Q&A: How do I know if clicking on those unsubscribe links is safe?

Question: My email inbox is flooded. I want to unsubscribe to some of the promotions I signed up for and some I didn’t. But how can I tell the links are safe to click on?

Answer: We get it. Signing up for that email list might have seemed like a good idea in exchange for a big discount or some other perk. Now you just want the emails to stop!

Getting rid of all those pesky promotional emails is a key step toward decluttering your digital life. And if you're simply hitting "unsubscribe" on an email from a legit company, there's really no downside.

The problem is, scammers sometimes use fake emails with a phony "unsubscribe" link at the bottom. Click on the link, and you could land on a scam website or end up with spyware, or another type of malware, on your device.

So, here's what to do. If you remember signing up for the emails and you're sure they come from the actual business, go ahead and hit unsubscribe. Don't remember signing up for the emails or think the message looks fishy? Use the tools in your email program to label the message as "spam." For example, here's how to label a Gmail message as spam.

Marking the email as "spam" will send future messages from the same sender straight to your spam folder. And it will get you one step closer to your goal: a decluttered inbox.

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