{"id":82344,"date":"2024-10-09T19:55:01","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T19:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/glosario\/spammer\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T01:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T01:04:10","slug":"spammer","status":"publish","type":"glossary","link":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/spammer\/","title":{"rendered":"Spammer: What is it? Types and current trends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A spammer is a person or company that sends unsolicited messages in bulk, mainly by email, but also by SMS, social media, chats or comments.<\/strong> What they send is called spam<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Sending spam is called spamming<\/strong> (in Spanish, spamear, also spelled espamear<\/em>). In Spanish, spammer is an English loanword: you can also say spamero<\/em> or “el que env\u00eda spam” (the one who sends spam).<\/p>\n\n

What is a spammer?<\/h2>\n\n

It’s someone who sends messages to people who haven’t asked for them. They’re usually ads, scams or links to dubious websites, and almost always in huge quantities.<\/p>\n\n

The word comes from spam<\/em>. Its use for junk messages comes from a 1970 Monty Python sketch in which a group kept repeating “spam” until it drowned out any conversation. That’s what an inbox full of spam feels like.<\/p>\n\n

The first unsolicited mass mailing on record was sent in 1978. Gary Thuerk, of the company DEC, advertised a computer to around 400 ARPANET users at once.<\/p>\n\n

What does spamming mean?<\/h2>\n\n

Spamming means sending the same message many times, to many people or in many places, without anyone asking for it.<\/p>\n\n

The term is used in several contexts:<\/p>\n\n

Where<\/th>What spamming means<\/th>Example<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Email<\/td>Sending bulk emails without permission<\/td>Product offers sent to a purchased list<\/td><\/tr>
SMS and WhatsApp<\/td>Sending messages to numbers that haven’t given their permission<\/td>“You’ve won a prize, click here”<\/td><\/tr>
Social media<\/td>Posting or commenting the same thing over and over<\/td>Repeated links in the comments<\/td><\/tr>
Chats and video games<\/td>Repeating a message or an action until it gets annoying<\/td>Typing the same phrase in the chat on a loop<\/td><\/tr>
Forums and blogs<\/td>Leaving comments with links to get visits<\/td>“Great article, visit my website”<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n

In video games, people also say someone is “spamming” when they use the same attack or ability over and over.<\/p>\n\n

\"What<\/figure>\n\n
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Do email marketing with permission, not spam<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Double opt-in forms, an automatic unsubscribe link and bounce cleaning. Free for up to 80,000 emails a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Create a free account<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

How does a spammer operate?<\/h2>\n\n

An email spammer tries to send as much as possible while spending as little as possible. To do that, they:<\/p>\n\n