"Legitimate mortgage companies buy a list of people who want to get a mortgage. They don't ask where the list comes from, and spammers are happy to provide 'em."
Couldn't these mortgage companies be required to provide the source of these lists? And then go to these sources and find out where they got them. If through spam they should be put out of business. I have fallen into this trap and had and still have these people contacting me. Seems I clicked on a pop-up ad in Drudge one time. That was over a year ago.