[SOLVED] Spammed to Death

[geminibusiness]

My primary Gmail address slowly grew more and more cluttered with spam over the course of years. I didn't really care at first because it was so gradual and
between different schools and jobs I was using other Gmail accounts. Meanwhile my original account got more and more cluttered with spam. It's not a problem
on my other Gmail accounts which are virtually spam free. I was afraid to try anything out of a fear of replaying to spammers or hackers. I heard unsubscribing
from spam just validates your e-mail address.

I don't know what the problem is. I suppose someone chose a username similar to mine to register for stuff and forgot a letter? Most of the clutter is in the form of asking me to confirm, activate or link accounts maybe with variations and versions of my Gmail address/username. Maybe it could be spear phishing/targeted spam?

What's the best thing to do? Block the addresses? Report spam? Unsubscribe? Or is it too late to take back my first Gmail account.

Lost,

-J

PS Here are some examples:

"Secure Your Account – Verify Email Address"
"Activate Account"
"Your inactive account will soon be deleted"
"Your account 10596913 is overdue"
"Congratulations! Your listing has been posted on Letgo"
"My Melita - New bill notification"
"Your league joining is confirmed!"
"Pay Stub from United Property Services, Inc."
"Check your monthly MyWallet statement"
"Welcome to Paytm"

Some of it can be blamed on similar email addresses, it wouldn't be the first time in the history of email but that's only a small part of the problem.

 

[Alabalcho]

GMail is quite good at detecting spam and placing it in the Spam folder. CHeck it once it a while for false positives.

From titles of these emails - looks more like phishing, rather than legitimate messages.

 

[Keith_74]

Gmail are very good at putting these phishing emails into spam, and mostly so long as you're vigilant that's where they will stay.
What I do is make it part of my cleanup. Every time you shut down your device, go to emails /spam, tick the box at the top that says 'delete forever' and zap them.
Never be tempted to open any of them. They are in that folder for a reason, and I'd rather miss an odd email than open a hornets nest.
You always have control of your pc. Not them..... Unless you let them in....