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Spam vs Scam - What's the difference?

spam | scam |

As nouns the difference between spam and scam

is that spam is a collection of unsolicited bulk electronic messages while scam is fraudulent deal.

As verbs the difference between spam and scam

is that spam is to send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages. while scam is to defraud or embezzle.

As a proper noun SPAM

is alternative form of Spam|lang=en (tinned meat product.

spam

English

Noun

  • (uncountable, computing, Internet) A collection of unsolicited bulk electronic messages.
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=No hiding place
    • , date=2013-05-25, volume=407, issue=8837, page=74, magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%. That means about $165 billion was spent not on drumming up business, but on annoying people, creating landfill and cluttering spam filters.}}
  • (uncountable, computing, Internet) Any undesired electronic content automatically generated for commercial purposes.
  • (countable, rare, computing, Internet) An unsolicited electronic message sent in bulk, usually by email or newsgroups.
  • (tinned meat product)

    • Hyponyms

    (Hyponyms of spam) * * * * * (hyp-mid) * * * * (hyp-bottom)

    Derived terms

    * * * * *

    Meronyms

    * e-mail, email

    Verb

    (spamm)
  • (intransitive, computing, Internet) To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages.)
  • (transitive, computing, Internet) To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages) to a person or entity.
  • (transitive, by extension, video games) To relentlessly attack an enemy with (a spell or ability).
    • Stop spamming that special attack!
  • (transitive, intransitive, computing, Internet) To post the same text repeatedly with disruptive effect; to flood.

    • See also

    * * Official SPAM home page

    Anagrams

    *

    Usage notes

    ----

    scam

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia scam) (en noun)
  • Fraudulent deal.
    • That marketing scheme looks like a scam to me .

    Synonyms

    * con game * confidence trick * See also

    Verb

    (scamm)
  • To defraud or embezzle.
    • They tried to scam her out of her savings.

    Synonyms

    * (verb)

    Anagrams

    * * * * * *