Guides
When your inbox is drowning in spam
Dozens of promotions a day, and the unsubscribe button changes nothing. The problem is not your filters — it is that the address is no longer under your control.
Where you are
You are probably running into these
Unsubscribing made it worse
You clicked unsubscribe and the volume went up. To certain senders, that click proved someone is reading this address.
No way to tell who handed it out
One address across dozens of services, and now spam is arriving. There is no way to work out which of them leaked it.
You want a new address but cannot afford to switch
Your main address is tied to banking, government services, work and every account that matters. Replacing it costs too much, so you put up with it.
Mechanism
Why a leaked address never recovers
Once an address appears on a circulating list, it gets traded between lists indefinitely. Senders share and sell this data, which is why the sources of your spam keep diversifying even though only one party originally leaked it. Unsubscribing often backfires here: it works with legitimate merchants, but for senders who should never have had the address, the click answers a question — this address is live and someone reads it — and its value goes up. Filters treat the symptom while the address itself keeps circulating, and the source cannot be plugged. This is the problem aliases actually solve. Each service gets a different address; the addresses have no relationship to one another and none to your real inbox. Whichever one starts attracting spam is the one you switch off — the address in the sender’s hands dies on the spot, while your real address was never on any list to begin with. That is not filtering; it is making the contaminated part disposable.
What to do
Step by step
- 01
Stop the bleeding: aliases for everything new
From now on every new service gets its own alias and the real address goes nowhere. Deal with the backlog later; the priority is stopping the growth.
- 02
Replace existing accounts by importance
Start with the services that send you the most marketing. Banking and government accounts, which are awkward to change, can wait until last.
- 03
Forward them, so nothing changes for you
Point every alias at the inbox you already use. You keep reading mail where you always did; only the outward-facing address changed.
- 04
When an alias turns, switch it off
The address dies immediately, the spam to it stops at once, and no other account is touched.
Watch out
Easy things to miss
Do not click unsubscribe from unknown senders
Fine with reputable merchants. With senders you do not recognise, the click confirms the address works.
An alias is not a filter
It does not judge which mail is junk. It makes any single address disposable at near-zero cost.
Verify delivery before moving important accounts
Send a test to the new alias before changing the binding, so you do not lock yourself out.
FAQ
Questions about this case
Why does unsubscribing bring more spam?
With legitimate merchants it works. With senders who should not have had your address, the click confirms it is live and read, which raises its value on the lists it sits on.
Can a leaked address be salvaged?
Barely. Once an address is circulating between lists you cannot recall it. The workable path is migrating important accounts to aliases and letting the old address gradually retire.
What happens to accounts bound to an alias I switch off?
Change the account to a new address before switching the old one off. If you are done with the account anyway, killing the alias is the cleanest possible exit.
Do aliases block all spam?
No — it is not a filter. What it guarantees is that spam only ever reaches an address you can void at will, never your real inbox.
The features this case uses
Other situations
Start with one address
Free users can take a disposable address with no signup and no phone number. Long-lived aliases and custom domains are for the accounts you intend to keep.