Why do people and bots still spam if people know to ignore advertising and claims made by certain users?

As long as some people still buy from spammers - it will continue.

Sending email costs almost nothing - so anything you sell is almost pure profit.

So, the solution is in this case also the cause of the spam - the 'customers' (or idiots - however you want to look at it, i suppose)

When people start to realize that they are actually contributing to spammers, scammers and in fact are aiding illegal actions - and then stop responding to spam - then, and only then, will it no longer be profitable and it could stop.

Just consider - why after many years of publicity do people still send those "you have won 12 million US dollars in the Yahoo lottery" mails? Because somewhere, someone will fall for it and pay them 1000`s to get their "millions".

Hope springs eternal for those who want something for nothing.

Or as the old saying (often attributed to P.T. Barnum, but that is disputed) goes, "There's a sucker born every minute".