Spam affects nearly everyone on a daily basis – and it certainly has an impact on your life if you’re a regular computer user. Unfortunately, if online trends in internet spamming continue on the pace they are now, you’re likely to see a lot more unsolicited commercial e-mail in the near future. In fact, thanks to some sneaky and malicious spammers, you may even be helping these crooks spread spam not only across the World Wide Web but to your friends, co-workers, and even your family members.

There are several ways in which spammers may be attempting to use your e-mail account in order to send out even more spam email. Some of the common methods include:

- Infecting your computer with a virus or malicious software that seeks out your e-mail contact list. This software may then send the information back to a server so that it can be collected and used by a professional scammer at a later time, or it may use it immediately by the virus or malicious code in order to spread as quickly as possible.

- Tricking you into believe that a spam message is genuine, and then talking you into sending it along to all of your friends. Many online chain letters are actually email spam in disguise. This is why you should always scan any outgoing messages with anti-spam software before sending it out. Likewise, you should scan incoming messages as well – even if they have been sent from a trusted friend or family member.