Why does every mail subscription seem to have an unsubscribe button? I have seen this even for the scammiest subscriptions.
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Having a method to unsubscribe from a mailing list is a legal requirement, so companies are mandated to include an unsubscribe link.
For big, popular companies this is a practical thing, they need to follow the rules to prevent facing any negative consequences, but also they want to maintain an enthusiastic customer base, so giving people a way to remove themselves easily from mailing lists means they can focus their output for the people who want it, and avoid frustrating and creating negative publicity by constantly spamming those who don’t.
For smaller, scammer companies, often they will be legitimate and playing by the rules set out for them. So while they may be less ethical in their methods to trick people into buying things, they are still legal. Including the unsubscribe link means one less complaint that can be leveled against them.
It is also worth remembering that the people who are unsubscribing are those who have already seen through the scam and had no intention of ever getting sucked in anyway, so losing those addresses from the mailing list isn’t exactly a great loss.
For the true scammers, it is often a trick. Including the link gives the appearance of legitimacy, but it isn’t used to unsubscribe you from anything, rather record which emails are active.
There is no real benefit in mass emailing vast lists of addresses that are all inactive, so being able to narrow down those lists to functional and active addresses can be of value. By clicking the unsubscribe link you are telling the sender that you email address is real and working, so it can be shifted onto a new ‘these emails work’ list and reused for future scams and sold on to other companies.
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