If I use Optery, will that increase my phone or email spam?
We have no reason to believe using Optery leads to more phone or email spam and we take several measures to prevent this. On the contrary, most Optery customers report phone and email spam is reduced after using an Optery paid subscription. For example:
However, Optery is not an off-switch for unwanted phone or email spam and will not completely eliminate it. The data brokers Optery removes from are just one of many sources of unwanted phone and email spam. There are thousands of ways spammers harvest phone numbers and emails for their spamming activities.
In rare cases, some Optery customers have reported an increase in spam after using Optery. However, correlation does not imply causation, and this is most likely an unfortunate coincidence. For example, how many people or companies have you given your phone number to legitimately? The average person has given their phone number to hundreds of people and companies voluntarily. If any one of those parties has had their list of contacts hacked or harvested somehow, that could have been the source of the increased spam. Another way spammers gain access to phone numbers is by simply generating random lists of phone numbers and using software to automatically dial through them to see if there's a voicemail box attached or if someone picks up. Yet another possibility is if the phone number or email address was harvested in any one of the thousands of corporate data breaches and is now posted to the dark web. Spammers also obtain contact information from the dark web where it is impossible to be removed from. If you are receiving spam, it is possible your contact info is originating from data brokers, but also possible it is originating from many other places.
This is one of the reasons phone spam is so infuriating, it’s almost impossible for the average person to trace.
Part of the reason it is so unlikely that Optery is the source of any increase in phone or email spam is because Optery does not share the email address or phone number you provide with data brokers when opting you out. Instead, we generate custom private email addresses and phone numbers that we manage behind the scenes to conceal our customers' actual email addresses and phone numbers from data brokers when submitting opt outs, e.g. FirstNameLastName@opterymail.com. You can learn more how this works on our Help Desk articles titled:
Does Optery share the email address or phone number I provide with the data brokers when opting me out?
Do Not share your personal email or pay any money to data brokers linked to from Optery
At any moment contact information can be harvested or exposed in countless ways, and in some rare cases that might coincidentally happen at around the same time as signing up for Optery. This would be an unfortunate coincidence and does not mean Optery caused the increase.
If this has already happened to you, we recommend aggressively unsubscribing from the unwanted emails and texts, blocking and reporting the unwanted phone numbers, flagging the emails as spam with your email provider, and creating filters to automatically delete the unwanted inbound inquiries.
However, Optery is not an off-switch for unwanted phone or email spam and will not completely eliminate it. The data brokers Optery removes from are just one of many sources of unwanted phone and email spam. There are thousands of ways spammers harvest phone numbers and emails for their spamming activities.
In rare cases, some Optery customers have reported an increase in spam after using Optery. However, correlation does not imply causation, and this is most likely an unfortunate coincidence. For example, how many people or companies have you given your phone number to legitimately? The average person has given their phone number to hundreds of people and companies voluntarily. If any one of those parties has had their list of contacts hacked or harvested somehow, that could have been the source of the increased spam. Another way spammers gain access to phone numbers is by simply generating random lists of phone numbers and using software to automatically dial through them to see if there's a voicemail box attached or if someone picks up. Yet another possibility is if the phone number or email address was harvested in any one of the thousands of corporate data breaches and is now posted to the dark web. Spammers also obtain contact information from the dark web where it is impossible to be removed from. If you are receiving spam, it is possible your contact info is originating from data brokers, but also possible it is originating from many other places.
This is one of the reasons phone spam is so infuriating, it’s almost impossible for the average person to trace.
Part of the reason it is so unlikely that Optery is the source of any increase in phone or email spam is because Optery does not share the email address or phone number you provide with data brokers when opting you out. Instead, we generate custom private email addresses and phone numbers that we manage behind the scenes to conceal our customers' actual email addresses and phone numbers from data brokers when submitting opt outs, e.g. FirstNameLastName@opterymail.com. You can learn more how this works on our Help Desk articles titled:
Does Optery share the email address or phone number I provide with the data brokers when opting me out?
Do Not share your personal email or pay any money to data brokers linked to from Optery
At any moment contact information can be harvested or exposed in countless ways, and in some rare cases that might coincidentally happen at around the same time as signing up for Optery. This would be an unfortunate coincidence and does not mean Optery caused the increase.
If this has already happened to you, we recommend aggressively unsubscribing from the unwanted emails and texts, blocking and reporting the unwanted phone numbers, flagging the emails as spam with your email provider, and creating filters to automatically delete the unwanted inbound inquiries.
Updated on: 19/04/2024
Thank you!