Unmask Email Leaks With This Simple Alias Trick
▼ Summary
– Gmail’s plus addressing feature has existed since 2004, allowing users to create aliases by adding a “+” symbol and text to their email address for filtering and tracking purposes.
– This feature helps identify which online services sell or leak email addresses by using unique aliases when signing up for different accounts.
– Both Gmail and Outlook support plus addressing, while iCloud+ offers Hide My Email for generating random forwarding addresses without revealing personal emails.
– iCloud Mail without a subscription allows up to three traditional email aliases, configured through web settings but not on macOS or iOS devices.
– Plus addressing doesn’t prevent spam but empowers users to trace sources of unwanted emails, though some online forms may not accept these aliases.
Discovering the source of unwanted emails and potential data leaks can be surprisingly straightforward using a long-available but often overlooked email feature known as plus addressing. This technique, supported by major providers like Gmail and Outlook, allows you to append a unique identifier to your primary email address, empowering you to trace exactly which companies are mishandling your contact information.
Imagine creating a brand new email account. Initially, your inbox contains only messages from services you intentionally signed up for. However, after a few weeks of online activity—such as registering for social media, subscribing to newsletters, or shopping for a car—your inbox becomes flooded with unsolicited messages. Some are merely annoying promotional blasts, while others could be malicious attempts to compromise your security. This common frustration highlights how easily personal email addresses can be shared, sold, or exposed without consent.
The plus addressing method won’t stop spam from arriving, but it hands control back to you by revealing the origin of a leak. Here’s how it functions: when signing up for any online service, simply add a plus symbol followed by any descriptive word to your standard email address. For instance, if your email is jane.doe@gmail.com, you could use jane.doe+newsletter@gmail.com for a subscription or jane.doe+retailer@outlook.com for an online store. All correspondence sent to these variations still lands directly in your main inbox. Should you later receive an email from an unfamiliar sender addressed to jane.doe+newsletter@gmail.com, you instantly know which service improperly shared your details.
For Apple users subscribed to iCloud+, an alternative approach exists through the Hide My Email feature. This tool generates completely random, unique email addresses that forward messages to your personal inbox. While it doesn’t provide the same straightforward audit trail as plus addressing, it offers superior privacy by never disclosing your actual email address. You can deactivate any of these aliases at any time through your Mail settings. Standard iCloud Mail accounts support up to three conventional aliases, which can be configured via the iCloud Mail website.
Occasionally, you might encounter websites that reject email addresses containing a plus sign, incorrectly flagging them as invalid. There is also some discussion about certain marketers stripping the alias portion from addresses, though this practice appears relatively rare. Most organizations don’t bother altering these addresses, making the technique quite reliable for everyday use.
Adopting this simple strategy can significantly enhance your understanding of how your personal data circulates online. It provides clear visibility into which companies respect your privacy and which do not, allowing you to make more informed decisions about where you share your information.
(Source: 9to5 Mac)