Hitting ‘Unsubscribe’ to Annoying Emails Isn’t Safe Anymore

Hitting “unsubscribe” from an email list seems simple enough. Except, rarely does it ever fully work — we all know we’ll be unsubscribing from that same list in a year.

Too bad that’s no longer the biggest worry. Hitting the leave-me-alone box is now a security risk. Hackers are using the “unsubscribe” button as a means to get you to click and capture your personal information.

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TK Keanini, chief technology officer at DNSFilter, told the Wall Street Journal earlier this month that clicking the unsubscribe link can lead to phishing scams and security issues. In fact, DNSFilter estimates that one out of every 644 unsubscribe clicks leads to a “potentially malicious website.”

There are several ways this can affect an unsuspecting email user. The lowest risk is that hackers now know you are an active email with a person behind it. This will most likely lead to scammers building a file on you to make you are future target for ransomware attacks, getting you to shop on fake websites, or sending you malware.

Worst case, the unsubscribe link exposes your device to malware immediately, but one expert told The Journal that it is not the best tactic, fortunately. Too many things would need to align, they said, including that the browser has a vulnerabilty.

Related: Instagram’s CEO Says He ‘Experienced a Sophisticated Phishing Attack’ With Google This Week

Still, the best way to fight back, experts told The Journal, is to use Apple’s “Hide My Email” feature, if you are an Apple customer, or send the emails to spam without hitting unsubscribe.

You can also set up a free Gmail or other email account specifically for shopping, newsletters, and spam.