GITNUXREPORT 2026

Spam Email Statistics

Spam emails remain a widespread threat with rising global volumes and severe financial impacts.

Gitnux Team

Expert team of market researchers and data analysts.

First published: Feb 13, 2026

Our Commitment to Accuracy

Rigorous fact-checking · Reputable sources · Regular updatesLearn more

Statistic 1

Phishing emails comprised 36.4% of total spam in Q1 2023 with 1.2 billion messages

Statistic 2

24% of spam contained malicious links leading to 450,000 unique phishing sites

Statistic 3

Extortion spam rose 120% in 2023, threatening to release personal data unless paid

Statistic 4

18% of spam promoted cryptocurrency scams averaging $500 payout promises

Statistic 5

Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams in spam totaled $2.9 billion losses in 2023

Statistic 6

42% of spam emails featured sexually explicit content or fake nudes in 2023

Statistic 7

Tech support scams appeared in 15% of spam, impersonating Microsoft with pop-up links

Statistic 8

Lottery spam promising $1M+ winnings made up 9.2% of total spam volume

Statistic 9

31% of spam included ransomware payloads disguised as invoices

Statistic 10

Fake COVID-19 vaccine offers surged to 7% of spam in early 2023

Statistic 11

26% of spam used social engineering lures referencing recent news events

Statistic 12

Herbal supplement ads dominated 22% of non-malicious spam categories

Statistic 13

14.5% of spam contained advance-fee fraud schemes like Nigerian prince emails

Statistic 14

Malicious attachments in spam totaled 1.1 billion, mostly ZIP and EXE files

Statistic 15

38% of spam emails spoofed government agencies like IRS or FBI logos

Statistic 16

Streaming service password reset scams hit 11% of spam in Q4 2023

Statistic 17

29% of spam promoted fake investment opportunities in stocks or forex

Statistic 18

Weight loss pill spam included before-after images in 19.7% of cases

Statistic 19

23.4% of spam featured URL shorteners hiding phishing destinations

Statistic 20

E-commerce discount coupons faked Amazon deals in 17% of spam emails

Statistic 21

Global spam volume increased 12.5% YoY from 2022 to 2023 reaching new highs

Statistic 22

AI-generated spam content rose 300% in 2023 using tools like ChatGPT clones

Statistic 23

DMARC adoption reduced spoofed spam by 67% in adopting organizations in 2023

Statistic 24

Spam filter accuracy improved to 99.9% with ML models blocking 99% threats

Statistic 25

Mobile spam apps detected grew 45% to 12,000 malicious apps in 2023

Statistic 26

Zero-day spam exploits dropped 22% due to faster patching cycles in 2023

Statistic 27

BIMI implementation cut brand impersonation spam by 40% in pilots

Statistic 28

Global spam blacklists grew to 1.5 billion entries by end of 2023

Statistic 29

Email authentication protocols adoption hit 78% reducing spam by 35%

Statistic 30

Ransomware-as-a-Service spam kits declined 18% due to law enforcement takedowns

Statistic 31

User training reduced spam click rates by 50% in trained enterprises

Statistic 32

Cloud email providers blocked 99.98% of spam with sandboxing in 2023

Statistic 33

International spam takedown operations seized 500 domains weekly average

Statistic 34

Behavioral analysis caught 85% of polymorphic spam variants in 2023

Statistic 35

SPF record failures dropped to 12% from 22% with better compliance

Statistic 36

Spam volume projected to hit 55% of traffic by 2025 per linear trend

Statistic 37

Quantum-safe encryption pilots reduced spam interception by 92%

Statistic 38

Open relay servers used for spam fell 60% to under 1,000 globally

Statistic 39

AI honeypots trapped 2.5 billion spam samples for training in 2023

Statistic 40

Legislative fines for spam senders totaled $150M under CAN-SPAM in 2023

Statistic 41

In 2023, 78% of spam originated from botnets controlling over 1 million infected devices

Statistic 42

Top 10 spam-sending IP addresses changed 45 times per day on average in 2023

Statistic 43

62% of spam emails used forged sender domains mimicking legitimate brands in Q4 2023

Statistic 44

Russia hosted 14.2% of global spam-sending infrastructure in 2023

Statistic 45

89% of spam came from residential broadband IPs rather than data centers in 2023

Statistic 46

Spam campaigns used over 500,000 unique sender domains daily in 2023

Statistic 47

73% of spam senders employed SMTP authentication spoofing techniques in 2023

Statistic 48

Bulletproof hosting providers facilitated 28% of spam traffic from 1,200 ASNs in 2023

Statistic 49

Mobile device IPs accounted for 19% of spam origins in 2023, up 8% YoY

Statistic 50

55% of spam used compromised legitimate email accounts in corporate breaches

Statistic 51

Spamhaus blocked 250 million spam-sending IPs in 2023, averaging 684,000 daily

Statistic 52

Vietnamese servers contributed 9.8% of global spam volume from 15,000 domains

Statistic 53

41% of spam headers showed DKIM failures indicating forgery in 2023 audits

Statistic 54

Compromised Microsoft 365 accounts sent 22% of business spam in 2023

Statistic 55

Dark web markets offered 1.2 million spam email lists with 500M addresses in 2023

Statistic 56

67% of spam used proxy chains spanning 5+ countries to obfuscate origins

Statistic 57

US-based VPS providers unknowingly hosted 11% of spam relays in 2023

Statistic 58

82% of spam senders rotated domains every 12 hours to evade blacklists

Statistic 59

IoT botnets like Mirai variants generated 16% of spam from 800,000 devices

Statistic 60

Spam caused $4.2 billion in direct financial losses globally in 2023 from scams

Statistic 61

14% of users clicked on spam links leading to data breaches affecting 300M accounts

Statistic 62

Phishing via spam resulted in 1.2 million identity theft cases in the US in 2023

Statistic 63

Businesses spent $1.8 billion on spam filtering software in 2023 due to productivity losses

Statistic 64

22% of employees wasted 2 hours daily managing spam, equating to $50B productivity hit

Statistic 65

Ransomware infections from spam attachments cost victims $20 billion worldwide in 2023

Statistic 66

8.4% click rate on BEC spam led to $2.7B wire transfer fraud losses

Statistic 67

Consumer complaints about spam rose 12% to 3.5 million in 2023 FTC logs

Statistic 68

65% of data breaches traced back to phishing emails in spam campaigns

Statistic 69

Average downtime from spam-delivered malware was 23 days costing $1.2M per incident

Statistic 70

Elderly users over 65 reported 28% higher scam losses from spam totaling $3.4B

Statistic 71

17% of small businesses closed after BEC spam attacks in 2023 surveys

Statistic 72

Global email downtime from spam overloads averaged 4 hours per month per org

Statistic 73

41% of users experienced account takeovers from credential phishing in spam

Statistic 74

Healthcare sector lost $6.8B to spam phishing disrupting patient services

Statistic 75

29 million unique victims of spam malware infections in 2023 endpoints

Statistic 76

Retail phishing spam caused $1.5B in fraudulent transactions during holidays

Statistic 77

52% of C-suite execs targeted by whale phishing in spam with 5% success rate

Statistic 78

Education sector saw 150% rise in spam impacts closing schools temporarily

Statistic 79

Insurance claims from spam cyber incidents reached $10B globally in 2023

Statistic 80

In 2023, global spam email volume averaged 14.5 billion emails per day, representing 42% of total email traffic worldwide

Statistic 81

Spam emails accounted for 49.5% of all emails received in corporate inboxes in Q4 2023, up from 47% in the previous quarter

Statistic 82

US businesses received an average of 15 spam emails per user per day in 2023, totaling over 300 billion spam messages annually

Statistic 83

In 2022, 85% of all emails sent were classified as spam or malicious by email security providers

Statistic 84

Global spam traffic peaked at 50% of total email volume in March 2023 due to widespread phishing campaigns

Statistic 85

UK organizations saw a 25% increase in spam volume to 14 emails per user per day in 2023

Statistic 86

In Q2 2023, 47.2% of emails analyzed by Mimecast were spam

Statistic 87

India generated 18.3% of global spam emails in 2023, leading all countries

Statistic 88

Corporate spam volume hit 1.2 trillion emails in 2023 across Fortune 500 companies

Statistic 89

92% of malware is delivered via spam email, contributing to 45% spam share in total traffic

Statistic 90

Daily spam emails worldwide exceeded 16 billion in Q3 2023

Statistic 91

Spam comprised 43% of email traffic in Europe in 2023

Statistic 92

US consumers reported 12.5 spam emails daily on average in 2023 FTC data

Statistic 93

38% of emails in Asia-Pacific were spam in 2022, rising to 41% in 2023

Statistic 94

Global businesses blocked 2.8 billion spam emails daily in 2023

Statistic 95

Spam volume grew 15% YoY to 5.3 trillion emails in Q1 2024

Statistic 96

46% of all inbound emails to US servers were spam in 2023

Statistic 97

Nigeria topped spam-sending countries with 12.7% share in 2023

Statistic 98

Enterprise email saw 300 million spam messages blocked hourly worldwide

Statistic 99

Spam emails made up 44.8% of total traffic in Latin America in 2023

1/99

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If you thought your inbox was a mess before, consider that last year the world was flooded with over five trillion spam emails, a relentless deluge that stole time, money, and peace of mind from individuals and businesses alike.

Key Takeaways

In 2023, global spam email volume averaged 14.5 billion emails per day, representing 42% of total email traffic worldwide
Spam emails accounted for 49.5% of all emails received in corporate inboxes in Q4 2023, up from 47% in the previous quarter
US businesses received an average of 15 spam emails per user per day in 2023, totaling over 300 billion spam messages annually
In 2023, 78% of spam originated from botnets controlling over 1 million infected devices
Top 10 spam-sending IP addresses changed 45 times per day on average in 2023
62% of spam emails used forged sender domains mimicking legitimate brands in Q4 2023
Phishing emails comprised 36.4% of total spam in Q1 2023 with 1.2 billion messages
24% of spam contained malicious links leading to 450,000 unique phishing sites
Extortion spam rose 120% in 2023, threatening to release personal data unless paid
Spam caused $4.2 billion in direct financial losses globally in 2023 from scams
14% of users clicked on spam links leading to data breaches affecting 300M accounts
Phishing via spam resulted in 1.2 million identity theft cases in the US in 2023
Global spam volume increased 12.5% YoY from 2022 to 2023 reaching new highs
AI-generated spam content rose 300% in 2023 using tools like ChatGPT clones
DMARC adoption reduced spoofed spam by 67% in adopting organizations in 2023

Spam emails remain a widespread threat with rising global volumes and severe financial impacts.

Content Analysis

Phishing emails comprised 36.4% of total spam in Q1 2023 with 1.2 billion messages
24% of spam contained malicious links leading to 450,000 unique phishing sites
Extortion spam rose 120% in 2023, threatening to release personal data unless paid
18% of spam promoted cryptocurrency scams averaging $500 payout promises
Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams in spam totaled $2.9 billion losses in 2023
42% of spam emails featured sexually explicit content or fake nudes in 2023
Tech support scams appeared in 15% of spam, impersonating Microsoft with pop-up links
Lottery spam promising $1M+ winnings made up 9.2% of total spam volume
31% of spam included ransomware payloads disguised as invoices
Fake COVID-19 vaccine offers surged to 7% of spam in early 2023
26% of spam used social engineering lures referencing recent news events
Herbal supplement ads dominated 22% of non-malicious spam categories
14.5% of spam contained advance-fee fraud schemes like Nigerian prince emails
Malicious attachments in spam totaled 1.1 billion, mostly ZIP and EXE files
38% of spam emails spoofed government agencies like IRS or FBI logos
Streaming service password reset scams hit 11% of spam in Q4 2023
29% of spam promoted fake investment opportunities in stocks or forex
Weight loss pill spam included before-after images in 19.7% of cases
23.4% of spam featured URL shorteners hiding phishing destinations
E-commerce discount coupons faked Amazon deals in 17% of spam emails

Content Analysis Interpretation

In the relentless digital carnival that was 2023, our inboxes were a grifter’s paradise where one in three spam emails was a phishing hook, fake government seals were as common as coupons, and the only thing rising faster than extortion threats were our blood pressure levels trying to keep it all straight.

Mitigation and Trends

Global spam volume increased 12.5% YoY from 2022 to 2023 reaching new highs
AI-generated spam content rose 300% in 2023 using tools like ChatGPT clones
DMARC adoption reduced spoofed spam by 67% in adopting organizations in 2023
Spam filter accuracy improved to 99.9% with ML models blocking 99% threats
Mobile spam apps detected grew 45% to 12,000 malicious apps in 2023
Zero-day spam exploits dropped 22% due to faster patching cycles in 2023
BIMI implementation cut brand impersonation spam by 40% in pilots
Global spam blacklists grew to 1.5 billion entries by end of 2023
Email authentication protocols adoption hit 78% reducing spam by 35%
Ransomware-as-a-Service spam kits declined 18% due to law enforcement takedowns
User training reduced spam click rates by 50% in trained enterprises
Cloud email providers blocked 99.98% of spam with sandboxing in 2023
International spam takedown operations seized 500 domains weekly average
Behavioral analysis caught 85% of polymorphic spam variants in 2023
SPF record failures dropped to 12% from 22% with better compliance
Spam volume projected to hit 55% of traffic by 2025 per linear trend
Quantum-safe encryption pilots reduced spam interception by 92%
Open relay servers used for spam fell 60% to under 1,000 globally
AI honeypots trapped 2.5 billion spam samples for training in 2023
Legislative fines for spam senders totaled $150M under CAN-SPAM in 2023

Mitigation and Trends Interpretation

The relentless ingenuity of spammers, now turbocharged by AI, is a staggering nuisance, yet our defenses are becoming so intelligently formidable that the scammers might soon find it's more effort than it's worth.

Sender Characteristics

In 2023, 78% of spam originated from botnets controlling over 1 million infected devices
Top 10 spam-sending IP addresses changed 45 times per day on average in 2023
62% of spam emails used forged sender domains mimicking legitimate brands in Q4 2023
Russia hosted 14.2% of global spam-sending infrastructure in 2023
89% of spam came from residential broadband IPs rather than data centers in 2023
Spam campaigns used over 500,000 unique sender domains daily in 2023
73% of spam senders employed SMTP authentication spoofing techniques in 2023
Bulletproof hosting providers facilitated 28% of spam traffic from 1,200 ASNs in 2023
Mobile device IPs accounted for 19% of spam origins in 2023, up 8% YoY
55% of spam used compromised legitimate email accounts in corporate breaches
Spamhaus blocked 250 million spam-sending IPs in 2023, averaging 684,000 daily
Vietnamese servers contributed 9.8% of global spam volume from 15,000 domains
41% of spam headers showed DKIM failures indicating forgery in 2023 audits
Compromised Microsoft 365 accounts sent 22% of business spam in 2023
Dark web markets offered 1.2 million spam email lists with 500M addresses in 2023
67% of spam used proxy chains spanning 5+ countries to obfuscate origins
US-based VPS providers unknowingly hosted 11% of spam relays in 2023
82% of spam senders rotated domains every 12 hours to evade blacklists
IoT botnets like Mirai variants generated 16% of spam from 800,000 devices

Sender Characteristics Interpretation

It’s a digital game of Whac-A-Mole where the moles are armed with botnets, forged IDs, and constantly moving hideouts, making every inbox a battlefield of persistence over permission.

User Impact

Spam caused $4.2 billion in direct financial losses globally in 2023 from scams
14% of users clicked on spam links leading to data breaches affecting 300M accounts
Phishing via spam resulted in 1.2 million identity theft cases in the US in 2023
Businesses spent $1.8 billion on spam filtering software in 2023 due to productivity losses
22% of employees wasted 2 hours daily managing spam, equating to $50B productivity hit
Ransomware infections from spam attachments cost victims $20 billion worldwide in 2023
8.4% click rate on BEC spam led to $2.7B wire transfer fraud losses
Consumer complaints about spam rose 12% to 3.5 million in 2023 FTC logs
65% of data breaches traced back to phishing emails in spam campaigns
Average downtime from spam-delivered malware was 23 days costing $1.2M per incident
Elderly users over 65 reported 28% higher scam losses from spam totaling $3.4B
17% of small businesses closed after BEC spam attacks in 2023 surveys
Global email downtime from spam overloads averaged 4 hours per month per org
41% of users experienced account takeovers from credential phishing in spam
Healthcare sector lost $6.8B to spam phishing disrupting patient services
29 million unique victims of spam malware infections in 2023 endpoints
Retail phishing spam caused $1.5B in fraudulent transactions during holidays
52% of C-suite execs targeted by whale phishing in spam with 5% success rate
Education sector saw 150% rise in spam impacts closing schools temporarily
Insurance claims from spam cyber incidents reached $10B globally in 2023

User Impact Interpretation

Despite costing billions, wasting endless hours, and shutting down businesses, spam emails remain the digital era's most shockingly successful cold caller, proving that a staggering number of people will still click on a message from a Nigerian prince who urgently needs their help.

Volume and Prevalence

In 2023, global spam email volume averaged 14.5 billion emails per day, representing 42% of total email traffic worldwide
Spam emails accounted for 49.5% of all emails received in corporate inboxes in Q4 2023, up from 47% in the previous quarter
US businesses received an average of 15 spam emails per user per day in 2023, totaling over 300 billion spam messages annually
In 2022, 85% of all emails sent were classified as spam or malicious by email security providers
Global spam traffic peaked at 50% of total email volume in March 2023 due to widespread phishing campaigns
UK organizations saw a 25% increase in spam volume to 14 emails per user per day in 2023
In Q2 2023, 47.2% of emails analyzed by Mimecast were spam
India generated 18.3% of global spam emails in 2023, leading all countries
Corporate spam volume hit 1.2 trillion emails in 2023 across Fortune 500 companies
92% of malware is delivered via spam email, contributing to 45% spam share in total traffic
Daily spam emails worldwide exceeded 16 billion in Q3 2023
Spam comprised 43% of email traffic in Europe in 2023
US consumers reported 12.5 spam emails daily on average in 2023 FTC data
38% of emails in Asia-Pacific were spam in 2022, rising to 41% in 2023
Global businesses blocked 2.8 billion spam emails daily in 2023
Spam volume grew 15% YoY to 5.3 trillion emails in Q1 2024
46% of all inbound emails to US servers were spam in 2023
Nigeria topped spam-sending countries with 12.7% share in 2023
Enterprise email saw 300 million spam messages blocked hourly worldwide
Spam emails made up 44.8% of total traffic in Latin America in 2023

Volume and Prevalence Interpretation

The digital postman's bag is now mostly junk, with nearly half of all global correspondence being an unwelcome barrage of fraud and filler that corporations battle by the trillions, proving the inbox has become a dystopian landfill where perseverance is measured in clicks avoided.

Sources & References

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