Where has all the spam gone?

Email spam on Gmail used to be a problem. Much of it originated from Brazil. You could tell because the domain name ended in 'br' (meaning 'Brazil'). 

I was being targeted by all kinds of online fashionwear retailer in that country - things like sunglasses, for instance. None of it was wanted. I wouldn't say it was a torrent of emails, but I might get half a dozen or more every day, and if I didn't clear them out often, they would accumulate rather alarmingly. I found it disturbing. 

It seemed like pressing the nuclear button, but eventually I cut off all this spam by simply diverting all emails ending in 'br' straight into the bin, so that they didn't even appear in my spam box. Google would then routinely clear out the bin. 

I was so glad I'd found a way to avoid seeing all that spam, and although the method I chose meant that nobody at all in Brazil could ever communicate with me, I wasn't worried one bit. I have never had any personal connection with Brazil. It shouldn't have made the slightest bit of difference to my life, never to see emails from Brazil ever again. Perhaps some genuine reader of my blog wanting to ask something, or somebody who had seen a photo of mine on Flickr and wanted to get in touch about it, has been left without a reply, because I never saw their enquiry. They may now think me very rude. Well, so be it. The small chance of blanking somebody is nothing compared to the irritation all that Brazilian spam caused.

You might say, why did you ever look in your spam box? But you need to, in case non-spam accidently goes there. 

Well, after applying that rather draconian solution, there remained a trickle of other spam - one or two items every day. I still resented the intrusion, but this was at least not in the same league as the Brazilian problem. These other emails were different, anyway. Most were to do with money - offering me help to expand my business (what business? I haven't got one), or offering me help in making sure-fire investments (mostly in crypto currencies). 

And now these have disappeared too. Nowadays I might go for days on end without seeing anything in my spam box. Now why should this be? 

Quite possibly Google have ramped up their spam protection. But then I would still see the emails newly considered spam in my spam box. 

I think it must be down to recent economic developments. The build-up of inflation. The sharp decline in the value of certain crypto-currencies. Both well-publicised. People don't have money for speculative investments any more, and movements in crypto-currency values have shown how volatile and unpredictable that market can be. So the annoying (and probably criminal) people behind the emails that used to come are desisting, knowing that just now is not the best time. 

Of course they will be back. But it's nice to have a break from them.