Goal number one of spammers is to get you to read their e-mail. If they think you don’t read it — or don’t even receive it — they may not sell or pass your e-mail address on to other spammers. That why you should never, ever respond to a spam e-mail message. If you lose your cool and fire back an angry message, your e-mail address is confirmed, and you will cement your place on perhaps dozens of other spam senders’ lists.
Not only should you not respond to a spam e-mail message; you shouldn’t even look at one. That’s because many spam messages today contain graphics — sometimes invisible — that signal to the spammer that your e-mail address is valid. These graphics are commonly known as “beacons.” All you have to do is open or even preview a message containing a beacon in order for your e-mail address to be identified as active.
Beacons can only work, however, if your e-mail program is set up to show all embedded graphics. If you turn off the ability of e-mail messages to display embedded graphics, you’re safe against the threat of beacons. The latest versions of Outlook and some other popular e-mail programs come with graphics turned off by default. If your e-mail program displays graphics in messages, you can probably turn them off by looking in the Options menu, usually under Security.
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