Same for Nigerians seeking to transfer millions of dollars to me (if I give them my bank account number).
I haven’t gotten one of these in a year, after often getting several a day. I assume that the spammers realized that the return per period of time — the price of the activity — was less than its marginal cost: the opportunity cost of their time. They have shut down the business and moved to other activities that might yield higher returns.
Economists proposed taxes on mass emailing, but the market seems to have solved the problem. Spam still exists, though; the latest is the email saying I’m the nearest surviving relative of XX [pick some first name] Hamermesh, and if I would just send my bank details to a particular large South African bank, they will wire my inheritance.
and 
. You can also watch it on 
May be time to do some research before posting.
There are plenty of those hitting my server every hour… spam filters are just getting more clever and just filtering them out better.
Considering they mostly use botnets and infected servers, costs are pretty low to send out a few billion emails. Even those costs are likely covered by stolen credit cards.
This morning, the first viagra spam to make it through the filter in a very long time hit. A quick look at my spam folder shows viagra in the top spot, followed by “male enhancement” and weight loss.
The credit should go to spam filters. Talk to the administrators of your email system – I’m sure they can get you a report. My guess is that over 90% of all email is removed by the spam filters. And considering the small amount of false-positives (legit email getting blocked as spam) I’d say these filters are working quite well.
I get plenty of this stuff. Filter in gmail takes care of most of it.
Just checked my gmail spam folder and am getting plenty of these. “A fabulous instrument will give you a fabulous reputation” says one of them. Good to know.
7 Viagra offers since midnight last night, along with a few other prescription drug possibilities. gmail automatically deletes items from your spam folder after 30 days and mine currently contains 492 items–that’s an average of upwards of 16 per day, not counting those items that slip through the filter.
My spammers must have a lower opportunity cost of their time than your spammers, as I have no shortage of bank presidents, fabuloulsy rich widows, and foreign dignitaries offering me millions of dollars just to hold onto their money for them for a few weeks.
I think Daniel is saying Spam still exists but that the subject matter has changed. i already got my “operation’ and closed the deal with my 3rd cousin in Nigeria. That’s the reason I thought I wasn’t getting anymore spam…
