What's spam? And what it isn't?
Like the junk mail that comes through your letterbox, spam is worthless information that you haven't asked to receive. You should however never "unsubscribe" from a spam email as this only confirms your email address is valid and you'll get even more spam.
Spammers send messages all over the internet from loads of different addresses, and they often "spoof" these addresses to hide who sent them and trick you into thinking they may be from a reliable source.
What isn't spam is an email you might get from a good company you have dealt with, like a utility company or store. Although you might not want it, it's legitimate marketing information and it should come with an "unsubscribe" option so you can remove yourself from the distribution list.
What's Phishing?
Phishing is a type of online identity theft. Scammers use messages designed to look as if they're from a genuine company to try and trick you into giving out private information like your BT ID username and password, or even your bank details.
What's Spoofing?
Spoofing is a technique used by spammers where an email is sent with a forged "From" address, in this case yours. With spoofing, emails are made to look as if they come from you, when in fact they don't.
This often happens when your account has been compromised. The spammer may have stolen your contacts and then sent emails to them by forging the sending address to look as if it's come from you.
Unfortunately, spoofing isn't something that can be stopped. Your best protection against spoofing and spam is to protect your email address:
- Be particularly security-aware if you use a public or shared computer
- Remember, each time you exit your email, you should sign out completely by clicking the Sign Out link at the top of the page. This means anyone using the computer next won't be able to access your account
- Email accounts are now regularly compromised by people checking emails on smartphones using unsecured wi-fi networks. The phone keeps your account information. Each time you log in, the username and password are sent. This lets anyone using the open network see your information.
- If you believe that your account has been spoofed, the best option is to create a new email address (sub-account) within your existing email account. You can then tell your contacts to use that email address instead of your old one. Unfortunately, deleting the old email address won't stop the spoofing on that account. So, you should also tell your contacts that any email they get from the old address will be fake and should be deleted.
For help with other email security issues, please send us an email to abuse@bt.com with all the details.
Read more about staying safe online