Inbox flooded with sign-up messages? How to handle email bombing

In September, reports emerged that a Virginia woman had been submerged by a flood of emails. Hundreds of automated messages poured in over a 24-hour period, including newsletters and promotions she’d never signed up to. But this was no ordinary spam campaign. The real reason behind the inbox blitz was to bury a legitimate email from the victim’s bank warning her about a fraudulent laptop purchase.

This is email bombing. And if it’s happened to you, it could be a warning sign that your identity or online accounts have been hijacked by fraudsters.

What is email bombing?

Sometimes called “form bombing,” “list bombing” or “subscription bombing,” email bombing attacks usually follow the same pattern. First, an attacker gets hold of your email address. They could do this from historic data breaches, marketing databases, online leaks, or even a prior phishing attack. Once they have it, they’ll use automated, bot-powered tools...

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