Paging Dr. Spam-Free!
Answering Your Embarrassing Questions About Spam
Question #1.11: Why do spammers spam?
The Doc Explains: “CAN-SPAM”
Q: Dr. Spam-Free, why do people spam? Everyone hates them, they know it, and it’s evil. What keeps them going?
The Doctor Replies:
They do it for the money.
1. People buy from spam messages.
Every day, people click on those messages, visit the sites, and buy the crap.
Here’s the math: A spammer buys a list of 10,000,000 names for a hundred bucks, spends a few hundred more for email delivery. He mails the list out with some stupid offer. 9,999,500 people delete it and move on. But 500 idiots buy the product, or sign up for the web site. The spammer gets a nice commission for the order. He also may get a per-click fee, even if a sale isn’t made.
$25 x 500 responses – $500 costs = $12,000. Not bad for 30 minutes work. Repeat daily.
STOP CLICKING ON SPAMS! Just delete them.
2. Advertisers rent spam lists.
Another way spammers make money is by selling their lists to legitimate marketers. It’s usually a con-job, passing them off as clean lists and selling to unsuspecting marketers. This practice is doubly annoying because in this situation, the marketer is accused of being a spammer while the spammer gets all the money.
The lists are garbage, the advertiser only rents them once before discovering how dirty they are. But a spammer can resell the same list to a new advertiser.
Advertisers: Every time you rent an iffy list, or use a new unknown broker, you are keeping a spammer around for another month.
The Doc Explains: “CAN-SPAM”
CAN-SPAM is the first federal anti-spam law. It consolidates many state initiatives into one national standard. It’s still too early to tell how effective it will be, but there are already a few spammers in jail.