When Doug Fodeman of Massachusetts bought his 13-year-old daughter, Lauren, a cell phone, her phone beeped before she had even placed her very first call. They were both surprised to discover she had received a text message containing dumb blonde jokes. Lauren was charged $10 even though she had not signed up for anything.

Unfortunately, text messages are the latest trend in spamming. These devices are being used to send unwanted messages concerning everything from porn to pills just like the spam email messages received on your computer. The problem is that most cell phone carriers charge users a fee every time they receive one of these unwanted messages.

Hugh McCartney is the owner of a San Francisco-based company named Cloudmark that designs anti-spam software specifically for carriers. He claims that 5 percent of all the text messages received in the United States are spam. Spammers have developed more advanced technology that can currently generate thousands of numbers in a matter of mere seconds. McCartney warns that “Mobile spam is going to quadruple in the next year.”

Certain spammers send fake messages pretending to be your financial institution so they can obtain your confidential account details. Others advertise in the hopes that an unsuspecting individuals such as 13-year-old Alex Ford of San Diego will take the bait. When she was only 10 years old, she received an offer for a free cell phone screen saver. “I just thought it was something cool and free. They shouldn’t be able to rip kids off.”

The end result – $80 in charges to her cell phone account!

In most cases, the parents are the ones who are responsible for resolving the problem with the unwanted charges. For example, Fodeman wasted three frustrating months to have the dumb blonde joke charges removed from his daughter’s bill. Despite having resolved this issue, the spam continues. Fodeman is currently running a website focused on issues regarding technology and children called childrenonline.org.

Spam mail has become one of the most widespread problems for email users worldwide. Some users may receive hundreds of unwanted email messages advertising services and products every single day. Many mail service providers are now using filters in an attempt to reduce the amount of spam received by their users.

However, you need to start practicing some spam-fighting tactics of your own to prevent these annoying spam attacks. Here are 8 simple tips you can use to fight back and reduce the amount of spam you receive:

1. Try not to use very short usernames when creating new email accounts. Many spammers utilize what are called dictionary attacks, making your account much more likely to be targeted.
2. Whenever possible, try to include special characters such as a period, dash or hyphen in your user name.
3. Many spamming programs attack usernames starting with the first few letters so try to start yours with numbers or letters that don’t have an actual meaning.
4. If you do end up receiving a spam email message, NEVER reply asking to be removed from their mailing list or click on any links asking you to unsubscribe. This will only serve to validate your email address as a legitimate one which will most likely increase the amount of spam you receive.
5. Don’t include your actual email address on the Internet since robots tend to scan the web for email addresses to spam. Instead, write out the words “at” and “dot” com or use an online email form.
6. Use temporary email addresses for registration to online programs. Many spammers target popular sites for legitimate addresses so create a free webmail account such as Yahoo! or hotmail each time instead of using your regular email.
7. Use BCC instead of CC when sending email messages to more than one recipient. If you include your address in the To or CC line, spammers may end up getting a hold of your email address when the message is forwarded.
8. If your webmail service offers a junk mail filter, make sure you activate it. This will reduce the amount of spam you receive. Just remember to check it periodically as legitimate email messages may inadvertently end up in this folder.

Hopefully, employing some of the above tactics will keep your junk mail folders a little less crowded!