How to Make a Fake Email Address

The process used to make a fake email or secondary email address is prudent and the practice can save your primary address from piles of spam and unwanted information. The account is not necessarily fake but serves as a backup and catch-all for messages that are not personal. It can also serve a variety of other purposes, including a means of emailing without attaching your identity to the account.

The first step to make a fake email account is finding a good service provider to host the account. Some email services will require a full name and personal information that attaches your identity to the account. Gmail does this and while you can create an account that acts as your fake or backup option, it will still have some association with your name. This is fine when the email account is being used to direct spam and unfiltered emails away from your primary address.

Other common services like Yahoo, MSN and Hotmail will work just fine for a fake account. These are all good options because they are also permanent and can serve as a long term solution to spam and low value email list signups. Save your primary address for the important stuff and simply do a bulk delete action to remove all the spam from your fake address.

Other service providers are easy to find through a simple web search. Some even function on a time limit for short term email account needs. Avoid using these accounts for anything sensitive or private but do use them for spam and any temporary needs. Finding a free service is generally easy but some others may require a fee for the account.

The fake email address should never be used for illegal activities but it does come in handy for a number of very practical reasons. For example, many classified ads based websites will use a cover email address but the email itself can still reveal your personal name. Using a fake account without your name attached will help retain a high level of anonymity. This is important for privacy and personal security while communicating with strangers.

Another productive use for the account is to collect all unwanted email correspondence. Every time you make a purchase, enter a contest or engage in any transaction that requires an email address, use the fake account. Use your real account for bank accounts and other sensitive uses that require security. The fake account will absorb the risk of a hack while the real account remains highly focused on more important uses.

Use completely different passwords for your real and fake accounts. Overlapping passwords creates a higher risk for having one or both accounts hacked. Also, prevent having communications between the two accounts if possible. Maintaining that separation will ensure the accounts are never linked in any way.

Maintenance is necessary for both real and fake accounts. Unless you never intend to read any messages received by the fake account, blocking senders and using the spam filter is a necessity. Things can spiral out of control quickly without an active spam filter.

Do a weekly or monthly checkup and flag unwanted emails as spam. Block addresses that seem suspicious or dangerous and delete all unwanted messages to maintain a neat and tidy inbox. Completing a short round of maintenance each week will save hours of cleanup down the road. It also makes it easy to find and interact with recent correspondence that is desired.