I heard a discussion on spam emails the other day which suggested that spam emails should be marked as such and moved to the spam folder. I use Thunderbird and it can be set up to do that. The spam folder is then emptied periodically. The reason for this is that it generally trains the system to recognise spam.

I also have a strategy in that I use an email address that I can cancel at any time. If I start getting too much spam I check to make sure that I have not used it for accounts that I wish to keep, in which case I log in and change the email address to the a new account, I then archive emails I wish to keep locally, and then delete the account.

For friends and family plus a few trusted on-line accounts, such as my bank, I use an email address that I don't use for any other purpose. For at least 35 years I have had my own domain and this gives me more control over my emails. Even so I have changed that "private" email address on a few occasions over the years. I keep both email addresses active for a period and advise genuine contacts of the change.

At the moment I get practically no spam or scam and I do have some filters in place that automatically delete some emails with particular key words.

My main issue at the moment is with spam telephone calls using spoofed caller numbers. It is high time that the telecom providers block spoofed numbers from making calls. We, in Italy, have the option of registering our phone numbers with the Register of Opposition (to unsolicited calls). It is Illegal for call centres to call us but they don't give a damn about the law and we get several calls a day. Because they are using spoofed numbers they are almost impossible to identify so the law is almost impossible to enforce. I have completely blocked all numbers from a certain service provider in Switzerland because of continual robot calls from various numbers all starting with the same prefix. If one of our few Swiss friends ever changes to that company and tries to call they will just have to find another way to contact us. On our mobile phones we also use an app Hiya which does help a lot and allows you to report spam calls thereby helping to block them for other people.

Apparently some action has been taken in the UK to block international spoofed calls, https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and...ating-cli-guidance-to-tackle-scam-calls/ , but personally I don't think this is enough and all, except legitimate use, spoofed calls should be blocked.

Peter

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