# Who benefits from Spam email? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 12, 2004, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-benefits-from-spam-email/233878 "2004-03-12T12:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jtsongas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/59ef9b/32.png) [@jtsongas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtsongas)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-benefits-from-spam-email/233878/1 "2004-03-12T12:19:22Z")
All: Okay folks, this question has bothered me for years. Who benefits from all this spam we receive daily? I receive dozens per day and can find no reason why anyone would want to send them out. The latest trend are for emails regarding online medication purchases. Prior to this trend were the emails regarding enlarging my “member”. Prior to that was a trend of enlarging my breast size, which seems of little value as a man. And before that was two or three months of emails regarding taking a second mortgage on my home. Now, I can understand that from an advertising standpoint some people may click on some of the links but do people who want to refinance their home really consider going about it though spam emails? I created an email account with hotmail strictly in an effort to look at this question. The address was posted all over the place and the spam started to roll in. I was not concerned about clicking on links or replying to emails as the account was strictly for this purpose and would at some point be deleted. A large number of the emails contain links which do not work at all. So what is the point of these emails? I just don’t get it, I receive an email promising to enlarge my breasts and the links in the email don’t even work. Where is the profit in this sort of spam? At first I thought perhaps they were old emails but have since tried linking to sites within minutes of receiving the emails, but still no luck. I would love to hear some ideas as to why people would want to send out spam which links to nothing and allows them to sell nothing. Thank you, Jayson Florina, Greece ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-benefits-from-spam-email/233878/2 "2004-03-12T12:21:44Z")
Each click to the website earns money to the spammer. If they send it out to 100 million people, and only one in 100,000 clicks, that’s 1,000 clicks to their credit. Do that enough times, you make some coin. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-benefits-from-spam-email/233878/3 "2004-03-12T13:30:27Z")
Believe it or not, there _are_ people who purchase products from spammers (or, at least, send them their money). If you send out a millions spams and get ten requests, you may be making a profit on it. In addition, spammers make money selling their mailing lists. Sending the spam is just how they make sure your address is valid, then they sell the valid names. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-benefits-from-spam-email/233878/4 "2004-03-12T14:07:39Z")
The NYTimes Sunday magazine had an article about this earlier this year. They claimed that maybe 1 in 10,000 replies and that is enough for it to be profitable. But I think the real money lies in selling mailing lists and that the main victims of spam are the spammers who buy these lists, hoping to make a killing. I have recently received a number of spams consisting of nothing but a list of words, mostly rather esoteric. Perhaps these are sent in the hopes that it will reveal whether my address is valid. My spam filter was filtering approximately 150 pieces each day, until I stopped monitoring them and had them automatically discarded. Still, a dozen or so get through each day. Incidentally, the NYTimes article claimed that some huge percentage of the spam originated from an estimated 200 people! ---
**Author:** ![jtsongas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/59ef9b/32.png) [@jtsongas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtsongas)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-benefits-from-spam-email/233878/5 "2004-03-13T06:16:18Z")
If it’s true that the spam originators are only about 200, lets find them and round them up. Surely they are each at least due for a good swift kick in the balls, if not two. ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-benefits-from-spam-email/233878/6 "2004-03-13T07:11:59Z")
The reason the links don’t work is that the Lumber Cartel (TINLC) goes about with its mallet, whamming spammers, turning them in to the ISPs whose Terms of Service they have usually violated, and getting their accounts shut down. If the BOFH’s are on their toes, this can happen within a few minutes of the start of a spam run.