It’s becoming more and more difficult to send and receive 
information without running into obstacles.  I experienced this 
first hand a few weeks ago, when I inadvertently learned that my 
e-mail addressed had been “hijacked” by a spammer.  It was only 
when a message I hadn’t sent bounced back to my account that I 
was even aware this had happened.  So there is the obvious 
question – how many more people is this happening to?  The 
answer is – plenty.

E-mail fraud is easy to pull off.  Spammers use bulk mail 
programs that forge headers onto the e-mail message. Some of 
these programs combine the recipient’s account name or e-mail 
address with another domain name to make it appear more 
authentic.  The message seems to originate from the recipient’s 
own account, bypassing the filter. There are numerous variations 
on this activity to make it appear that the e-mail is coming 
from someone other than the true source.

Pretty disturbing stuff, huh?  It not only leaves one with a 
feeling of anger that this has happened, but also a feeling 
of helplessness to stop it.  It may also create a backlash as 
governments over-react with legislation geared to curb it. But 
the bottom line is greed and a lack of ethics on the part of 
the people who engage in this activity. 

If no one responded to spam, perhaps it would cease to exit.  
There would be no reason to send it.  Unfortunately, this isn’t 
the case.  With a response rate of one in 10,000, spammers are 
finding this activity immensely profitable – otherwise, they 
wouldn’t be doing it.  They are sending out millions and 
millions of unwanted advertisements daily, clogging our 
accounts and bandwidth.

There are legitimate ways to send out lots of e-mail quickly 
to opt-in accounts.  For writers, using a service such as the 
phantom writers ( http://www.thephantomwriters.com ) is easy, 
inexpensive, and safe.  For those sending out newsletters there 
may be a wave of new requirements to cut down on unsolicited 
postings.  It may also become more difficult to ensure that 
wanted publications are received, as spam blockers become more 
vigilant. Perhaps what’s needed is a messaging system that 
bypasses e-mail altogether. 

Used appropriately, e-mail is a great communication tool.  
However, the opportunity for abuse has turned it into 
something less attractive.