I am getting a huge amount of Spam on my iMac

Luke The Drifter wrote:

Thank you. Not sure I understand. So I block me.com or iCloud.com (whichever one I don’t use)? I tried setting rules in iCloud but that sent automatic responses to spammers and then doubled what I was getting.

No. The idea is not to block the entire "me.com" or "iCloud.com" domain.

The "Hide My E-mail" feature lets you fill in an e-mail field on a Web page with a one-off address that Apple generates. It's an address with some nonsense-sounding name associated with a server that Apple controls, which might be iCloud.com, but doesn't have to be.

When the Web site sends e-mail to this address, Apple forwards it to your real e-mail address without revealing your real e-mail address to the operators of that Web site. So you get the e-mail, but they don't know your real address. If they start abusing the privilege, or they somehow "leak" that address to spammers, you can go into Settings and tell Apple to "Deactivate Email Address".

Now when that Web site operator (or the spammers) send e-mail to that one-off address, it gets dropped on the floor. You never told them your real address, and you just "burned" the disposable one. Cutting them off – until they learn your real address some other way – without cutting off other people you exchange e-mail with.

Or, as the Ventura "Hide My Email" dialog says,

"Keep your personal email address private by creating a unique, random address that forwards to your personal inbox and can be deleted at any time."

iCloud+ lets you generate "one-off" e-mail addresses ("Hide My E-Mail").

What is Hide My Email? - Apple Support

If the spammers learn one of your "one-off" e-mail addresses (but don't learn your main e-mail address), you just cut off that address.

It started recently for you because somehow someone somewhere got hold of your email address and it is now on a list. It happens.

The "Block Sender" will work add that 1 specific email address to your list each time you use it. Unfortunately, these spam artists alter and change the apparent send address regularly, so blocking one today only means that tomorrow the spam will come from an apparently different address, one you have not blocked. It's "Whack-A-Mole" via email.

Service providers (Apple, for you) can only do so much. They're playing the same whack-a-mole game we have to play.

There are subscription services that reportedly do a pretty good job of keeping the junk mail away. I've never used any. Spam Sieve is one. There are others.

Are these emails or text messages?

Everyone gets spammed. We are asked to enter our email addresses and cell numbers when some retailer wants you to use their app. I avoid those sites. It is not for your convenience but for their profit.

Some people foolishly send a message to you and everyone in their contact list, but does not put the addresses in the bcc field. The message arrives at one infected Windows computer and everyone' emails are added to the "for-sale' list.

The only sure way is to change your email address, which is a pain. Sometimes, changing you email password can help but that is not a sure thing.

It is part of today's world and, unless email providers get better at stopping this stuff at the server level, it will continue to be with us.

Hello Simon!

Unfortunately, Apple cannot help you with this issue. Please contact your Carrier, and see if they have an Anti-Spam service.

I hope this is helpful. Good Luck!

I was referring to a carrier’s anti-spam service, if you had been receiving the spams in text messages, or by phone.

Allen Jones can take it from here, as he correctly assumed your issue. I should’ve known it was email scams by “Junk folder,” and “bin.” So I apologize for any confusion I caused.

Have a wonderful day, Simon! Hopefully Allen can assist you further…

JDK609 wrote:

Who is my carrier? It is an iCloud account

Your carrier is your ISP (internet service provider) - the company you pay for the internet access. That is not Apple. But even they are mostly helpless with the spammers' tricks.

Your webmail hasn't kept up and the scammers and spammers are taking advantage of this.

I use Yahoo mail. For the last 6 months or more I get 50-60 per day. It's finally dried up mostly ... for a while. But, it'll be back.

Welcome to the wonderful world of internet usage and email Whack-A-Mole fun.

This really kicked up a notch for me in January 2023. Now - October - I sometimes receive over 50 overnight. I’m very on top of my Mac Mail rules, but unfortunately Apple is not. If I check ‘mark as read’ and ‘delete’, that’s what I’d like Apple to do: not mark them as unread and placed in my bin. Come on, Apple. Sort this out.

Thank you. Not sure I understand. So I block me.com or iCloud.com (whichever one I don’t use)? I tried setting rules in iCloud but that sent automatic responses to spammers and then doubled what I was getting.

Thank you. Wow - I wish I'd known this a year ago, or how bad spam could get!