It may seem logical to report a scammers email address
But is it really the best thing to do?
Indignant over the scam email you have received? Want to get your own back by reporting it to the email provider? Think again!
Does that seem odd?
Why shouldn’t you have his email account closed? Well, there are some compelling and little-known reasons why you should not do it.
1. Scammers’ email addresses are often posted on anti-scam websites (eg, www.scamwarners.com ). This means that should an unknowing Scam Victim become suspicious and search for the Scammer’s details or email contents online, they will land on a page on the anti-scam website revealing the Scammer’s true intentions.
2. Victims of a Scammer may find support on the anti-scam website, share their experiences with other Victims, and learn how to protect themselves in the future. This often leads to other, unknown Victims coming forward and disclosing that they too have traced their Scammer’s email address to the anti-scam site and that they too, have been scammed.
3. Here is a classic example: one recipient – and prospective victim – of a scam email had the presence of mind to post the Scammer’s details on an anti-scam site and before you knew it, there were hundreds of replies, many from other members of the public who had received the suspicious email and traced it back to the anti-scam site: Scamwarners.com Just scroll through the ScamWarners Forums and you will find thousands of posts from Victims, who have each landed there from an internet search for their Scammer’s details.
4. Closing the email address is unlikely to affect any of the Scammer’s other ongoing scams. He/she will undoubtedly be keeping a separate record of his Victims’ details, often by sending hidden ‘Bcc’ copies of his outgoing emails to a separate account.
So, think twice about reporting that email address. It could do much more harm than good.