The Truth Behind Spam

Spam is an issue inside inboxes everywhere, and now it's spreading to smartphones in the form of text messages. About 70 percent of all email worldwide is spam, and pressing unsubscribe is the last thing you want to do.

A decade ago, security expert Marc Maiffret was featured on MTV'sTrue Life: I'm a Hacker. These days while he's still commanding code, he's using his knowledge for good.

"Yesterday I was breaking into one of the largest utility companies on the West Coast, only difference is I'm getting paid a lot of money and its legal to do it," said Maiffret.

While companies are concerned about viruses and data leaks, spam is an issue we face on a daily basis.

Marc said, "Its a pretty major problem. It's definitely one of the more lucrative areas of cyber crimes in general".

While clicking unsuscribe at the end of a legitimate company's email, like Amazon, will take you off of their list, it won't when it comes to those Viagra ads.

"I mean, pretty much clicking on anything in a spam email, especially unsubscribe, its one of those shady things. You think you're doing the right thing saying 'Hey please stop' but the reality of it is, typically you're just saying 'hey please amplify and spam and come at me even more'," Maiffret explained.

"That's one of the kind of traps you can fall into, where that actually lets them know that you are an alive, active person and then they're really going to start spamming you and communiating to you even more," said Maiffret.

Increasingly, spam is also reaching our phones in the form of texts enticing us to test new Apple products or nab a free gift card.

Marc explained, "theyre trying to get you to click on the link, which then just takes you to even more stuff, which then again can be gathering even more information and just kind of harvesting information about you. The most important thing is just don't click on anything in a spam email or text. You might be curious to say 'ah maybe I really did win', you didn't, get over it".

If you're looking to block and report the spammy texts, there's an app called Mr. Number available for Android.