How to stop spam with email aliases

The most common question our support team gets is not about encryption or custom domains. It is: "how do I make the spam stop?" And the honest answer is that filters alone never quite manage it, because filtering treats the symptom. Spam arrives because your address got out. The fix is to stop having one address to get out - and that is what aliases are for.

An alias is an extra address that delivers into your normal mailbox. Mail sent to it lands in your inbox like anything else; the sender never learns your real address. Every Scroogle Mail plan includes them, they take about ten seconds to create, and used with a little discipline they will quietly strangle your spam problem at the source. Here is the routine we recommend, refined over a few thousand support conversations.

Step 1: one alias per service, no exceptions

Every time a website asks for your email address, give it an alias created for that website and nothing else. Signing up to a newsletter? Alias. Ordering a mattress? Alias. Registering warranty on a toaster? Alias. Your real address is for humans you know - it should never be typed into a form owned by a company.

The objection we hear is "won't I end up with hundreds?" Yes, and it does not matter. Aliases cost nothing to hold, your inbox view does not change, and the Scroogle Mail alias list is searchable. Hundreds of aliases is not clutter; it is a map of exactly who is allowed to reach you.

Step 2: name them so the evidence is built in

Use a naming pattern that states whose alias it is: curry-house@, trainline@, toaster-warranty@. Resist the temptation to be clever or random - the whole point is that when a message arrives, the To: line tells you instantly which relationship it belongs to. If you bring your own domain, the same habit works with addresses at yourname.co.uk; our custom domain guide covers the setup, including a catch-all so aliases exist the moment you first use them.

Step 3: read the To: line, catch the leaker

Here is where the routine pays off. One morning you get "hot singles in your area" addressed to toaster-warranty@. That is not a mystery any more - that is a confession with a timestamp. Exactly one company ever knew that address, so either they sold your details, passed them to a "marketing partner", or got breached and have not told you yet. No filter, no detective work: the spam identifies its own source on arrival.

What you do with the evidence is up to you. Some of our users just quietly stop shopping there. The more energetic ones send a subject-access request or a pointed note citing UK GDPR, and attach the spam as Exhibit A. Either way, you know something the company's other customers do not.

Step 4: bin the alias, end the problem

This is the step no big-tech inbox can offer you. When an alias turns sour, you disable it. Not "filter to junk" - the address simply stops existing, and every list it was ever copied onto now points at a dead end. The spammers can keep sending; nothing arrives, nothing bounces into your day, and you never think about it again. If you still need the underlying service, create a fresh alias, update your account with them, and carry on. Total cost: one minute.

Compare that with the alternative most people live with: a twenty-year-old address on every list in existence, where the only options are heavier filtering or the nuclear one - changing the address everywhere at once. Aliases let you make that decision one relationship at a time.

The routine, in one paragraph

New signup, new alias, named after the company. Real address for humans only. When spam arrives, the To: line names the leaker; bin that alias, replace it if needed. Do this for three months and your spam does not get filtered better - it stops turning up at all. Which plan you need depends on how many aliases you will burn through; the honest comparison is on the pricing page, and if you get stuck, my team is at support@scrooglemail.com.