Prevent Spam -- Prevent Identity Theft

Every year there are an estimated 40 trillion spam emails delivered. No, not just to you, although it sometimes feels that way. These trillions of emails aren't sent just to annoy or sell you things you aren't interested in.

Unfortunately, they're a lot more sinister than that. Spam used by identity thieves are loaded with malware. Malware can take over your computer and capture your information and steal your identity.

Preventing identity theft isn't impossible, it just takes effort and staying informed. Follow these 5 tips to avoid spam and learn to prevent identity theft.

Tip #1 -- Don't open any email if you don't recognize the sender

This sounds like a no-brainer, but you know how it is. Sometimes you're just curious. Resist the urge -- click "delete."

Tip #2 -- Don't click on the links in spam email messages

Spammers have multiple pages on their sites and can track whether or not you opened the spam email.

Tip #3 -- If you're a website owner, disguise your email address

Never put your address in plain text on your site. Spiders that crawl sites scrape email addresses and send you spam. Trick the spiders by changing you email. Instead of john.doe@gmail.com, type it as John Doe At Gmail Dot Com. Crawlers cannot identify email addresses like this.

Tip #4 -- You know those emails you get that tell you to pass it on to "the 10 people who are special in your life"?

This is one way spammers harvest email addresses. Don't pass these on to anyone.

Tip #5 -- Use a "junk" email address every time you join a group, chatroom or register for something on the internet

You can get an unlimited number of free mail addresses from Gmail or Yahoo and it saves you from having your email address scraped by crawlers.

Learning how to prevent identity theft is an ongoing process. Many people aren't aware that spam is more than just an annoyance. Begin looking at spam in a new light. Prevent spam and prevent identity theft at the same time.