What Is a Disposable Email Address (DEA), and why you should use it?

What Is a Disposable Email Address (DEA), and why you should use it?
Published in : 19 Feb 2022

What Is a Disposable Email Address (DEA), and why you should use it?

A disposable email address (DEA) is a one-time address set up to keep their mailbox from becoming flooded with spam and marketing emails. These accounts can be manually removed or set to expire after a certain period of time if the user no longer wants to keep the alias.

Don't be fooled by the word "disposable." A disposable email service is a well-established organization that provides temporary email identities to enable online customers to avoid receiving spam or unsolicited marketing emails in their regular mailbox. However, its primary function is to keep your messages on its server until you are ready to retrieve them without fear of others being able to read them and advertise to you.

People use disposable email accounts for a number of reasons.

  • Privacy protection and security.

Disposable email accounts provide an additional layer of protection between the user and the Internet. People may not want to expose their real email address—and hence their identity—while interacting with websites and applications for privacy and security reasons.

  • Reduce the number of spam emails you get.

A temporary email account can be used to keep spam and promotional emails out of a person's regular personal email. Customers may be hesitant to share their primary email address with a company because they are concerned about personal information being stolen from compromised databases.

  • Product and service testing

People use disposable email accounts to explore new products and services when they aren't ready to commit, while developers utilize free services like Mailinator to test their software. As a result, all unsolicited communications will be routed through the temporary email account.

  • Harm peoples with malicious acts

Unfortunately, anonymous emails serve as a cover for Internet bad actors such as spammers, phishers, and malware writers. People may use them to troll social media platforms to target specific people or to incite others with offensive comments.

There are two types of disposable emails. You may create a permanent account using Gmail or Outlook and just check it when you need to, or you can create a disposable account for a few minutes or hours using a free service like mailfiction.com.

Conclusion

When you create an account on most websites, you are asked for your email address, even if it is not required to utilize the site. The vast majority of those sites will then begin sending you emails on a weekly or daily basis, including newsletters, discount offers, alerts, and other information you probably don't require.

Using a disposable email address is one of the greatest best ways to avoid this type of spam. A throwaway email account has no connection to you and is just used to store unwanted emails. They're ideal for websites that ask you to provide your email address, but you know you won't hear from them again.

Both choices are viable. If you believe you'll need to check the newsletters or discounts you receive later, use a permanent address, and a disposable account for sites you don't want to hear from again.