Mastermind but contrary to popular belief I'm not daft.

Regardless I hope my tips were useful

if you learned anything extra from it considering the passing down of your brother's expertise then thats a bonus

Post by **Ojisama** » 04 Jul 2023, 22:49

Sounds like your details have been sold on, maybe several times. Always read the "fine print" about protecting your details. Sometimes you have to opt out of an automatic sharing of your details. This can mean "checking" a box to opt out, or "Un-checking" a pre-checked box (very sneaky that one) to opt out.

Your details may have been leaked by a data breach. Go to haveibeenpwned.com to see if your address is on the list of leaked details.

Rich-Allen1976 · Post by **Rich-Allen1976** » 05 Jul 2023, 10:27

Ojisama wrote: ↑
04 Jul 2023, 22:49
haveibeenpwned.com

I just checked the link you posted.

Looks like I have indeed been pwned, but not recently, the last one was just over 2 and half years ago.

Post by **Ojisama** » 05 Jul 2023, 14:07

These lists of leaked details get passed around, so even if the breach was a couple of years ago, a bad actor may have just obtained them and is now spamming the hell out of the list in the hoped of getting a bite.

Oh, and I'm sure that you will have changed your password, but it doesn't hurt to change it again.