How Spammers Find You

The Speed at Which Spam Spreads

How effective are spammers in harvesting email addresses from public locations? According to an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission and several law enforcement agencies, they are remarkably efficient. The commission and agencies posted 250 fresh, new email addresses in 175 locations on the Internet to see how much spam each received. The addresses were posted on web pages, dating services, chat rooms, message boards, Usenet newsgroups, and other locations. In the six weeks after posting, the addresses had received 3,349 pieces of spam. Eighty six percent of addresses posted to web pages drew spam, and an equal percent of addresses posted on newsgroups drew spam. Chat rooms were possibly the biggest spam magnets of all. One address used in a chat room received spam a mere 9 minutes after it was first posted.