Hate Email Spam? India Is To Blame

Listen, we all hate combing through 78 spam messages for our two moderately important emails every morning. So where does all that spam come from?

India.

According to the LA Times, the country of India has officially become the top sender of e-mail spam messages. This is all thanks to a growing middle class and computer users using pirated software. This unique and generally unwanted distinction was long-held by your very own U.S., but changed hands recently, with nearly 10% of spam emails being set from computers in India over 7% back in 2010, according to British Internet security data from Sophos Ltd.

“This is one record India doesn’t want so much,” said Sanjay Katkar, chief technology officer with security firm Quick Heal.

The sad thing is that most spammers from India don’t even realize they’re doing it, notes Newser. Some of the spam is legal, like mass emails sent out by companies specializing in “digital marketing,” but most of the spam stems from misleading and unethical internet scams that get you to click on email attachments that actually turn your computer into a spam-spewing machine without your knowledge. “While the spam originates from a location in India, it’s very difficult to find where the actual fingers on the keyboard are,” says a Symantec official.

India adds some 7 million computer users each month. That, combined with poor law enforcement, makes India’s Internet usage comparable to something out of Girls Gone Wild.

“Only a moron would fall for most of these,” said Ruchika Shishodia, 29, a public relations employee who lives in Gurgaon, outside New Delhi. “If I fell for anything, I’d probably go for the ‘Make money while sitting at home’ pitches.”

Shishodia admitted that she sometimes uses pirated software, that her computer has slowed down lately, and that she frequently receives spam messages offering things like penile enlargement. Despite all of this, the India native isn’t particularly worried about her computer turning into a spam machine.

And that’s why India is the top email spammer right now.