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Top 10 Reasons to Use a Temporary Email Address

 

If you’re online, chances are you’ve heard of the popular temp mail services that allow you to create an email address that doesn’t belong to you and can only be used for a specific amount of time before expiring. With these services, it’s easier than ever to keep your email private while shopping, signing up for sites and services, and communicating with new people without sharing your address. Here are 10 reasons to use temporary email addresses instead of your information.

1) Security

One of email’s most significant drawbacks is exposing our identities every time we click send. It doesn’t take much digging for an enterprising stalker or identity thief to track our real names, emails, and phone numbers through email headers or social networks. If you want some peace of mind knowing your inbox isn’t just one more place hackers can gather information about you, using a temporary email address helps keep your personal information hidden. While you could use another provider like Google Mail or Outlook, temporary addresses are untraceable and thus don’t share any identifiable information with whoever is receiving your message. The best part is they’re free!

2) Privacy

When you email someone from your private account, all your personal information is attached. Your home address, phone number, and even date of birth are present for anyone to see by just doing a quick Google search. This information can be found easily by people you have emailed in the past, and employers or college admissions counselors may look at it when deciding whether they want to accept you or not. By using temporary email addresses, you can get away with keeping your personal details anonymous while still getting important messages that need your attention.

3) Spam

One of the primary reasons you may want to create a temporary email address is that using one makes it more difficult for scammers, spammers, and phishers to find your confirmed address. If they can’t find your actual account or get into it, they can’t spam you. You might not see a lot of spam if you use Gmail or Yahoo, but if you use Outlook (or another web-based interface), it’s likely filled with ads for male enhancement and credit card deals. If someone asks for your email address online and offers free something in return—especially some gift card—avoid responding. These are almost always scams. There is no such thing as free money!

4) Avoid Autoresponders

If you sign up for services or buy products online, chances are your email address will end up on several mailing lists. All too often, these addresses will get flooded with automated emails after you’ve signed up. You don’t want a friend opening an email from your business account and getting hit with 15 auto-responders at once because all those messages will end up in your Sent Items folder. By setting up a temporary email address, you can create separate inboxes that can be deleted without affecting your other accounts. Instead of letting an autoresponder flood your address with unwanted messages, use one just for business correspondence, so it doesn’t clutter up your personal life too much either.

5) Less clutter in your inbox

If you are struggling with email overload, it might be time to try out a new email address. Creating an email account solely for online shopping and commenting on blogs won’t have any of these messages clutter up your primary inbox. Also, if you receive daily newsletters from sites like Groupon or LivingSocial, consider setting up separate accounts for each one. You may find yourself unsubscribing much faster if it takes extra effort (and fewer mouse clicks) to open your emails. It also helps if you miss a sale; these promotions don’t wait for anyone!

6) Easy unsubscribing from irrelevant lists

You can sign up for free trials and promotions that you’d typically ignore by using an alternative email address. Plus, it’s easy to unsubscribe from any list that isn’t relevant or useful. No need to worry about managing multiple emails: You won’t have another inbox cluttering your life with special deals and newsletters from retailers, magazines, etc. Redirect mail sent to your temporary address into one compressed folder in your primary account. Complete control over spam: There are services like Gmail & Yahoo! Mail Spam Assassin that incoming filter messages based on how likely they are spam—an important feature when you’re inundated with junk mail every day.

7) Gain credibility as you are more professional

Creating an email address specifically for job searching can give you that professional edge over other candidates. It will look more official, and as such, people may be more inclined to respond to your resume or reply if they find your information on social media. Also, having one dedicated solely for applying means that your emails can go into another account (like Gmail), which is just one less thing you have to worry about when communicating via computer. While there are many benefits of using a temporary email address, their primary purpose is security. You can keep your essential contact information private so that you don’t have spammers bothering you all day long!

8) Protect yourself from scams and fraud

If you’re buying goods or services online, using a temporary email address is helpful. You can choose how much personal information—such as your real name and address—you give out during checkout. If you’re trying to protect your privacy, one of your best defenses is being anonymous online. A P.O. box or virtual mailbox is another way of being somewhat unknown. It’s essential for every business—especially those just starting—to be careful about what information they share online and how they share it, whether via social media platforms or through public directories.

9) Keep all your emails in one place (only relevant ones!)

Like most people, you probably have multiple email accounts: one for work, one for personal use, and maybe even one that forwards emails from your other accounts into it. Keeping all those emails in just one place can be a bit of an organizational nightmare! A temporary email address eliminates that need by giving you a centralized inbox that shows only relevant emails. Now, instead of checking multiple inboxes, you can see all your essential emails in just one place and manage them accordingly. Just select an ending period for your temporary email address so that everything gets sent back into your main account when it expires!

10) Consider using a disposable address for an online job application.

If you’re applying for work online, your actual email address may leave you vulnerable to identity theft. Hackers may gain access to your personal information and possibly more sensitive details if you use one of these temporary email addresses. If a company asks for your permanent email address, choose wisely before giving out yours—or any other personally identifiable information that could put your privacy at risk. Check out these disposable emails as great alternatives to creating an account with Gmail or Yahoo! every time you need one. You can also create multiple disposable accounts if someone wants more information from you at some point in the future (you might wish to separate accounts for different types of jobs, school applications, and job offers, for example). Better safe than sorry!