It might feel like it’s just happening to you, but some people really do get more spam calls, emails, and texts than others. Imagine your friend gets one fake email about a McAfee order, while you get three messages from princes in Africa, Sweden, Jordan, and Australia asking for money.
On top of that, you get texts about package tracking and calls about your car’s extended warranty. Why does this happen? It’s not just bad luck. You might be on what’s called a “sucker list.” Scammers use these lists to find people to target.
What is a scammers’ “sucker list”?
A sucker list is a collection of names, addresses, phone numbers, and other personal details that scammers, spammers, and dishonest telemarketers create, sell, and buy.
Scammers call people “suckers” if they’ve ever fallen for a trick. It doesn’t matter if you lost $10,000 in Bitcoin, answered a spam call, or even just replied to a spam email to unsubscribe. Once you do something that shows you can be tricked, scammers mark you as an easy target and put you on a list.
There isn’t just one sucker list; there are many, and they are often traded on the dark web. These lists can be very detailed. For example, scammers can buy information about people who are 80 years old, disabled, live alone, respond to messages, and play the Lottery.
How do you get on the “sucker list”?
Traditionally, scammers send lots of emails, texts, calls, and social media messages to everyone. They wait to see who responds. If you respond, you get added to what’s called a sucker list.
A CBS News report explained that you don’t even have to have fallen for a scam to be put on a sucker list. The report also said there are “tiers” to the list, kind of like a pyramid. People who just respond to a message are at the bottom of the pyramid. The more information you give, the higher up you move on the list. People at the top have actually fallen for scams and are seen as the most “valuable” targets.
Another worrying way to end up on a list is almost beyond our control. Data broker companies gather personal details from millions of people and sell them, sometimes to legitimate companies and sometimes to less trustworthy ones, as noted by Kaspersky. They collect your data from things like your web browsing, public records (like voter registration or court records), and your online shopping. Often, you’ve agreed to this when you sign up for things like loyalty programs.
Your personal information is very valuable. Marketers and businesses buy it to show you ads that match your interests. Some businesses use it to check who you are, like when you start a new job and they do a background check. Insurance companies look at your data to decide how much to charge you. Even regular people can use websites like Spokeo to look at someone else’s social media.
What’s worrying is that there’s no federal law stopping these companies from making money off your information. The closest rule is California’s Consumer Privacy Act, which lets people see the data collected on them and choose not to share it if they don’t want to. Because this information is out there, it can be stolen or sold by dishonest people who work at these companies. They might even sell your data on the dark web to make money for themselves.
How do you get off the “sucker list”?
It’s not easy to completely get off these lists, but you can do things to lower your spot on them and get less spam over time. Eventually, you might even get off the list completely.
Pay companies to help you avoid data brokers
Some companies, like DeleteMe, offer services to take your name off other data brokers’ lists for a fee. The World Privacy Forum has a list of these services. Remember, you can often opt out on your own for free, but using a service like DeleteMe saves time and can be more thorough. However, paying for such a service won’t fix all your spam problems forever. It can help reduce them, but if you keep doing things that put you on the list, you might end up back where you started.
Use a VPN
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) helps keep your online activities private. It hides your IP address and encrypts your data when you use the internet. This makes it harder for people to track what you do online.
Keep your donations private
If you donate money to charity, they very likely put you on a list to keep sending you donor information, and that list will probably eventually be sold or shared with other charities. Ask them to remove your name next time you donate.
Don’t respond to spam
Even if you want to unsubscribe, don’t respond to spam emails or messages. FTC Attorney M. Hasan Aijaz told CBS News that if you ignore spam, you can move down on the sucker list. If you keep ignoring it, you might get off the list completely.
Change your phone number and email address
If you’ve been a victim of fraud, one thing you can do is change your phone number and email address. Jake Moore, a cybersecurity adviser at ESET, suggests this in an interview with The Daily Mail.
While it’s a bit of a hassle, it can really help protect you—especially if you keep your new contact details secure. Consider using a Google Voice number or another temporary number that forwards to your phone. Also, create a separate email address to use when you sign up for mailing lists or special deals.