How to Handle Emails You Didn’t Sign Up For Without Unsubscribing

Dealing with unwanted emails is a common challenge, but how you respond can expose you to risks. Clicking on an unsubscribe link may seem like the right move, yet it can potentially lead you to phishing or harmful websites.

For many years, it was recommended to opt out of email lists—even those that were unsolicited—believing that your information would reach recognized businesses that would comply with your requests. However, today, many scammers rely on these email lists to extract sensitive information from unsuspecting users.

Often, phishers use these links to confirm the validity of your email address or to determine if you engage with spam. By doing so, they can create a profile of you, which they might use to orchestrate sophisticated scams through social engineering tactics.

Moreover, malicious unsubscribe links might be designed to harvest your data, often through phishing schemes aimed at capturing login credentials. (If a site requests your password to unsubscribe, close that tab immediately!) Although less common, malware downloads could also occur, as highlighted by experts in a recent Wall Street Journal article.

The same article revealed that about one in every 644 clicks on unsubscribe links leads to questionable websites. Given this, what should you do instead of risking your security by clicking? Here are three safer alternatives:

1. If you recognize the site as a legitimate entity, open a new browser tab, search for the site’s unsubscribe page, or log into your account and check the “Manage communications preferences” section in your settings.
2. Report the email as spam. You can also block the sender if it’s evidently junk mail.
3. Set up a filter that automatically deletes any emails containing specific subject lines or styles that annoy you. For instance, if you often receive messages with subject lines like “Get 50% off specialty items!”, filtering by this phrase can help maintain a clutter-free inbox.

In addition to being cautious about unsubscribe links, ensure your antivirus software is current. This will provide an extra layer of defense if you accidentally engage with a dubious email that turns out to be harmful.