There are so many bogus emails flying around the Internet today that one has to be very suspicious about everyone and everything. One trick I like to use is to have a “through-away” email address that I can use for browsing the net and checking out new web services. It is quite normal today to be required to enter an email address when signing up for some new “free” service.

    You will find that this type of request is a classic method of harvesting email addresses for spamming efforts. If you get yourself a free email address at Hotmail or Yahoo, you can then use that free email address ‘freely” around the Internet. Don’t use it for anything except registering things on the internet. Once that email address starts to collect spam, delete it and get a new through-away address.